Warning! Use only material from this course to write your essay. Outside sources will not be graded and even worse could be considered plagiarism.

Exam 1 Essay Question: 100 pts

Please use The Things They Carried and lecture material covering everything from The 1920s through Vietnam to write your exam essay.

Length/Format: The best essays tend to be the equivalent of 4-5 double-spaced pages 12 pt font which is approximately 1500 words total. Please indent each new paragraph.

Prompt: *Discuss the historical validity of the following statement:

During times of crisis, cultural icons shaped ordinary peoples lives as much as intimate friendships and personal recollections.

*By historical validity, we simply mean how true is the statement based on the evidence you decide to use form the course? You can argue that the prompt is false, true, or partially true or false.

Extra Credit (5 points) In the introduction of your essay, please underline or put in bold your argumentative thesis (which explains not just what you are arguing in the essay but why). Please underline and/or put in bold the topic sentence of each paragraph (this is a mini argument that starts each paragraph).

Hints: Strive to write essays that go beyond the 5-paragraph rule you may have learned in high school. The questions tend to be more complex and need more than just three examples (paragraphs to make) to make an argument.
I attached all lecture material notes and the things they carried book.