Unit Title: Against Forgetting

by Andrew Rummel

Student of Education at University of Minnesota Duluth

Vocabulary

I
But how can I tell their story
if I was not there?

When two of them met
far away
on an unfamiliar street corner
they could not know if it was
a first meeting
or a farewell.

They could not know who was looking at them
from the quadrangle
of that window.

Reporting every movement
every movement of their lips.

I was looking at them from another country
and I cannot tell their story.

I was calling from another country
and the phone was always busy.

II

Show me a word I can use.
Show me one verb.

An adjective as clear as a ray of light.
Listen carefully to the bottom of every sentence,
to the attic and the dust in the furniture
of every sentence,
perk up your ears,
listen and look under the bed
of every sentence

at the soldiers waiting their turn
at the foot
of the bride's bed.

To preserve just one word.
What is it to be?
Like a question of a quiz show.
If you could take one word with you
to the future,
what is it to be?
Find it?

Plunge into the garbage heap.
Stick your hands deep into the ooze.
Close your fist around the fragment of a mirror
fractured by feet that dance on what should have been
a wedding night.

Let me tell you something.
Even if I had been there
I could not have told their story.

III

I was calling from another country
and the phone was still busy.
I was trying to call home
and the machine had just swallowed
my last dime.

IV

As for the story I cannot tell,
They accumulated tenderness
as others accumulate money.

Ask them.
Even if the phone is busy.
Even if the machine has just swallowed your last dime.

Even if the operator drowns out all the other voices.
Ask them for the verse our lovers will still need
if we are ever again to bathe
in the same river.

Let them speak for themselves.

Poem by Ariel Dorfman. I apologize that the poem is not in the original form.
Translated by Ariel Dorfman and Edith Grossman.

Prefatory statement --
This unit has been influenced and inspired by the poetry anthology, Against Forgetting , Edited by Carolyn Forché. This unit examines the interconnection between literature and the ways it expresses history. The unit is divided into three parts. The first part is the whole class activity of reading many sources and looking at the different ways the sources portray a certain time in history. As a whole class, the students will all read a novel and study the different aspects of history in the novel. After learning the different ways to discover aspects of history in a novel, the students will examine a separate part of history and research how a certain novel, group of poems, and other resources reflect their chosen topic. The second part of the unit is the small group work, which will consist of a group presentation on a different time period or event. Each group will decide on a topic and present to the class. This presentation is connected with the individual part. For the presentation each student in the group will present on the research they have done on their groups historical event. The third part of the unit is the individual chapter or paper each student will write about the research they completed. The final product of this unit will be a literary history journal which will have each student's chapter in it. Ideally this journal could be placed in the library for future use, otherwise each student will get a copy. Each paper or chapter will include a comparison between what a literary work or works say about an historical event and the history presented in the text books used in school.
The students will ultimately study the Vietnam War from the variety of view points. The students will read a novel, poems, and short stories which deal with Vietnam. Always looking at the different ways in which poets and writers record and express history in their writing.
This topic is important because students will learn to gain insight into a part of history through literature. This will teach one way students can critically read a piece of literature. This topic is important because often times works of literature depict history in different ways then text books. I believe this unit can be positive in culturally diverse classroom, because students have the opportunity to read literary work from their own heritage.
Underlining this unit is the idea that one reason literature is written is to stop humans from forgetting the horrible things in our history. If we do not forget about these events, we hopefully will not repeat them. Another reason for remembering is to honor the people who have survived and not survived historical events. This idea is expressed in the anthology of poetry, Against Forgetting .

Class specification -- This unit would work the strongest for 11th and 12th graders, but it could be adapted to fit any high school grade level. The depth of research and the literature studied can be changed easily. The whole class topic can easily changed to another historical event, such as World War I. The poems, short stories, and novel I have used here could be easily replaced. Students of a Vietnamese background might feel tension with this topic in the class, but if handled correctly it should be no problem as long as the teacher has the class look at the perspective of these students as shared, accepted, and respected. The students will be asked to look at the act of remembering from the aspect of the personal and the public. I really think remembering is an important usage of the historical fiction genre. I could see students not interested in war being at first uninterested in the topic, but the lessons of this unit have more to do with remembering. Many of them can be connected to personal lives with the right questions and assignments.

