Mary Ann Bell In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Unfortunately, unlike Tim O’Brien, Norman Bowker cannot endure his life post-Vietnam War, and he incessantly reflects upon his memories of combat. Even after returning to his hometown and attempting to live normally in society, Bowker feels completely removed from the rest of his community. Additionally, as a Vietnam veteran, the American public believes that he and his fellow American soldiers have failed in liberating Vietnam from the communists, and therefore he and other veterans deserve to be largely ignored and unappreciated (Wells 455). Bowker feels especially isolated because the people in his town do not care about him and his well-being. Also, he cannot cope with his post-war disabilities and anxiety, which renders him unable to keep

Originally, Bell had traveled to Vietnam to visit her boyfriend Mark Fossie, who served in the US military. She met everyone at the camp, and all of the soldiers saw her as a pure and innocent girl who would not be able to survive in Vietnam during wartime (O’Brien 92). However, Mary Ann undergoes a dramatic shift in character the longer she remains in Vietnam. She begins to gain interest in the activities of the soldiers and becomes more invested in Vietnam itself. Disappearing for hours at a time, Bell starts to participate in the raids with other soldiers and fights alongside some of the best soldiers there. Beginning with her arrival in Vietnam, Mary Ann’s personality changes from someone who conforms to society and would marry a soldier to someone who rejects the All-American sweetheart stereotype and becomes a soldier herself (Weil 38-39). Her wholesome and virtuous image before going to Vietnam has begun to thoroughly

Mary Ann evolves into someone completely new as a result of her presence there: “Mary Ann becomes other than Mary Ann, turning instead into some new, unidentifiable entity who simultaneously registers displacement and substitution through her physical transubstantiation into the imaginative landscape of Vietnam” (Chen 91). Her change is also illustrated by her mindset that shifts to better suit her surroundings: “In times of action her face took on a sudden new composure, almost serene… A different person, it seemed” (O’Brien 93-94). When Mary Ann begins to participate in combat, she becomes an unrecognizable person to the whole squadron that had been there to greet her upon her arrival to Vietnam. She develops a tranquil yet deadly composure, which vastly contrasts with her initial appearance of innocence and youth. Additionally, Bell also becomes more assertive and authoritative; the soldiers observe her drastic change in personality: “There was a new confidence in her voice, a new authority in the way she carried herself. In many ways she remained naïve and immature, still a kid, but Cleveland Heights now seemed very far away” (O’Brien 94). She has only stayed in Vietnam for short while, but she has transformed so dramatically that her hometown of Cleveland Heights now seems extremely distant and removed from where she is now and who she has become. Bell’s