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LLT 180.2 - Heroes at War
Study Guide
Homer
LLT
180 – Study Guide – Homer
Know the
following characters (who and what they do)
Human –
Agamemnon (Atreides), Achilles, Calchas, Menelaus, Nestor, Odysseus, Diomedes,
Ajax (the Greater, son of Telemon), Chryseis, Briseis, Thersites, Patroclus,
Hector, Andromache, Priam, Hecuba, Paris, Helen, Aeneas, Helenus
Divine – Minerva, Jove, Juno, Apollo,
Neptune, Vulcan, Mars, Venus, Diana, River Scamander
Topics to Mull
Over (be ready to write on)
- Qualities and leadership of Agamemnon (actions by
which they are shown)
- Qualities and leadership of Achilles (actions…)
- Qualities and leadership of Hector (actions…)
- What skills in a soldier are most admired by Greeks
and Trojans?
- What skills in a king/chief are most useful to
Greeks or Trojans?
- What actions are considered shameful by Greeks or
Trojans?
- Why does Homer call Achilles the ‘best of the
Achaeans”?
- Why is Achilles so important to the Achaean troops?
- How is this war different from modern infantry
fighting? How, the same?
- Which, if any, of the ‘heroes’ of the Iliad
would you want to be like? Why?
- What purposes does the ‘display of forces’ in Book
2 serve?
- What handicap(s) do the Trojans have in this war?
What advantages?
- How is Hector’s situation/position/duty different
from Achilles? How the same?
- Are there international ‘rules’ to this war? (i.e.
any conventions that both sides recognize and can be counted to agree upon)
- Are there common values between the Greeks and
Trojans?
- Perceptions: How does the war sound? What does it
look like?
- How do the gods behave?
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LLT 180 – Study
Guide – Crane
Know the following characters (who they are; what they do):
Henry Fleming, Jim Conklin, Wilson, Jimmie Rogers, the lieutenant, the captain,
the colonel, the general.
Know Army ranks, enlisted and officer, in order and know
unit terminology (brigade, regiment, company).
Be prepared to ask questions of Professor Piston and
Captain Koch on Crane—and ready to comment and to write upon the
information that each guest shares.
Topics to ponder:
- What is Henry Fleming’s notion of a hero in war at the
start of his military experience?
What does he view as
shameful behavior in war? What is his greatest fear going into combat?- How similar or different are your views of war heroism
to Henry’s?
- What does combat in the Civil War look and sound
like? Do film recreations match Crane’s descriptions?
- What sort of leadership do the officers of Henry’s
unit provide?
- To whom does Henry, as a new private, look for
leadership?
- What is his first combat experience like in Chapter
5? What are his emotions at this point?
- What are Henry’s emotions in his second combat event
in Chapter 6?
- By Chapter 11, what is Henry’s picture of ‘the hero’?
- How does Henry get his wound in Chapter 12? How does
it change his outlook afterwards?
- What are the emotions of his experience in combat in
Chapter 17?
- What is your view of Henry as a soldier? Is he
heroic?
- What are the dominant emotions of combat as described
by Crane?
- How is combat in the Civil War different from combat
for the ancient Greeks? What values are different in 19th
century America? What values are the same?
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LLT 180 Study Guide –
Remarque
Know the
following characters (who they are; why the narrator talks about them):
Müller, Katczinsky (Kat), Tjaden, Albert Kropp, Paul Bäumer, Corporal
Himmelstoss, Kemmerich, Kantorek
Be prepared to ask questions of Captain Herzberg and
former Master Sergeant Batson on this book and on their own experiences and to
write about them.
Note the particular hardships of Trench Warfare in WWI and
the differences between Paul’s experience and that of Henry Fleming in the Civil
War.
Check the web link to your course page on conditions in
the trenches.
Ponder and be prepared to write on:
- What attitudes towards the war did Paul and his
classmates have when they enlisted?
- What differences are there, in your perception,
between the behavior in war that the Germans value and the
combat behaviors that were valued by Americans in the 1860s and by the
Greeks in the Iliad?
- Do the attitudes and reactions to war of Paul and his
group seem foreign to you?
- What are Paul’s biggest concerns once he gets into the
war?
- Paul Bäumer is a young rookie at war, to whom does he
look for leadership? Who teaches him about survival?
- How does WWI combat look and sound?
- What surprised you most about the content of this
novel? (Be prepared to respond with details.)
- Is Paul Bäumer’s relationship with his mother similar
to or different from Henry’s in Red Badge? What problems does Paul
have when he goes home on leave?
- How are battle wounds regarded by the men in Paul’s
group?
- What do Germans think about this war as expressed in
Chapter 9 by Paul’s comrades and at home during Paul’s leave?
- Do handout poems written by English, Canadian, and
other participants in this war square with (that is, do they give the same
picture of combat as) Remarque’s description of the war on the German side?
- What do Paul and his comrades consider ‘heroic’? What
behavior do they praise most highly?
- Do you find anyone in this novel behaving heroically?
Specifics?
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LLT
180.2 Study Guide - Shin
Know the political context of the Korean War.
Be able to locate Korea on a map of Asia, and to locate the
cities of Pusan and Pyongyang on a map of the Korean peninsula.
Observe battle and civilian conditions in Korea as
depicted in the Korean film ‘Tae Guk Gi’.
Be ready to ask Prof. Shin questions about his experience
in the Korean War – and ready to write upon the information he shares during our
videoconference, November 13th.
Be ready to question US Korean War veterans Denzil Batson,
Bob Brose, and Doyle Cox, and to write on the information they share with you.
Topics to Ponder (based on the book, film, and
interviews):
- What are the values of the Korean people and of the
ROK (Republic of Korea) Army during the Korean War?
- What values did Shin bring to the military, developed
by his culture and family?
- What issues were uppermost in Shin’s mind during his
service as he recollects it?
- What effect did the landscape and climate of Korea
have on troops?
- What are the special difficulties for a soldier
fighting in his own homeland as displayed by Shin?
- Does Shin recount any actions that you would call
heroic?
- Do you share any of Shin’s values, in or out of the
military?
- Are Korean conceptions of excellence, ‘heroics’,
different from those displayed by Homer, Crane, or Inui?
- What are the particular hardships of the Korean War
for Koreans?
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LLT 180.2 -
Study Guide – Vietnam
Know the following people from McDonough’s book (who they
are; what they do): Phil Nail, Jim Barnes, John Killigan, James King, John
Hernandez, Nhan, Chong, Miss Ky, Larry O’Brien, Pete Spangler, Robert Palloman
Be able to find Vietnam on a map of Asia.
Be ready to ask questions of Jack Hunter (and any other
guest) and to write about what you learn from him.
Be ready to answer questions on the video of McDonough.
Be ready to compare the Vietnamese experience in this war
and the Vietnamese view of the US to that of American GIs,
based on the film Green Dragon.
Topics to Ponder (based on book, film, guests, video of
McDonough):
- Values that McDonough, as a junior officer in the
infantry and the Platoon Leader, emphasizes with himself and his men
- Values that McDonough has in common with other
Lieutenants or other officers that you have observed.
- Actions covered by the book, the film, or class guests
that you would consider ‘heroic’.
- Particular hardships of combat in Vietnam, especially
terrain and weather
- Relationships between western soldiers, American and Vietnamese
- American leadership qualities in Vietnam (McDonough’s
& Hunter’s)
- How well what you learn about Vietnam from class
sources matches your previous impressions of that war.
- How closely the values of McDonough and other Vietnam
veterans looked at match your own
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