Significant assumptions -- In writing this unit, I have assumed that:
-literature, poetry, art, and music are doorways into history.
-students can effectively learn from each other.
-literature and poetry can be looked at for historical evidence.
-students will enjoy the work once they see that they have some control over their learning.
-students can take newly learned techniques for reading and apply them to other areas of study.
-journaling can be effective technique to get students to engage in a piece of literature.
-literature can accurately record history.
-students can learn through creative processes.
-reading and writing are both creative processes.

Standards to be met -- I want my students to discover that history is recorded in many more ways then just through history books. I want them to understand that the details of history are often affected by opinion. I want the students to understand the significance of remembering. I want them to read literary works critically and research a piece of history which is interesting to them. The standard this fits is the standard "History through Culture" under that state standard heading of inquiry or research and report. This standard includes the study of history through the study of literature. The students will develop their ability to think and write critically about literature, compare and study history through literature and traditional history texts.

Possible Whole-Class Activities :
-Discussion of historical evidence in a number of texts.
-Discussion of ways in which a variety of texts are used to remember.
-Read assigned texts.
-Respond to ideas of teacher and classmates from journals.
-Watch and discuss a movie about the Vietnam War and compare it to the texts we have been reading.
-Analyze propaganda and its relationship to literature in history and today.
-Discuss the importance of remembering.

Possible Small Group Activities :
-Writing groups for papers that are due.
-Discussion of questions and topics of class.
-Discussion of propaganda in history and in own life.
-Group research on propaganda related to group's historical event.
-Group work on presentation of material about the historical event.
-Group presentation.

Possible Individual Activities :
-Reading sources outside of class for presentation and paper.
-Paper about historical time period and works read outside of class.
-Watch and write a review of a film on the historical event.
-Write a letter about being drafted in the Vietnam War.
-Weekly papers.
-Complete a creative project about historical fiction or poetry studied or about the theme of remembering.

Ongoing Activities -- Response journals are kept throughout the entire unit. The students can write about the whole class reading assignments and about the individual and small group projects. These journals can be used to find out how research is going and a good place to give suggestions. The group presentation will be due the final week of the unit, but the presentation proposals will be due a week before that. The final paper will be due the previous week to the presentation. The class will work in small writing groups to work on and revise their final papers.

Student Resources:
- The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.
- Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien.
- Journal/notebook
- Library access

Unit Launch/ Anticipatory Set/ Set Induction --

Title: Introduction into topics about Vietnam. Unit Launch

Rationale : This lesson will have students thinking about the issues surrounding the draft of Vietnam. It will allow students to connect with the stories and poetry we will read in the weeks to come. The reason for the writing assignment is for students to practice articulating themselves through writing and in a difficult situation.

Methods:
A. I announce that everyone in the class has just gotten letters announcing they have been drafted. I will state the laws of the draft and the options of going to Vietnam, refusing to go and going to jail, and dodging the draft by running away or hiding out.
B. The students will write for five minutes everything they know about the Vietnam war, including historical facts and family histories.
C. I will read the story, "Open Heart With A Grunt" by Jim Northrup.
D. I will then read the poem, "wahbegan" by Jim Northrup.
E. The students will begin writing a letter to their parents or guardian. They will write a letter saying that they have been drafted. They have to decide whether they could go or not. If they go their parents don't want them to, if they do not go, their parents would want them to. This letter is to be two pages long. It should tell parents or guardians when the students will be going to Vietnam or going somewhere else and why they shouldn't worry. If students choose to go with the draft, they should tell their parents why they have chosen to do this. If the students are dodging a draft, they must say why they have chosen this. Some in class discussion might be needed to get students to look deeply at the reasons for their choice. Students should console their parents because it is not likely that the students will return and if they return it is likely it will not be for some time.

