Friday, April 25, 2008
You Just Don't Know!
In the chapter, Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong, we are told a story about a girl named, Mary Anne Bell. To me, Marry Anne seem like the feeling many man felt about Vietnam. She was young and innocent and does not know what is going on but at the end she becomes part of Vietnam. "She was part of the land" (116) as Rat explained. Like the men, they had no idea what was going on, but they can never forget about Vietnam because it is part of them. They were all young innocent. Why do you think that O'Brien added this part and told a story with a girl. What does she signify to you?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
I believe that Mary Anne represents the typical young soldier and his/her transformation to a killing machine. Her case is a bit extreme, but all in all that is what she represents. Their is another post on this in the post archive called Rat Kiley's Stories, so if this subject interests you look it up.
The girl was a metaphor for everything that happened in Vietnam. It didn't matter whether the story of the girl was true, because what was in it was true. It happened to all of them. Once they started they could never go back.
How about her transition from a dream to something more like a nightmare? She was an ideal--something beautiful, and the war made her ugly...there was no romance.
Very true, there's another post. And I dunno which one to post on. Well, crap.
Ah well, this one is more likely to get attention now.
I think that Mary Anne is an extreme case, as Han Solo said. But then again, those of us who have read ahead or have finished the book know that this is sort of a big part of "The Things They Carried"--exaggeration and poetic licence.
I agree with bob and han. she symbolized all those innocent teens being taken in by the war. Taking those kids to a place where they could never turn back
I think that her character represents a lot of the innocent people that went into Vietnam. They are start out naive but then the war becomes a part of them. It shows how people were changed in major ways during the war and were forever affected.
The character of Mary Anne Bell represents all the men going into war. They were not sure what to expect and they were so young and innocent you would have never expected them to be in the war. No matter how hard they try not to be affected by the war they can't help it, the war becomes part of every soldier, whether they like it or not. She also shows how much a person can be changed by war.
The character Mary Anne Bell represents how man soldiers went into the war young and came out old men basically. They were changed and never will be the same. They saw things happen that should never be done much less seen by a bunch of young men. Mary Anne is a metaphor for how ugly war is. Many people try to to glorify war but there is nothing glorious about it.
Mary Anne signifies how easily things/people can change. Because in a matter of weeks, Mary Anne rapidly became a new person. It seemed like the war had just eaten up all of her feelings until she had none. To me towards the end of the chapter she didnt even seem like a real person any more. War affected her alot differently than the men. She was a bit extreme..
Mary Anne represents the change that most young soldiers that go to war go through. Though the changes that a soldier goes through may not be as drastic as Mary Anne's, every soldier will come out of a war with a different attitude or a transformed view on life. The fact that a girl went through this kind of transformation just shows how much a war can affect a human being.
I agree with most of the comments on here. I believe that she does in fact represent most of the innocent teens that went to the Vietnam War. Most of the teens were so innocent and scared out of their minds. No one knew exactly what was going on. Everybody that went to the war, no matter who, was affected in some type of way. This affect did not just go away either. I think it changed who they were as an individual forever.
Mary Anne reprents the civilized part of them that was there when they just got to vietnam and a part of them that is waiting for them at home.
I think the main message when the girl was that this war sucked people into what was going on. Inside each soldier became just as much apart of Vietnam as Mary Anne did, she just made herself more physically involved. The war captured many people's personalities and souls.
Post a Comment