Humble Independent School District



AP English Language and CompositionThe Things They Carried Unit TestLawrynovicz Spring 2016600075265430Form: LemonKEYCharacter Quote Identification: Match the quotation with the person who said it. Yes, technically O’Brien wrote the whole book, and there are places where others are relating a story, or even where the character is imagined as speaking, but please identify the most immediate speaker, the person to whom the quotation is actually attributed in the book. Answer options may be used once, more than once, or not at all.a. O’Brien b. Azarc. Kiowad. Rat Kiley e. Norman Bowker ab. Mitchell Sanderscd. Jimmy Crossde. Henry Dobbinsad. Bobby Jorgensonac. Lee Strunkae. Dave Jensenbc. Curt Lemonbd. Sallybe. Lindace. Kathleenabc. Marthabcd. Mary Anne“You want my opinion, there’s a definite moral here.” Mitchell Sanders“I’ll tell you the straight truth. The guy was dead the second he stepped on the trail. Understand me? We all had him zeroed. A good kill—weapon, ammunition, everything.” Kiowa “Some dumb thing happens a long time ago and you can’t ever forget it.” Kathleen “Sometimes I want to eat this place. The whole country—the dirt, the death—I just want to swallow it and have it there inside me. That’s how I feel. It’s like this appetite. I get scared sometimes—lots of times—but it’s not bad. You know?” Mary Anne“All that had to be there for a reason. That’s how stories work, man.”Mitchell Sanders “If you want, you can use the stuff in this letter. (But not my real name, okay?) I’d write it myself except I can’t ever find any words, if you know what I mean, and I can’t figure out what exactly to say.” Norman Bowker “All right, but dance right.” Henry Dobbins“Brings back memories, I bet—those happy soldiering days. Except now you’re a has-been. One of those American Legion types, guys who like to dress up in a nifty uniform and go out and play at it. Pitiful.” AzarMultiple Choice: Carefully read the questions and all answer options before making a choice. All questions have only one answer unless otherwise indicated.All of the following are included in O’Brien’s rules for how to tell a true war story EXCEPTa. it cannot have a morald. it embarrasses you b. it is never about war c. it never seems to ende. it has to have some kernel of happening-truth in itIn some ways, both ____ act as stand-ins for the audience, voicing opinions about storytelling that O’Brien disagrees with (and ultimately wants the reader to disagree with).a. Rat Kiley and Norman Bowkerd. Mitchell Sanders and Kathleenb. Martha and Mary Anne c. Azar and Kiowae. Linda and Henry DobbinsOf the different soldiers, whose coping mechanism never really fails him or ends up twisting him?a. O’Brien’sd. Norman Bowker’sb. Azar’s c. Jimmy Cross’se. Henry Dobbins’In the opening chapter, O’Brien writes, “At various times in various situations, they carried M-14s and CAR-15s and Swedish Ks and grease guns and captured AK-47s and Chi-Coms and RPGs and Simonov carbines and black market Uzis and .38 caliber Smith and Wesson handguns and 66 mm LAWs and shotguns and silencers and blackjacks and bayonets and C-4 plastic explosives.” Which of the following is NOT true of this sentence?a. it contains polysyndeton, which makes the list seem even more lengthyd. it emphasizes the haphazard, disorganized nature of the infantryman’s war experienceb. it contains jargon that makes O’Brien seem more credible c. it contains epistrophe, which gives the sentence a frantic, breathless qualitye. it hints at an almost illegal quality of the war Which of the following are NOT parallels in The Things They Carried?a. The relationship between Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen, and the one between O’Brien and Bobby Jorgenson b. The empty eyes of Martha and Mary Janed. Kiowa’s death and the “burying” of his moccasins e. the deaths of Ted Lavender and the baby buffaloc. Cross and O’Brien focusing obsessively on pictures of women who are not their girlfriendsO’Brien’s structure helps him accomplish which of his purposes?a. making it seem as if the dead are still alived. all of the aboveb. getting the “real truth” of being a soldier in Vietnam across to the readerc. confusing the readers about the facts so that they will seek out more information about Vietnam and educate themselvese. only A and Bac. only A and Cbc. only B and CO’Brien argues that language is a powerful tool, and that it was used by [Mark ALL that apply]a. soldiers to distance themselves from the reality of death by dehumanizing the deadd. the soldiers to hide fear by making them sound tough b. Jimmy Cross to convince his men that he knew what he was doing when he actually had no idea what the proper procedures weree. O’Brien and the soldiers to bring the dead back to lifec. politicians to manipulate O’Brien into believing that the war was morally rightIn “Love,” O’Brien writes, “At one point, I remember, we paused over a snapshot of Ted Lavender, and after a while Jimmy rubbed his eyes and said he’d never forgiven himself for Lavender’s death. It was something that would never go away, he said quietly, and I nodded and told him I felt the same about