Organization of the Unit :

Week 1 : We will read a history's book version of the Vietnam War. Is there bias in the recording of history in this text? What is the purpose of this record of history? We will then read excerpts from Howard Zinn's chapter on Vietnam in The People's History Of The United States Of America . How does this version differ from the text book version of the war? Why is it different? We will compare and contrast these two history sources. Why are they different? What is the purpose of Zinn's version of history? We will read the short story "The Things They Carry," focusing on what the story says about the Vietnam War. There are two writing assignments for this week besides the dialogue journals. The first is the letter to the parents, guardian, or other relative, about being drafted. The second is a short creative paper on what things they would carry if they were in war. This first week they will also be divided into small groups and pick events in history that they will study in these small groups. Each member will pick a specific literary piece, whether it is a novel, short stories, or a collection of poems, to study. For instance students could study the Cultural Revolution in China by reading the book Red Azalea by Anchee Min (which is about a teenage girl's life during the Cultural Revolution) and poems by Bei Dao (whose poems were read at the Tiananmen Square demonstration.) Another example would be for a student to read A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway and read All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.

Week 2 and Week 3 : We will start reading Lake of the Woods . We will look at the novel and how it portrays the historical event of the Vietnam War and the lives involved in the novel. We will look at the importance of remembering and what happens when you suppress history. What are the moral consequences of a war? As we read the novel the class will be looking at the characters and their actions. Discussion about the historical aspects of the novel will occur as the class comes across them. The first reading will be pages 1-46. Discussion will be based on the characters and the impressions of the students. What are the consequences of keeping the history a secret, personally and in society? These two weeks will include in class silent reading time. Reflection papers on the novel will be due on the Fridays of both of these weeks.
This group of questions are only ideas for possible discussions. Some questions for the novel as a whole: What does O'Brien accomplish by using actual quotes from the Court-Martial Testimony? As the students read have them pay close attention to the senses of remembering. How do our senses help us remember? Do you have any specific memories that go with certain sounds, smells, words, sights, or textures? What sense memories does John have about his marriage? What about Vietnam and events from the village?
--On page 17 O'Brien writes ". . . what if everything that happened could not have happened because of those other happenings?" Discuss the idea and the different angles of asking what-if. Also use the poem "What Happened When He Went to the Store for Bread" by Alden Nowlan. This poem deals with the interconnection between events.
--Throughout the novel O'Brien has several chapters titled "Evidence." In these chapters he quotes outside sources without directly connecting them to the characters in the book. These chapters are the essential to talking about this book and its uses of history. Why does O'Brien use the Thomas Pynchon quote? What does it tell us about John? What does it tell us about Kathy? How do all of the quotes apply to John or Kathy? On page 37 the idea of humans need to believe is expressed. Why do we need to believe? What do we need to believe in? What do are characters need to believe in?
--pg. 53-54. Discuss the question of why from Kathy about John and how it is related to John's question of why and his fathers death.
--pg. 59. Why did John go to war?
--pg. 62. Notice the repetition of crying "you." What does the lady in the magic shop know?
--pg. 72. O'Brien writes, "History was a secret." Teachers could link this to the Bob Marley song "War." The importance of owning history.
--pg. 109. Sorcerer refuses to remember. What does this do to his life? What does it do the people around him?
--pg. 136. O'Brien uses the quotations from the court martial trial and other real stories. What are the ways O'Brien uses history to create historical fiction? How is this different from the other stories and poems we have read?
--pg. 139. What does the use of the Geneva Convention quotation tell the reader? Does it affect your view of John?

Week 4 : We will focus on propaganda. Can literature be propaganda? What makes it so? We look at historic fiction as a tool for remembering. Discussion on the importance of remembering. (see lesson plans for both propaganda and remembering.) At the end of this week will be the unit test. The students need to have completed their research to write on the essay questions. The test is about their topics so that the students can use what they learn in their final paper.

Week 5 : We will work on the finishing up the papers and working and completing the class presentations.
Detailed plans for three days of the Unit --

Title : Using actual events and people in fictional literature.

Objectives : The students will gain an understanding of the uses of historical events in literature in the story "Open Heart With A Grunt." Students will discuss the how a reader knows if events are fictional or historically accurate.

Methods :
A. I will read the short story, "Open Heart With A Grunt," by Jim Northrup. (10 minutes)
B. We will discuss the story and the ways in which Northrup uses true information. This discussion should focus on the ways Northrup uses the form of short fiction as a way to tell an seemingly actual event. The discussion could also include talking about how a reader knows if a story is true, partially true, or completely fictional. I will bring the student's attention to the use of actual cities and accurate detail. (15 min.)
C. I will hand out the quotation from the beginning of Tim O'Brien's book, In The Lake of the Woods . The quotation is:
Although this book contains material from the world in which we live, including references to actual places, people, and events, it must be read as a work of fiction. All dialogue is invented. Certain notorious and very real incidents have been altered or reimagined. John and Kathy Wade are creations of the author's imagination, as are all the characters who populate the state of Minnesota and the town of Angle Inlet in this novel.

