62 pages • 2-hour read
Spare Parts
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Summaries & Analyses
During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
PROLOGUE
Reading Check
1. What year does Williams’s brother, Lenny, leave for the Marine Corps?
2. Which two members of Williams’s family passed away within two years of each other?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Williams join the Marine Corps, as described in the Prologue?
Paired Resource
- In this video from Today’s Military, service members share their reasons for serving in the Marine Corps.
- This information connects to the theme of Education.
- What are some of the reasons Marines choose to enlist? How do they compare to and contrast with Williams?
CHAPTERS 1-2
Reading Check
1. On what island does Williams receive his military training?
2. What is the name of Williams’s drill instructor?
3. What is the name of the platoon guide that becomes Williams’s nemesis?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What are some ways that Williams’s drill instructor “digs” into new recruits, and why?
2. Why are Marine Reservists referred to as “spare parts,” according to Charlie?
Paired Resource
“Ask A Marine: What is different about the Marine Corps Reserve?”
- This brief video from the Marine Corps Recruiting concisely explains the difference between a full-time Marine and a Marine Reservist. It includes scenes from Marine training grounds and a shot of the yellow footprints that Williams mentions in Chapter 1.
- This information connects to the theme of Seeking a Sense of Belonging.
- Why are Reservists referred to as “spare parts,” and what does this imply about them? Do you think it is fair to refer to Reservists in this way? Why or why not?
CHAPTERS 3-4
Reading Check
1. What attitude does Williams have that several members of his platoon make fun of?
2. What honor does Williams win after creating a more efficient system for prepping rounds?
3. What devastating news does Williams receive on his third drill weekend?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Williams suddenly shout at his mother in Chapter 3, when she awakens him by flipping on a light switch?
2. Why does Williams begin to second-guess his commitment to join the Marines on his second drill weekend?
Paired Resource
“What New Marine Corps Recruits Go Through in Boot Camp”
- In this 16-minute video, Insider Business gives an inside look at the 13-week basic training program for the Marines Corps Recruiting, in which recruits endure a series of intense physical and psychological challenges.
- This information connects to the theme of Seeking a Sense of Belonging.
- How is Williams’s experience reflected in this video? Does this video align with his depictions of boot camp?
CHAPTERS 5-6
Reading Check
1. What specialized training school does Williams go to in California in June 1990?
2. What city does Hunter go missing in?
3. On what date does Williams get the call to go to war?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. In Chapter 5, what causes Williams to think that Marine Corps training could be improved?
2. Williams briefly considers trying to shirk his duty of going to war. What causes him to stay the course?
CHAPTERS 7-8
Reading Check
1. How many miles is it to chow from Tent City?
2. How does Sgt. Rodriguez discipline Williams when he gets the bunker-clearing station wrong?
3. In Chapter 8, what kind of pill does Williams refuse to take?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. In Chapter 7, what does Gunny Brandt do that evidences the racism directed toward Arab people?
2. In Chapter 8, what does Williams think causes the Marines to make mistakes in Saudi Arabia?
CHAPTERS 9-10
Reading Check
1. Where are the hungry children from who Captain Cruz explains are refugees?
2. What is the name of the Kuwaiti person who tells Williams of all the atrocities the Iraqi soldiers committed when they captured the city?
3. In Chapter 10, what kind of weapon is Williams unable to use due to his PTSD-related anxiety?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What sort of “trophies” do Williams and the rest of his platoon collect while on patrol outside Kuwait City?
2. What happens in Williams’s recurring nightmares when he returns from the war?
Paired Resource
“Recon Marine shares struggles with PTSD & what he’s doing to overcome them”
- In this 12-minute video, Veteran Marine George Briones shares his story of survival and discusses how fighting the Taliban led to his experience with PTSD.
- This information connects to the theme of Education.
- How does Briones’s experience of PTSD compare to Williams’s? What parallels are there between their stories?
EPILOGUE
Reading Check
1. What is one example of a trigger that spurs Williams’s PTSD at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom?
2. What three feelings led Williams to have the PSTD-invoked nightmares related to war, according to Dr. Miller?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What complex emotions surface in Williams when the war rhetoric begins to heat up in 2003, and how does he cope?
