In Country Activities

In Country Activities

Choose from among the following activities (some of which were suggested by the Maine Association of School Libraries). Whichever you choose, the essay or project is due before break. Please send your choice to me at e3cp@sunspark.com

1. The Culture of In Country

There are references to popular culture in the mid-eighties made throughout the piece. Songs, movies, and television programs are mentioned on almost every page. (This is a multi-part project and involves all of the following.)

· Create a list of the various references. How many of them are known to people your age?

· Listen to samples of the music mentioned and watch clips from several of the television programs. Evaluate the references and discuss whether or not they make a positive contribution to the story or if they cause the book to become dated.

· Organize a display of memorabilia from the sixties and seventies. (Include ideas such as peace signs, flags, Hair [the musical] love beads, Woodstock.) On a large poster or in a powerpoint presentation, explore why some of these artifacts have been rediscovered.

2. The Legacies of the Vietnam war.

· Economic depression of the 80's

· Returning soldiers from Desert Storm vs. welcome of Viet vets

· Vietnam’s effect on American politics

· Southeast Asian refugees.

· My Lai

· Vietnam vs. Iraq

Research one of these topics and write an essay of several pages based on that research. If possible, connect your discoveries to what you have read in In Country. Carefully footnote your essay and include a bibliography of sources as well as tables, illustrations, etc.

3. Vietnam in Hollywood

There are a number of movies that have been made which depict what life was like in Vietnam and what it is like now to a be a veteran of this particular war. Watch at least three different Vietnam movies. (Be sure to get parental permission if you are under 17 and the film is rated R.)

Some good ones include:

· Born on the Fourth of July

· Good Morning, Vietnam

Choose one of the following:

a. How do the veterans in these stories compare with the veterans mentioned in In Country? Make a comparison chart, powerpoint presentation, or video project illustrating the similarities and differences of the characteristics you encounter.

b. Compare/ contrast films about Vietnam released during the war (e.g. Green Berets with John Wayne) or shortly afterwards with films produced later. Trace the change in public opinion.

c. Define "propaganda." What are the characteristics of a piece of propaganda? Classify the films. Which films can be considered propaganda. Justify your answers.

d. The long-running television program M*A*S*H (which is about Korea but which was popular during the years immediately following Vietnam) is mentioned several times in the book. Watch several episodes and go back to find a few examples of its connection with the story. Does it present its war in similar ways to the similarly-themed Good Morning, Vietnam? Explore the role of M*A*S*H in In Country in an essay or presentation.

4. The Veterans of Vietnam

A review from the San Francisco chronicle states, "Mason's message is simple: The war dead are us - we are them - and whatever political stance we took with regard to Vietnam, we are all Americans united by one past, one flag, one history." Create a written response to this review keeping in mind some of the attitudes and problems that the Veterans face in today's society. Interview someone who was in Vietnam or has strong memories of the Vietnam era and someone you know wasn't alive during this time. Write a comparison of their views.

5. Essay Opportunities

Choose one of the following:

a. "He is sitting there cross-legged in front of the wall, and slowly his face burst into a smile like flames." Emmett smiling in front of the wall is the last image in the story. Why is he smiling? Why do you think Mason chose to leave the reader with that particular image? Explore these questions in connection to the role Emmett plays in this novel’s central ideas about Vietnam and Sam’s presence as the undisputed main character. (Why end with Emmett?)

b. Explore gender issues in In Country. This is a rare Vietnam War book told from the perspective of a young girl who was never in country. How does Mason use Sam’s character to illustrate the impact of the war? How do the blurred gender lines created by Sam and Emmett affect our interpretation of the novel? Would this novel have worked if the main character had been a teenage boy? If it had been Emmett himself?

c. Examine symbolism in In Country. What is the function of the various elements that Mason uses to tell her story like the egret, the swamp, the flooded basement, the hippies outside of Sam’s grandparents’ house, the Vietnam Memorial, the VW, the map on Pete’s chest, the collection of ears, Moon Pie, etc.