I will also give the students the quotation which is at the beginning of Tim O'Brien's, The Things They Carried . O'Brien quotes, John Ransom's Andersonville Diary. "This book is essentially different from any other that has been published concerning the "late war" or any of its incidents. Those who have had any such experience as the author will see its truthfulness at once, and to all other readers it is commended as a statement of actual things by one who experienced them to the fullest.

The discussion of these quotations and what their connection to the prior discussion we were having earlier in the class period. Discussion should lead to actual events in a work of literature. (20 min.)

D. Homework introduction (5 min.)
Assessment: I will know if the students have met my objectives by their reactions to the reading assigned as homework. I will assign the short story, "The Things They Carried." The journaling assignment of picking out information which they think is actual and information they think is made up. The students will be encouraged to write any personal ideas, thoughts, or emotions in the journals at any time throughout the unit. The second assignment is a short one or two page writing about what they would carry if they were in a war situation.
(This lesson is for the early part of the first week of the Unit.)

Title : The purpose of language and writing that surrounds the students lives and the propaganda of war. This lesson can lead to the future development of the question of whether literature can be propaganda or not.

Objectives : Students will start to look at the language that surrounds them critically. They will gain an understanding of language as always having a purpose. The students will then look at the language of history and examine the purpose of a specific text or literary work.

Rationale : This lesson will point out that fact that the writing that surrounds the students lives has purpose. This lesson will lead into future discussion on writing about Vietnam and the use of writing about horrible experiences to show that we as a society need to be "Against Forgetting." The students will later read an introduction to a chapter of poetry about Vietnam in the anthology titled, Against Forgetting .

Methods :
A. I will show a clip of the television show The Simpsons. The clip will be on the topic of shameless propaganda, which this show parodies often. I will bring in old articles from magazines, pamphlets, and newspapers. I will have the class look at certain examples and examine what the purpose of the examples are. (10 min.)
B. I will have the class divide into small groups and examine what the purpose of the examples are. (15 min.)
C. We will gather as a large group and have the small groups present what they discovered (20 min.)
D. I will introduce the homework with some similar examples, but they will be from local resources. (5 min.)

Assessment : The assessment of this lesson will be done through the homework assignment. Students will write a short paper (3 pages) about propaganda they have found in their own lives, whether from television, newspapers, radio, or any other source they can discover. The paper will be due on the next Monday to assure that the students have time to listen and read closely to the information that surrounds them. They can look at the purpose of anything from commercials to larger ideas such as news reports. If looking at commercials it might be important to point out how products try to cut or change the competitions appearance. An example of this is the Sprite commercials where they attack the way they themselves and other soft drink companies give away "free" prizes.

Title : Against Forgetting

Assumption/Rationale : One reason for historical fiction is to remember or, more accurately, it is to refuse to forget. Historical fiction, in literature and poetry, often records events. These historical events are recorded from the perspective of the individual and at times a larger population.

Objectives : The main objective of this lesson is for students to discuss the reasons it is important to remember our history. The students will examine how literature is used to remember and compare that remembering to the remembering of a history text book. After this lesson students will be able to look at how different cultures remember historic events.

Methods :
A. I will read the story, "Good Form" by Tim O'Brien. (5 min.)
B. The class will have a short discussion about the reasons the author gives for writing the war stories he has written. (10 min.)

  1. The stories bring people back to life.
  2. The stories put events in the present.

Assessment/Homework: I will know my students understand the importance of remembering when they write a reaction paper on this topic. I will ask them to write the paper remembering an event in their family's history. I would like them to interview their parents or family memories. If they can not interview a family letter, they can write about an important event for them personally. Included in this is the will be the reason why they think it is important for them to remember this event. They are welcome to be creative on this assignment and create a project which includes more than just writing. They can use poetry, pictures, or video-cameras. Or they can use any other art or resource they can think of.