certain things.” Given the rest of the book, what does O’Brien likely have in mind when he says “certain things”?a. the death of Kiowad. what he said to Elroy before he leftb. not ever telling Linda how he felt about her c. shaking the dead man’s hande. how he failed to write Henry Dobbins’ story correctly the first timeHow is Henry Dobbins making the washing motion with his hands in “Church” different from Azar’s dancing in “Style”?a. Dobbins is trying to make Kiowa laugh while Azar is trying to humiliate Dobbinsd. Dobbins does it out of respect for the monks while Azar is mocking the girlb. Azar doesn’t understand why the girl was dancing while Dobbins knows what the washing motion meanse. Dobbins is imitating something without understanding it completely while Azar knows what the dancing meansc. Dobbins is mocking the monks while Azar is trying to cheer up Rat KileyIn “Spin,” O’Brien relays Mitchell Sanders’ story about a soldier who went AWOL and “shacks up in Danang with a Red Cross nurse.” But then later the soldier “rejoins his unit in the bush. Can’t wait to get back into action. Finally one of his buddies asks what happened with the nurse, why so hot for combat, and the guy says, ‘All that peace, man, it felt so good it hurt. I want to hurt it back.’” This story most closely parallels a. Azar blowing up the puppyd. Rat Kiley going to Japanb. Mary Anne’s transformatione. O’Brien’s experience in “Ghost Soldiers”c. What happens to Dave Jensen when he returns to the U.S.O’Brien spends a great deal of time trying to redefine courage and cowardice. Towards which part of his audience is this argument about courage and cowardice mostly directed? Why?a. those who fought in Vietnam; because they could not have understood what real cowardice was at the timed. those who opposed the war by protesting; because he wants to point out that they fundamentally misunderstood the nature of the warb. those who didn’t fight in Vietnam; because they would likely have misconceptions about cowardice in war, and O’Brien wants to correct those e. those who dodged the draft during the war; because he wants to point out that they, too, were wrong about what bravery really wasc. those who supported the Vietnam war; because he wants them to realize the terrible consequences of their actionsThe Charlotte Observer published a review of The Things They Carried that included the lines “It will be nominated for prizes, but I wonder if any prize will do it justice. Maybe a silver star for telling the truth that never happened.” The idea that the book deserves one of the military’s most prestigious combat medals suggests that the reviewer agrees with O’Brien’s argumenta. that happening-truth is more important than absolute occurrence d. that truth is a fluid thing, and what really matters is if you felt like you were a herob. that telling the story-truth may be an act of bravery that saves lives c. that letting go of Kiowa was not an act ofe. that life itself is just as much a war as the Vietnam war, and sometimes just surviving is an act of couragecowardice, nor something of which he should be ashamedO’Brien mentions several instances in which he rewrites stories/the past, and in each instance he explains the purpose(s) for the revisions. Which of the following is NOT a reason he ever gives?a. to atone for failures he made in earlier versionsd. to make himself the hero of the story, when at heart he is a cowardb. to help him forgive himselfe. to get the real truth across to othersc. so that he can be brave and face what he couldn’t when he was in VietnamFor what purposes does O’Brien write the chapter “On the Rainy River”? [Mark ALL that apply]a. to explain why he went to ward. to confess something of which he is ashamedb. to criticize Jimmy Cross’s choices in comparison to his owne. to confront his now dead father who was so disappointed in himc. as a gesture of gratitude towards Elroy What would O’Brien most likely say to readers who want to know which of the events or people in the book are actually real?a. That he, Kiowa, and Norman Bowker were real, although some of the events and other people were changed b. The book is a work of fiction; none of it is true c. There is no such thing as objective truth; we all experience our own version of truth, none being more real than othersd. You have missed the point of the book. The point is not to learn about the absolute occurrences, but to understand the way the soldiers felte. The people are all real, but their names and some of the events have been altered to protect thema. O’Brien b. Azarc. Kiowad. Rat Kiley e. Norman Bowker ab. Mitchell Sanderscd. Jimmy Crossde. Henry Dobbinsad. Bobby Jorgensonac. Lee Strunkae. Dave Jensenbc. Ted Lavenderbd. Curt LemonMatching: Match the objects below with the person who carried them.His girlfriend’s pantyhose Henry DobbinsTranquilizers Ted LavenderLetters, two pictures, and a pebble Jimmy Cross An illustrated New Testament KiowaUse the excerpt below from Philip Caputo’s A Rumor of War to answer the question that follows. The hallucination I had had that day in the mess, of seeing Mora and Harrison prefigured in death, had become a constant, waking nightmare. I had begun to see almost everyone as they would look in death, including myself. Shaving in the mirror in the morning, I could see myself dead, and there were moments when I not only saw my own corpse, but other people looking at it. I saw life going on without me. The sensation of not being anymore came over me at night, just before falling asleep…I was sure that another few months of identifying bodies would land me in the psychiatric ward. The paragraph above most closely resembles O’Brien’s description of what happens toa. Curt Lemond. Norman Bowkerb. Rat Kileye. Kiowac. O’Brien himselfUse the passage below from Michael Herr’s nonfiction book Dispatches (1977) to answer the questions that follow.