War and women, something that didn’t mix quite well back in the 1950’s. O’Brien believes otherwise; he believes that women are just as strong as man and in some instances can be even stronger than men. Mary Anne Bell, a very important character with a very interesting role. She is Fossie’s sweetheart who he brings to war. O’Brien describes her as a very pretty, innocent and girly girl, who is brought to a horrible, bloody war. Although women weren’t always in battle many of them volunteered and they were mostly nurses, physicians, air traffic controllers, intelligence officers, and army medical specialist corps. In the story “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, while the soldiers were at an area that was unguarded and seemingly safe, one soldier …show more content…
In the story, she decides to leave and join the Green Berets. After going on an ambush with the Green Berets, Mary Anne is infiltrated in the war. Within a matter of time she becomes the leader of the Berets, which is not very easy. Fossie tries his hardest to tell her to go back home; it’s like he is saying that war is not for her. As if he thinks she is going crazy because she wants to take part in the war. It’s totally understandable why he would want her to go home. However, it is a way of underestimating women and their capabilities. When Fossie discovers where Mary Anne is, he sees that Mary Anne “had crossed to the other side. She was part of the land. She was wearing her culottes, her pink sweater, and a necklace of human tongues. She was dangerous. She was ready for the kill.” (Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong.184). A very misleading comment about Mary Anne because she can be seen as crazy but in reality she is just a strong woman taking on a role at war. Foisse on the other hand was found outside Mary Anne’s little bunker “head bowed, he was swaying to the music, his face wet and shiny- the kid looked up with eyes, not quite in register, ashen and powdery.” (Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong 103). Fossie’s behavior shows us that it was not women who were weak of mind but it was men. Foisse could not come to realize that his Mary Anne was
Mary Anne was introduced in one of Rat Kiley’s stories. Mark Fossie had been dating her since the sixth grade and even had plans of marriage, so one day she showed up to war. She started the war very innocent and curious. She wore a pink sweater and was very friendly (89). By the end of the war, she was a completely different person. She had turned into a “greenie” at war. Eddie had even found her with a human tongue necklace (105). One day Mary Anne disappeared. Some even say she is now a part of the land, and that she crossed to the other side (110). Mary Anne is introduced to show the audience how much war can actually change a person. The things that the men see and experience during the war can make them a completely different person. War can make people lose themselves. Mary Anne proved this. I also feel that being in a new place that you have never been, can make you realize something what you really love. This was also the case for Mary Anne. She had never experienced anything like the war, so after being a part of it, I think that she had a thrill from it. This can also relate to many people today. Often times when someone goes into college or another chapter of their life, they realize thing that they enjoy, without even knowing. Mary Anne had discovered a part of her life that she loved, without
Exposing the Truth in Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong "Dear Mom and Dad: The war that has taken my life, and many thousands of others before me, is immoral, unlawful, and an atrocity," (letter of anonymous soldier qtd. In Fussell (653). Tim O'Brien, a Vietnam War vet, had similar experiences as the soldier above. Even though O'Brien didn't die, the war still took away his life because a part of him will never be the same.
In the short story, “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” by Tim O’Brien, the author shows that no matter what the circumstances were, the people that were exposed to the Vietnam War were affected greatly. A very young girl named Mary Anne Bell was brought by a boyfriend to the war in Vietnam. When she arrived she was a bubbly young girl, and after a few weeks, she was transformed into a hard, mean killer.
Mary Anne Bell is a character who was sent to Vietnam for a purpose. It seemed as if Mary Anne was the one that would be the one who would support Mark Fossie and better yet, to get married while they were in Vietnam so that their childhood dreams would come true. The war is something and somewhere that can make a person experience 180 changes. It seems as if Mary Anne Bell’s a person who’s lost her cute personality after she was just too involved with the war that was going on. It has been said that a war can truly change a person so much that they can lose all their old characteristics or better yet, their appearance.
The war story named "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" relates to the third part of the quote, which says "where nice boys (girls) were attracted to them". The story was about a girl that was changed dramatically by the Vietnam War.
Pat Barker's riveting World War I novel Regeneration brilliantly exemplifies the effectiveness of fiction united with historical facts. While men aspired to gain glory from war and become heroes, Regeneration poignantly points out that not all of war was glorious. Rather, young soldiers found their aspirations prematurely aborted due to their bitter war experiences. The horrible mental and physical sicknesses, which plagued a number of soldiers, caused many men to withdraw from the battlefield. Feelings of guilt and shame haunted many soldiers as they found themselves removed from the heat of war. Men, however, were not the only individuals to experience such feelings during a time of historical upheaval. Women, too, found themselves at war at the dawn of a feminine revolution. One of the most contentious topics of the time was the practice of abortion, which comes to attention in chapter 17 on pages 202 and 203 of Barker's novel. Through Baker's ground-breaking novel, we learn how men and women alike discovered that in life, not all aspirations are realized; in fact, in times of conflict, women and men both face desperate situations, which have no definite solutions. Illustrated in Barker's novel by a young woman named Betty, and many broken soldiers, society's harsh judgments worsen the difficult circumstances already at hand.
