California High School Exit Examination, essay 4

Pappert, 10^th Grade

California High School Exit Examination, The Things They Carried - Essay #4

✎ REMINDER

✎ Write your response to the writing task below.

✎ You may give your writing a title if you like, but it is not necessary.

✎ You may NOT use a dictionary. If you do not know how to spell a word,

sound the word out and do the best you can.

✎ You may either print or write in cursive.

✎ Write clearly! Any erasures or strike-throughs should be as clean as

possible. 

Writing Task:

In the chapter “The Man I Killed”, the narrator gives many details about the man he killed and confronts emotions of guilt and confusion.  In the chapters “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes”, O’Brien writes of Norman Bowker’s isolation and sadness towards a particular  event in the Vietnam War.  The chapters reflect many of the ideas presented in three interviews from Frontline – specifically, the emotions soldiers struggle with, and why they struggle with them.

Write an essay in which you discuss the emotional effects of war based upon the three Frontline interviews.  Describe what the emotional responses are like and explain why they have them.  What are some of the difficulties soldiers face in dealing with these emotions? Include specific references to the interviews in your response.

Checklist for Your Writing

The following checklist will help you do your best work. Make sure you do the following:

·       Read the description of the task carefully.

·       Organize your writing with a strong introduction, body, and conclusion.

·       State a thesis responsive to the task and support it fully with specific details and examples.

·       Use words that are appropriate for your audience and purpose.

·       Vary your sentences to make your writing interesting to read. Check for mistakes in grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and sentence formation.