[When discussing the reasons that reporters and soldiers were in Vietnam, Herr writes that people gave reasons such as…]Hearts and Minds, Peoples of the Republic, tumbling dominoes, maintaining the equilibrium of the Dingdong by containing the ever encroaching Doodah; you could also hear the other, some young soldier speaking in all bloody innocence, saying “All that’s just a load, man. We’re here to kill gooks. Period.” Which wasn’t at all true of me. I was there to watch.5 Talk about impersonating an identity, about locking into a role, about irony: I went to cover the war and the war covered me; an old story, unless of course you’ve never heard it. I went there behind the crude but serious belief that you had to be able to look at anything, serious because I acted on it and went, crude because I didn’t know, it took the war to teach it, that you were as responsible for everything you saw as you were for everything you did. The problem was that you didn’t always know what you were seeing 10 until later, maybe years later, that a lot of it never made it in at all, it just stayed stored there in your eyes. Time and information, rock and roll, life itself, the information isn’t frozen, you are.Sometimes I didn’t know if an action took a second or an hour or if I dreamed it or what. In war more than in other life you don’t really know what you are doing most of the time, you’re just behaving, and afterward you can make up any kind of bullshit you want to about it, say you felt good or bad, loved it or 15 hated it, did this or that, the right thing or the wrong thing; still, what happened ing back, telling stories, I’d say, “Oh man I was scared,” and “Oh God I thought it was all over,” a long time before I knew how scared I was really supposed to be, or how clear and closed and beyond my control “all over” could become. I wasn’t dumb but I sure was raw, certain connections are hard to make when you come from a place where they go around with war in their heads all the time.The diction in lines 1-2 indicates that Herr views these reasons asa. inspiringd. insidious and dangerousb. heartfelt and patriotic e. uninteresting c. generic and somewhat ridiculousLines 6-7, where Herr writes, “I went there behind the crude but serious belief that you had to be able to look at anything.” O’Brien went through his tour in Vietnama. with the same conviction b. at first with the same idea, but found that he was not brave enough to continue looking c. with the same sort of writer’s interest in details so that he could faithfully relate them later in his booksd. using the exact opposite approach, which was largely to avoid looking at things e. mostly with the opposite idea, but later, after the incident with the buffalo, decided he needed to start looking at things more closely Herr writes that it took the war to teach him “that you were as responsible for everything you saw as you were for everything you did” (lines 7-8). O’Brien woulda. disagree, saying that you are only responsible for your actionsd. say that Herr needs to let go of his guilt, forget, and move onb. wholeheartedly agree c. go even further and say that you are also responsible for everything the U.S. did or did not doe. say that reporters were far less guilty than any soldier because all they ever did was observeWhat would O’Brien most likely say about the sentiment Herr expresses in lines 9-10, “The problem was that you didn’t always know what you were seeing until later, maybe years later, that a lot of it never made it in at all, it just stayed stored there in your eyes”?a. He would agree, as he experienced a similar phenomenon, and even argued that such jumbled or confused perception is one of the hallmarks of a true war storyd. He would say that the problem is too much information “made it in,” and this led to PTSD for all soldiers, regardless of whether they admitted it or not.b. He would disagree and say the problem is actually the opposite, that you always know exactly what you are seeing, even when you don’t want toe. There isn’t enough information in the book to be able to say what O’Brien would think about this statement with any certainty c. He would say that Herr can’t really speak about such things with any authority since he didn’t actually fight, only observedHerr’s use of profanity and racial slurs such as “gooks” would likely prompt O’Brien to saya. that his work is offensive b. that this diction proves that Herr