Answers TX-English IIIVietnam Literary Journalism

Vietnam Literary Journalism Answers

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Read the excerpt from A Rumor of War.Repeatedly, I have found myself wishing that I had been the veteran of a conventional war, with dramatic campaigns and historic battles for subject matter instead of a monotonous succession of ambushes and firefights. But there were no Normandies and Gettysburgs for us, no epic clashes that decided the fates of armies or nations. The war was mostly a matter of enduring weeks of expectant waiting and, at random intervals, of conducting vicious manhunts through jungles and swamps where snipers harassed us constantly and booby traps cut us down one by one.Based on the excerpt, why might the author have titled the book A Rumor of War?

because the author wrote about the Vietnam War, but he did not actually fight in it

because many people have forgotten the events that happened during the Vietnam War

because the Vietnam War was fought in an especially brutal and untraditional way

because many of the Vietnam War stories are believed to be untrue and exaggerated

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Which sentence from Dispatches contains the best example of sensory language?

Sometimes you’d step from the bunker, all sense of time passing having left you, and find it dark out.

There would be dozens of them at once sometimes, trailing an intense smoke, dropping white-hot sparks, and it seemed as though anything caught in their range would be made still, like figures in a game of living statues.

Once in a while—I guess I saw it happen three or four times in all—there would be a secondary explosion, a direct hit on a supply of NVA ammunition.

If they did, when they did, it might not matter that you were in the best bunker in the DMZ, wouldn’t matter that you were young and had plans, that you were loved, that you were a noncombatant, an observer.

Which excerpt from Dispatches contains imagery that evokes a sense of helplessness and inevitability?

Sometimes you’d step from the bunker, all sense of time passing having left you, and find it dark out. The far side of the hills around the bowl of the base was glimmering, but you could never see the source of the light, and it had the look of a city at night approached from a great distance.

One hit anywhere in the chopper would bring you back, bitten lips, white knuckles and all, and then you knew where you were.

Nights were when the air and artillery strikes were heaviest because that was when we knew that the NVA was above ground and moving.

No wonder everyone became a luck freak, no wonder you could wake at four in the morning some mornings and know that tomorrow it would finally happen, you could stop worrying about it now and just lie there, sweating in the dampest chill you ever felt.

Which excerpt from Dispatches is an example of paradox?

And at night it was beautiful. Even the incoming was beautiful at night, beautiful and deeply dreadful.

One hit anywhere in the chopper would bring you back, bitten lips, white knuckles and all, and then you knew where you were.

At night you could lie out on some sandbags and watch the C-47’s mounted with Vulcans doing their work.

At night in Khe Sanh, waiting there, thinking about all of them (40,000, some said), thinking that they might really try it, could keep you up.

to demonstrate how bored the narrator felt while serving in Vietnam

to illustrate the hardships faced by soldiers who have fought in wars

to emphasize the difficulties faced by soldiers in untraditional warfare

to highlight the complexities of more traditional warfare and weaponry

Read the excerpt from Dispatches.Because, really, what a choice there was; what a prodigy of things to be afraid of! The moment that you understood this, really understood it, you lost your anxiety instantly. Anxiety was a luxury, a joke you had no room for once you knew the variety of deaths and mutilations the war offered.The purpose of the paradox in the excerpt is to

illustrate the narrator’s desire to relieve his uneasiness.

reinforce the physical and emotional challenges of war.

show that indulgences are stolen during war, not provided.

highlight the idea that fear can be viewed in different ways.

Which excerpt from Dispatches contains sensory language to describe the geography of Vietnam?

There would be the muted rush of illumination rounds, fired from 60-mm. mortars inside the wire, dropping magnesium-brilliant above the NVA trenches for a few seconds, outlining the gaunt, flat spread of the mahogany trees, giving the landscape a ghastly clarity and dying out.

It was awesome, worse than anything the Lord had ever put down on Egypt, and at night, you’d hear the Marines talking, watching it, yelling, “Get some!” until they grew quiet and someone would say, “Spooky understands.” The nights were very beautiful.

Once in a while—I guess I saw it happen three or four times in all—there would be a secondary explosion, a direct hit on a supply of NVA ammunition. And at night it was beautiful. Even the incoming was beautiful at night, beautiful and deeply dreadful.

Nights were when the air and artillery strikes were heaviest because that was when we knew that the NVA was above ground and moving. At night you could lie out on some sandbags and watch the C-47’s mounted with Vulcans doing their work.

Read the excerpt from A Rumor of War. The tedium was occasionally relieved by a large-scale search-and-destroy operation, but the exhilaration of riding the lead helicopter into a landing zone was usually followed by more of the same hot walking, with the mud sucking at our boots and the sun thudding against our helmets while an invisible enemy shot at us from distant tree lines. The paradox in the excerpt illustrates the idea that

danger could alleviate the monotony of war.

walking was often necessary after flying.

the soldiers could not see their enemies.

the heat was more difficult to overcome than the enemy.

Which excerpt from Dispatches uses imagery to reflect the conflicting emotions that soldiers face during a war?

Flares were dropping everywhere around the fringes of the perimeter, laying a dead white light on the high ground rising from the piedmont.

It was different with the incoming at Khe Sanh. You didn’t get to watch the shells very often. You knew if you heard one, the first one, that you were safe, or at least saved. If you were still standing up and looking after that, you deserved anything that happened to you.

Night was when you really had the least to fear and feared the most. You could go through some very bad numbers at night.

How does the structure of A Rumor of War reflect the pace of the war?

Short sentences used throughout the passage imitate the startling haste with which buildings were bombed.

Long paragraphs used at the beginning of the passage reflect the longer battles that occurred near the beginning of the war.

Long flowing sentences are followed by choppier sentences that reflect the quick guerrilla attacks that interrupted the long hikes.

Short paragraphs used throughout the passage reflect how quickly the war began and ended.

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Vietnam Literary Journalism Answers

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