Recommended Next Reads
Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima by James Bradley and Ron Powers
- This bestselling non-fiction title chronicles one of the most iconic moments in American military history, when a group of Marines raised the US flag at Iwo Jima during World War II. Flags of Our Fathers is set decades prior to Spare Parts and chronicles an earlier heroic feat of the Marine Corps.
- Shared themes include Education.
- Shared topics include the Marines and the brutalities of war.
- Flags of Our Fathers on SuperSummary
The Great Santini: A Novel by Pat Conroy
- This iconic semi-autobiographical novel follows the story of a domineering father, Bull Meecham, and his ambitious son, Ben, who struggles with his father’s legacy.
- Shared themes include Seeking a Sense of Belonging.
- Shared topics include the Marines and family loyalty.
- The Great Santini on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
PROLOGUE
Reading Check
1. 1975 (Prologue)
2. His brother Lenny and his father (Prologue)
Short Answer
1. Williams joins the Marine Corps because he emulates his brother Lenny, and Lenny was a Marine. After Lenny’s death, Williams is inspired to follow in Lenny’s footsteps. (Prologue)
CHAPTERS 1-2
Reading Check
1. Parris Island (Chapter 1)
2. Sgt. Talley (Chapter 1)
3. Morrison (Chapter 2)
Short Answer
1. Sgt. Talley relentlessly questions the new recruits. He also beats them and pushes them physically to their limits. The purpose of this is to destroy their sense of self-confidence and security; Sgt. Talley wants to erase their individual identities to help them work as a team. (Chapter 1)
2. Reservists do not belong to any squad or platoon. (Chapter 2)
CHAPTERS 3-4
Reading Check
1. A “new-join” attitude (Chapter 3)
2. Outstanding Marine of the Drill (Chapter 3)
3. PFC Hurst died by suicide. (Chapter 4)
Short Answer
1. He explains that he is still experiencing the stress of training and that Marines often turn to anger when any emotion strikes them. (Chapter 3)
2. On his second drill weekend, Williams starts to see conflict and difficulties in the unit, like when Sgt. Krause berates PFC Hurst for his haircut. This makes Williams second-guess his commitment. (Chapter 4)
CHAPTERS 5-6
Reading Check
1. The Light Armored Vehicle School (Chapter 5)
2. Tijuana (Chapter 5)
3. November 18 (Chapter 6)
Short Answer
1. During his training at LAV school, he only spends two days on the firing ranges. He says there simply is not enough time to train Marines fully. Watching the combat-trained Marines fire LAV guns also makes him realize that his training is inadequate. (Chapter 5)
2. He ultimately decides that trying to find a way out would be dishonorable. He visits his father’s and brother’s graves in an effort to find his moral compass. (Chapter 6)
CHAPTERS 7-8
Reading Check
1. 3 miles (Chapter 7)
2. He hits him in the head with a two-by-four. (Chapter 7)
3. A Nerve Agent Protection Pill (Chapter 8)
Short Answer
1. On the bus, when loud rock music begins playing, the Arab bus driver pulls over. Before he can move, Brandt pulls a 9mm pistol and points it at the driver’s head. (Chapter 7)
2. He thinks these mistakes are all related to lack of training and sleeping on the job. The Marines are inexperienced; they are unfamiliar with night vision, driving in sand, and the rigors of war. (Chapter 8)
CHAPTERS 9-10
Reading Check
1. Palestine (Chapter 9)
2. Jabul (Chapter 9)
3. An M-16 (Chapter 10)
Short Answer
1. They look for artifacts of war, including AK-47s and Iraqi helmets. (Chapter 9)
2. In these nightmares, the enemy soldiers are advancing, and Williams keeps fumbling with his gear. He is unable to shoot his weapons to protect himself. (Chapter 10)
EPILOGUE
Reading Check
1. Fireworks; going to the beach and remembering the desert; watching war movies and seeing himself in combat (Epilogue)
2. Unpreparedness, incompetence, and powerlessness (Epilogue)
Short Answer
Williams is scared for, but also angry at and resentful of, the Marines being sent to Iraq. Even with these complex emotions, the Marine Corps still means a lot to him; they have shaped his entire identity. He copes by writing his memoir. (Epilogue)
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