is probablyd. that such choices are dangerous, and may well keep readers from hearing the truthinterested in real truth c. that Herr is no more sophisticated than the soldiers he is reporting aboute. that Herr’s lack of respect for the people of Vietnam was typical of reporters who had no real contact with themThe last line ends with the mention of a “place where they go around with war in their heads all the time.” Herr is referring to ____, but O’Brien would probably say ____a. America; Vietnam during the ward. the military; mostly just the medics in b. Vietnam during the war; everywhere in America during the war, even in small towns like Bowker’s c. a psychological state; just in the physical location of VietnamVietnam e. Vietnam during the war; for a veteran, this might apply to anywhere he went even after the warHesse’s purpose is mainly toa. draw attention to a problem and lay out practical, concrete solutions to itd. exaggerate the problem so that people realize what is going wrong and then try to fix itb. raise awareness about a problem that is growing worse, and suggest the reader take time to think more critically e. praise librarians and argue that they deserve more recognition and respect in society c. criticize her audience for being lazy After her opening note, Hesse lists a number of recent events. The strategy behind beginning this way is toa. overwhelm the reader with evidence so that they can’t question her credibilityd. shock the reader with the ridiculous nature of the events, and make him question how things b. distract the reader from the fact that her argument is mostly opinion c. create a kind of uncertainty about what is true, making the reader rethink his previousgot to this point e. get the boring information out the way first, so that then the reader can apply the rules to what is to comenotions on the matterHesse’s defense of the Google generation isa. limited at best, but does encourage some understanding b. impassioned and wholeheartedd. strengthened by the fact that she is a member of that generation herself, and has managed to rise to a respected position as a reporterc. undercut by her argument about thee. nonexistentdifference between information and knowledgeHesse portrays Chad Stark asa. someone to laugh atd. a Christ figureb. someone admirable and unappreciatede. foolish and misguidedc. very effective in combating ignoranceHesse’s intended audience is likely a. members of the Google generationd. all of the aboveb. older readers who are frustrated with the way the younger generation approaches the search for truthe. both A and Bac. both A and Cbc. both B and Cc. teachers and professors who are too set in their old ways, and have not yet embraced new technologyHesse’s title references a famous line from A Few Good Men, where a military officer is asked to tell the truth in court, and responds, “You can’t handle the truth.” He means that the truth is something civilians do not want to know. The truth is that the military is doing things civilians might see as unsavory, but which the officer sees as absolutely necessary. In this article, Hesse seems to be using the title as a way of sayinga. most people prefer to be uninformed because the truth is usually too horrifying to face d. can you accept that lies are sometimes necessary for society to function smoothly?b. can you handle the fact that there is no such thing as truth? c. can you see through the lies of others?e. many people don’t have the patience to find the truth, and even if they do, they may not want to be willing to listen to itIn the beginning of the article, Hesse asks, “For the Google generation, what happens to the concepts of truth and knowledge in a user-generated world of information saturation?” Ultimately, her answer to this question isa. never revealed b. that people are less willing to spend the necessary time to arrive at either one d. that truth and knowledge are now impossible to find beneath the avalanche of facts e. that they are lost entirely as moral relativityc. that truth and knowledge are becoming more important, but information is becoming more scarcehas taken overIn the last section of her article, Hesse writes: Who is right? The student who lives online? Or the lame teacher who thinks that books are a necessary component to a well-rounded understanding of how information works? As students must absorb increasingly more information throughout their education, perhaps expecting them to assess whether it’s true is simply too much. Four errors to Britannica's three ain’t bad -- and probably good enough for the research the average person does on a daily basis. From the diction used in the lines above, it is clear thata. Hesse herself is honestly unsure of the answerd. Hesse is critical of the teachers as living in the past and using outdated methodsb. Hesse is partly taking on the voice of the students she is criticizing, and she is ultimately suggesting that the teachers are righte. Hesse is less concerned with academic accuracy than she is with success in the real worldc. Hesse thinks the answer is not really as important as she once thoughtHesse defines the idea of “wikiality” in a way that makes it synonymous with which logical fallacy?a. hasty generalizationd. post hoc ergo propter hocb. circular reasoninge. ad populumc. slippery slopeWhich of the following rhetorical strategies is NOT used by Hesse in “Truth, Can You Handle It?”