"From Home Front to Front Line." Women in War. Ed. Cecilia Lee and Paul Edward Strong. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. The Churchill Centre. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
Mary Anne used to be known for keeping a soldier sane like Martha. However, Mary Anne went to Vietnam and was changed by the war. O’Brien helps break the stereotype of women by having Mary Anne joining the war, showing women can do anything a man can do. If a man can become a hero, so can a women. If he can fight in the war, she can too.
Mary Anne was a bright girl and she wanted to learn all that she could about the war and the land. Her new found purpose becae to find as much as she could about the culture while she was in it. She often went for nature walks and began to learn the Vietnamese language/culture . Even her personality began to change. But eventually she began to learn about guns and war. She started to spend her free time cleaning and shooting. This began the downward trail to her becoming a camo wearing jungle woman.
Mark Fossie arranges a way to get his girlfriend down to Nam and a big change happens. Fossies girlfriend, Mary Anne Bell, was straight out of high school only seventeen years old. Once she gets there Fossie is the happiest man on earth. Just watching her dance and goof around making him get a grin on her face. She starts to hang around all the men and having a good time. Mary Anne begins to act a little more like the troops by not being afraid to get dirty and become a stronger fearless woman. She goes out with them into the woods, learns how to disassemble and shoot an M16, and to feed/hunt on her own. Then she starts acting less and less like the girl Fossie met on the first day Mary Anne came to visit. In the novel O’Brien says “her body seemed foreign somehow- too stiff in places, too firm where the softness used to be. The bubbliness was gone. The nervous giggling, too. When she laughed now, which was rare, it was only when something struck her as truly funny.” (O’Brien 94-95) which is showing how much the atmosphere there has changed her. War has changed her. The hot days, dirty jobs, and around all the dangerous forest area that could hold the enemies. She is becoming distant of Fossie and a whole new different person. O’Brien also says “In the evenings, while the men played cards, she would sometimes fall into long elastic silence, her eyes fixed on the dark, her arms folded, her foot tapping out a code message against the floor.” Which also shows she had changed. More distant and almost gives off a lost feeling in her eyes. She begins to come back really late at night and sometimes not coming back at all. In the end Mark Fossie approaches her after listening to her beautiful singing and tries to figure out why she has change or why she almost seems to have no interest in him anymore. She
...as Mary Ann in the novel show that women can do so much more than sew and cook. Without women, all wars would have been a lot harder. Although men tend to keep a macho facade in order to calm others (such as the women in their lives), inside they may be like glass, easy to break. A society set on the ideal stoic, fearless warrior who acts ruthlessly and saves the damsel in distress (also showing that women are weak) obviously is one where doomed to sexism. Without the comfort and inspiration, men would have deteriorated in the face of death. All and all, women provided the needed comfort, nursing, “manpower”, and love that the soldiers of Vietnam need, something that helped them endure the havoc of war. O’Brien’s expert use of the feminist lens allows the reader to know that women indeed were a powerhouse in the Vietnam war, without whom, men would have perished.
Since the war began women were led to believe that they were the ones who had to be the patriotic sacrifice until the men came home from war. The film reveals how the government used the media to alternately urge women to give up such elements of their feminin...
Through the lenses of Mark Fossie and the men in the Alpha Company, Mary Anne becomes an animal and is completely unrecognizable by the end of the story. Mary Anne, however, states she is happy and self-aware. The men of the Alpha Company argue for virtue in that Mary Anne was “gone” (107) and that what she was becoming “was dangerous… ready for the kill” (112). They did not want to accept a woman becoming something different from what women always were. In “How Tell to a True War Story” we are told that a true war story “does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior” (65).
In Daisy Miller, Henry James slowly reveals the nature of Daisy"s character through her interactions with other characters, especially Winterbourne, the main character." The author uses third person narration; however, Winterbourne"s thoughts and point of view dominate." Thus, the audience knows no more about Daisy than Winterbourne." This technique helps maintain the ambiguity of Daisy"s character and draws the audience into the story.
In the short story, “Girl,” the narrator describes certain tasks a woman should be responsible for based on the narrator’s culture, time period, and social standing. This story also reflects the coming of age of this girl, her transition into a lady, and shows the age gap between the mother and the daughter. The mother has certain beliefs that she is trying to pass to her daughter for her well-being, but the daughter is confused by this regimented life style. The author, Jamaica Kincaid, uses various tones to show a second person point of view and repetition to demonstrate what these responsibilities felt like, how she had to behave based on her social standing, and how to follow traditional customs.