__________________________________________________________

Unit Test -- An essay test to be given before the individual papers are due: I will hand out this excerpt from the poem Requiem by Anna Akhmatova:

Instead of a Preface
In the terrible years of the Yezhov terror I spent seventeen months waiting in line outside the prison in Leningrad. One day somebody in the crowd identified me. Standing behind me was a woman, with lips blue from the cold, who had, of course, never heard me called by name before. Now she started out of the torpor common to us all and asked me in a whisper (everyone whispered there):
"Can you describe this?"
And I said: "I can."
Then something like a smile passed fleetingly over what had once been her face.

TR. Stanley Kunitz and Max Hayward

Your test is to write an essay about what you read outside of class and tell me what is described. With detail answer the questions: What is remembered? What lives are being told of, what history is being recorded? Why is it important to remember these events and lives? Compare your sources with the novel, stories, and poems we have used in class. How does it record history differently? How is it the similar? You should interpret the above quote and discuss how the works you studied have described a historical event.

*This test will be corrected with comments and returned to the students in time for them to use the feedback and information they learned to add to their final paper.

Unit Assessment

Research Papers: Each student will write a research paper. The paper is about a time in history the small groups have chosen. Students must read the outside texts and write about what the source(s) say(s) about the historical event. Guidelines for sources are in this unit's grade contract. The students are to compare the source(s) record of history with that of a history text book. For the group presentations, each group will pass out a list of the sources the group has used and a brief summary of what the source is about. For example, if one sources is a novel, the summary should include biographic information about the author and a short description about the story. This can include personal opinion, but with the opinion the students should include the reasons they have formed this opinion. Each group should find an interesting way to present their information. They should be creative. To fulfill the "A" grade option students must complete a creative project to go along with the presentation and paper. This project could be a short story, poem or collection of poems, or any number of options. The creative project can be about the period the students have chosen to study, or it can be about the general theme of remembering. Ideas for the creative projects must be agreed upon with the teacher.

Suggested Topics :
The topics do not have to be limited to that topic of war. Students can do a social movement, the representation of a specific decade, or a historical moment in any history.

WWI-examples given above
WWII
the Cultural Revolution in China-examples given above
The Opium War
Civil Rights Movement
the 1920's in the United States
Movement Against Apartheid in South Africa

Because of the seemingly endless options for possible topics, I suggest that the teacher research the school library and public library to see the quality of sources for possible topics. I will give suggestions to students, but I am also open to allowing them to find sources on their own.

Grading Contract/Checklist
Everyone must complete the "C" option, and present quality work with the grade option you choose or you will be asked to revise.

C Option
- In-class participation in all activities.
- Whole class reading assignments
- Two journal entries a week.
- Research about small group topic.
- One source for the paper outside of class and the history texts version of your historical event or time period.
- 2 of the 4 weekly writing assignments
- Group presentation
- Participation in the small writing groups.
- Completion of the unit test
- Letter to parents or guardian about being drafted.

B Option
- Complete the C option and:
- 4 journal entries a week.
- 3 of the 4 weekly writing assignments
- Research paper and presentation using two outside sources and history book.

A Option
- Complete the B and C option and:
- 5 journal entries a week
- Paper on topic with 2 outside sources including a novel and if possible a selection of poetry.
- Do a creative project to use in your presentation. Some examples would be to write a poem, write a story, or to create a multi-genre journal. Any other ideas should be cleared with the teacher
- All 4 weekly papers.

Journal Guidelines :
Along with responding to specific questions or journaling topics, students should journal about any reflections, ideas, thoughts, questions, or impressions that they receive during any reading, discussion, or lecture during class. The journals are an easy way to ask any questions about the students' personal research papers and small group presentations. Students are encouraged to ask any question.

Teacher Resources :

Against Forgetting . Ed. Forché, Carolyn. W. W. Norton & Company: New York, 1993.

The Peace Terrorist . Masters, Carol. New Rivers Press: Minnesota, 1994.

Walking The Rez Road . Northrup, Jim. Voyageur Press: Minnesota, 1993.

In the Lake of the Woods . O'Brien, Tim. Penguin Books: New York, 1994.

The Things They Carried . O'Brien, Tim. Penguin Books: New York, 1990.

A People's History of the United States of America: 1492-Present . Zinn, Howard. Harper Collins: New York, 1995.