?a. an anecdote about Regan’s “Welfare Queen”d. parroting the language of the “Google b. repeated diction related to drowning or chokingc. a metaphor about war that pits librarians and teachers against misinformation and wikiality generation”e. a rather informal, almost conversational toneMcRaney argues that most online arguments eventually descend into what kind of logical fallacy?a. red herringd. ad hominemb. straw mane. ad populumc. either/orMcRaney’s term, “narrative script” might most fittingly be applied to which part of The Things They Carried?a. the familiar story about the soldier jumping on the grenade and saving his friendsd. the pairing of the chapters “The Man I Killed” and “Ambush”b. O’Brien’s reimagining of the story about the soldier jumping on the grenade in order to save his friendse. the chapter “On the Rainy River”c. the repetition of the incidents surrounding Kiowa’s deathMcRaney likely places the scientific evidence about spanking last instead of first becausea. he is attempting to make you realize the truth about spanking on your own d. he is first concerned about offering anecdotal, personal evidence in order to b. he is trying to demonstrate how gullible the majority of readers are c. he is trying to hold the reader’s attentiondemonstrate that it is less convincing e. he is trying to get you to understand the concepts he is discussing, and then make you see how they affect youOne of McRaney’s rhetorical strategies that might rub his readers the wrong way, and might possibly make them feel defensive isa. his aggressive stance on spankingd. his extended attack on Republican valuesb. his stance on homosexualitye. his use of the second personc. his dismissal of so much earlier research, which has been accepted for decades, and was probably taught to the reader at some point McRaney sees an increase in choice on the internet, social media, etc. asa. a concern, since it allows people to avoid information that might challenge their ideas d. idyllic, and likely to eventually lead to a “techutopia”b. a positive thing, since it encourages people to see things from various points of view c. having little effect on our response to informatione. mildly helpful in mitigating the damage caused by the backfire effect, but still only a small step in the right directionTowards the end of his article, McRaney writes, “Within minutes of learning about Seal Team Six, the headshot tweeted around the world and the swift burial at sea, conspiracy theories began to bounce against the walls of our infinitely voluminous echo chamber. Days later, when the world learned they would be denied photographic proof, the conspiracy theories grew legs, left the ocean and evolved into self-sustaining undebunkable life forms.” Here, McRaney’s use of the word “evolved” a. demonstrates his respect for the progression of ideasd. is sarcastic, indicating that he does not believe any sort of change is happening at allb. is written in an ironic way, suggesting that he is disapproving of the “evolution” and doesn’t actually believe such theories are “undebunkable”e. suggests that people have no control over their thought processes c. ties back to his earlier discussion of how the backfire effect is an important step forward for rational thinking in the 21st centuryMcRaney uses all of the following types of evidence EXCEPTa. psychological studies d. a kind of experiment on the readerb. common scenarios that the reader is likely to have experienced, and therefore likely to recognize as true based on personal evidencee. quotations from his interviews with students and professorsc. historical examples McRaney’s purpose is mainly toa. convince the reader to stop using the backfire effect d. inform the audience about a new psychological problemb. make readers aware of how the backfire effect works and might be affecting them so that they can make more logical decisionse. call the reader to action, asking them to take steps to insure the backfire effect does not cause more problems in politicsc. mock those people who are most affected by the backfire effectSome high schools “track” students by their chosen career paths, meaning that all of the students who plan to pursue engineering are put in all the same classes, have the same lunch, go up and down the same hallways, etc., while the students interested in theater are all put together in classes with other students interested in theater, have the same lunch, etc. In these schools, rarely do students with differing interests run into each other. McRaney would view this type of set up asa. helpful for student focus d. unlikely to have much of any effect on the b. beneficial for social development and understanding c. a poor idea that is likely to be harmful to studentsstudents’ learning or thinking e. likely to help students experience a much weaker backfire effect when they encounter opposing opinionsWhich piece of Hesse’s evidence is an example of what McRaney calls “biased assimilation”?a. the shark cartilage studyd. the Lincoln quotationb. the smoking study from the 1960se. the study involving the toddlersc. the Welfare QueenThe discussion of the “Welfare Queen” bears some resemblance to O’Brien’s discussion of how Rat Kiley tended to “heat up the truth.” How would O’Brien view the story of the “Welfare Queen” and its effects? a. as “story truth,” and therefore he would approve of itd. as crucial to understanding how the poor feel when they are on welfareb. as “happening truth,” and therefore he would criticize it c. as necessary to make the voters understand how it feels to have the poor exploit the systeme. as a deception used to manipulate voters for political ends, not “story truth” to help them understand situations they have not experienced In some ways, the overall arguments of McRaney and Hesse seem to contradict each other. As careful readers, what should we conclude?a. That one of the theories is incorrect because they are incompatible, but it is impossible to tell which one is correct.b. The backfire effect is likely only temporary, and if psychologists had returned months later, they would have found that the subjects would actually have come to believe the data they had initially rejected.c. Hesse is correct, and if the studies McRaney cites had just continued providing the subjects with data that contradicted their beliefs, they would eventually have changed their minds.d. They are both correct, but under limited circumstances. Hesse’s theory that the more times you hear something, the more likely you are to believe it only applies to topics that you do not already have strong feelings about.Both McRaney and Hesse agree on which of the following points?a. We tend to believe what we want to believed. A and Bb. We don’t use new information to learn new things, become more informed, or change our position. We use it to reinforce our beliefs.e. B and Cac. A and Cad. A, B, and Cc. The root problem with the way we process information has always been there, but the problem is getting worse because of the large amounts of information made available by the internetWhich of the following makes the reader a kind of psychological test subject in order to prove a point? a. McRaney b. Hessec. bothd. neitherIf Hesse is correct, the fact that O’Brien repeatedly refers to the young Vietnamese man as “the man I killed” means that the audience isa. less and less likely to believe that O’Brien actually killed anyoned. likely to feel betrayed and become angrier and angrier with O’Brienb. more likely to believe that O’Brien killed him, even though he denies it at one pointe. going to end up confused, unable to say whether he killed the man or notc. probably going to distrust O’Brien more and more on all pointsIf you google “horaltic pose,” you will find many reputable websites that use the phrase to describe vultures standing with outstretched wings, and you can read a great deal about the purpose of such a stance (to dry the bird’s wings, to warm up, to bake off bacteria, etc.). However, you will not find the word “horaltic” in any book about vultures, because it is not actually a legitimate term, but rather a mistake or garbling of another word made once online, and then repeated and repeated until even zoos and birding websites accepted it. This phenomenon would be useful as evidence to support the claim of which work?a. “Truth, Can You Handle It?”d. none of the aboveb. “The Backfire Effect”e. both A and Bc. The Things They CarriedWhat would most likely be O’Brien’s reaction to the results of the Kent State psychological study that is presented in McRaney’s article?a. He would be undisturbed by them, since he is always blurring the lines of truth himself b. He would be concerned because he wants people to recognize and understand moral ambiguities, so realizing that those who knew more about the situation were less likely to see any kind of gray area would disappoint himc. He would be upset, because as a liberal and anti-war writer, he would want everyone to recognize that the aggression of the National Guard led to unnecessary student deaths d. He would be upset because he wants people to remember the war and the deaths associated with it, so the fact that so many people know nothing about such an important event would sadden him.The cartoon below is most relevant to which argument?a. Hesse’s about cognitive dissonanceb. Hesse’s about wikialityc. McRaney’s argument about the backfire effect d. Hesse’s about detoxing studentse. McRaney’s argument about the confirmation bias O’Brien’s first book, If I Die in a Combat Zone, was a nonfiction account of his time in Vietnam. His next book, Going after Cacciato, was a fiction novel about the Vietnam War, and a kind of riff on the famous novel All Quiet on the Western Front. Based on this information and what you know of The Things They Carried, you could argue that O’Briena. cannot decide which genre he prefers b. felt like he had already told his story the first time, and now must continue making up new stories in order to help people remember the Vietnam War, which they are quickly forgettingd. was unsatisfied with the ability of both fiction and nonfiction to capture the truth about the war, and so turned to a kind of “faction” in an attempt to do so more successfully e. has matured as a writer, and so is able to write good fiction, not just plain nonfictionc. Wrote The Things They Carried as an attempt to clarify what was confusing in the first two booksConsider the quotation from John Ransom that opens O’Brien’s book. Based on the quotation, one might argue that both Ransom and O’Brien felt part of their audience would accept their writing as truth because of what McRaney calls _______; and, on the other hand, feared that the rest of their audience might reject what they had to say because of ______.a. confirmation bias; selective skepticism d. selective skepticism; cognitive dissonanceb. the backfire effect; narrative scriptse. reactionary realism; absolute occurancec. narrative scripts; confirmation bias All three works in this unit explore a. the sometimes unexpected ways that the mind processes truth and factsd. the relationship between technology and memory b. the relationship between cowardice and the inability to act or make a decisione. problems that arise because we have too much information available to us nowc. scientific studies about truth Considering the opening of his article, one of McRaney’s main purposes seems to be _____; one might say that this is one of O’Brien’s main purposes as well since he tries to _____.a. to criticize those conservatives; ridicule them for the part they played in sending soldiers to Vietmanc. to make his audience think for themselves; get them to be skeptical of everything he says d. to correct a misconception; make the readerb. to reveal the way the brain works; explain in scientific terms how one processes the concept of truthreconsider how he or she defines courage, cowardice, and truthUse the article below to answer the questions that follow.America’s Most Trusted News Source Not So TrustworthyBy Leonard Pitts Jr.Miami HeraldNovember 2, 2014You can’t handle the truth.There is a temptation to take that line from Jack Nicholson — snarled at Tom Cruise in “A Few Good Men” — as the moral of the story, the lesson to be learned from a new study on trustworthiness and the news media.The study, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, informs us that America’s least-trusted news source is conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, rated unreliable by almost 40 percent of all Americans. The also conservative Fox “News” follows closely at 37 percent. So America’s least-trusted news sources are also its most popular; Limbaugh hosts the number one show on radio and Fox is the highest-rated cable news outlet.It gets better. Pew tells us America’s most trusted news source is CNN; the network that eschews any ideological identifier is considered reliable by 54 percent of us. Yet for as much as we supposedly trust it, we don’t seem to like it very much. Its ratings — despite a mild resurgence in recent months — are but a fraction of Fox’s and it is undergoing massive layoffs.For what it’s worth, there’s evidence to support America’s perception of who is and is not trustworthy. PunditFact, an offshoot of PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking website, has issued a report card on the truthfulness of broadcast pundits by network. It’s an imperfect measure, but the results are still compelling. Over 60 percent of Fox pundit statements rated by PunditFact have been found to be some flavor of N? Just 22 percent.If all this sounds like a commercial for the network of holograms and missing plane obsessions, it isn’t. Rather, it’s a lament for the closing of the American mind.There is an axiom that he who builds the best mousetrap enjoys the greatest success. But if that’s true, how is it the greatest successes in a business measured by trustworthiness are those entities judged least trustworthy of all? Maybe the answer is that conservative hardliners are more rabid in support of those who validate their views than the rest of us are in pursuit of simple truth.In a nation where political discourse is increasingly a facts-optional exercise and reality now comes in shades of red and blue, that’s hardly reassuring.Two years ago, at the request of yours truly, the people at Nielsen crunched some numbers. They found that in times of major breaking news — the examples used were the Columbine shooting, the Sept. 11 attacks, the commencement of the Iraq War, the Japanese tsunami and the death of Michael Jackson — ratings for all three cable news outlets tend to rise. But, almost without exception, the most dramatic spikes on a percentage basis are enjoyed by CNN. The week of Sept. 11, its ratings rose by 800 percent. No other network came close.In other words, when something big has happened and people need to know what’s going on, they know where to go. They go where they can trust.But on a routine day, many Americans, for as much as they will say otherwise, really don’t want to be informed so much as to be confirmed in their political biases, in the partisan version of truth that explains the world to them while making the fewest demands on intellect — and conscience. They need the “death panels” and “anchor” babies, the birther controversies and supposedly rampant voter fraud, the “threats” of sharia law and Obama-caused Ebola, the whole rickety structure of falsehood and fear upon which conservatism has built its alternate reality. That’s the whole reason Fox exists — and CNN barely does.And it’s why Nicholson’s quote, tempting as it is, provides no proper moral for this story.It’s not that we can’t handle the truth. It’s that some of us prefer the lie.Pitts’ tone in this article is similar to McRaney’s in that it isa. informal and informatived. formal and detachedb. condescending and erudite c. vicious and sarcastice. defeated and regretfulPitts’s article is similar to Hesse’s in that it tries to convey its message by usinga. interviews with studentsd. an analysis of a scene from A Few Good Menb. statistics from reputable studiesc. a pattern of war or military dictione. a kind of psychological experiment on the readerPitts’ comment that “political discourse is increasingly a facts-optional exercise and reality now comes in shades of red and blue,” most closely mirrorsa. O’Brien’s understanding of truth, but while Pitts views this in a positive light, O’Brien views it in a negative light. b. Sanders’ tendency to “heat up the truth” when he is telling a storyd. Hesse’s mention of the recent publication of "True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society," Farhad Manjoo's exploration of the "cultural ascendancy of belief over fact." e. McRaney’s comment that at some point allc. O’Brien’s criticism of Rat Kiley’s deceitful storytelling stylenewspapers “screw up and get the facts wrong.” But “a reputable news source takes the time to say ‘my bad.’”Hesse, McRaney, and Pitts all agree that ____; but Pitts goes further to suggest that ____.a. the internet is making the problem worse; this amounts to brain washingd. technology is making it more difficult to discern what is true; there is no such thing as b. the brain has difficulty distinguishing between truth and falsehood; nothing can be done to fix the problemc. we tend to seek out information that supports what we already believe; we are aware that this means we won’t get the most accurate information, but we do it anywayobjective truth e. many people seek out reliable information; they are too afraid of being wrong to acknowledge the truth when they find itMatching: Using the choices from the box below, match the following examples with the correct logical fallacies. Answers may be used once, more than once, or not at all.a. ad hominem b. ad populumc. straw mand. red herring e. hasty generalization ab. slantingcd. post hoc ergo propter hocde. either/or ac. circular reasoningad. false analogyae. slippery slope A black cat crossed my path just before I tripped and broke my arm. Therefore, the black cat caused my broken arm. post hoc ergo propter hocPeople that protested against the war in Iraq were either Communists or Al Qaeda sympathizers. either/orAmerican education is in a sad state. Tests prove that we are lagging behind most of the developed world in math, science, and even English. Some people say that American schools could raise those scores if they abolished summer vacation and students were made to go to school all year long. That way, they say that students wouldn’t forget important information while on break. What we should really be considering, however, is what abolishing summer vacation would do to places like New Orleans and Florida, where seasonal tourism is such a vital part of the local economy. red herringMan O’ War wasn’t nearly as good a racehorse as the great Triple Crown winner Sir Barton. Heck, he couldn’t even manage to win the Kentucky Derby! [The speaker fails to mention that Man O’ War was never entered in the Kentucky Derby, and that he beat Sir Barton in a match race.] slantingLots of people have downloaded this new Imagine Dragons song, so it must be good. ad populumBill Clinton never served in the military. To have Bill Clinton become president, and thus commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States, is like electing some random person you met on the street to fly the space shuttle. false analogyCruz is the best presidential candidate because he is better than all of the others. circular reasoning[News broadcast] In today’s top story, Senator Smith carelessly cast the deciding vote today to pass both the budget bill and the trailer bill to fund yet another excessive watchdog committee over coastal development. slantingI’ve met six people from Boston, and they were all terrible drivers. Everyone in Boston must be a terrible driver. hasty generalizationI know you’re not getting enough sleep, but you’ve got to stop drinking so much coffee! Pretty soon the caffeine won’t be strong enough. Then you will take something stronger, maybe someone’s ADHD medication. Then, something even stronger. Eventually, you will be doing cocaine. Then you will be a crack addict! So, stay away from the coffee! slippery slope ................
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