The Portrayal Of Gender In Sweetheart By Mark Fossie

909 Words2 Pages

Mary Anne Bell, Mark Fossie’s girlfriend, arrives in Vietnam in her pink sweater and culottes, suitcase and cosmetic bag on hand, epitomizing the perfect American girl and the perfect girlfriend to an American soldier. Willing to drop her life in the suburbs of Cleveland, she takes four flights and a chopper to visit her high school sweetheart. A change occurs in her behavior as her curiosity allows her to spend time becoming more directly drawn into and infatuated with the dynamics of war, losing the previously perceived innocence and becoming an intimidating figure. Elroy Berdahl, the quiet, elderly hotel manager who O’Brien claims “saved” him (48), is portrayed with an emphasis on his silent wisdom. He is completely detached from war, yet …show more content…

The “Sweetheart” anecdote is a portrayal of the instability of gender instead of a reinforcement of specific gender stereotyping or misogyny. “Mary Anne wasn't afraid to get her hands bloody. At times, in fact, she seemed fascinated by it…No time for sorting through options, no thinking at all; you just stuck your hands in and started plugging up holes. She was quiet and steady. She didn't back off from the ugly cases.”(98) In just the span of a few days Mary Anne goes from Mark Fossie’s pretty, feminine, devoted girlfriend and perfect future wife, to a woman literally hands-deep in the products of violence. In many ways, she becomes a representation of an ideal soldier, falling comfortably into confidence and uniformity fairly quickly and challenging her boyfriend’s masculinity, then taking a liking, however extreme, to violence and …show more content…

Elroy generously offers O’Brien money and shelter and, without ever betraying his feelings regarding the situation, helps him to make a decision by taking him by boat toward Canadian waters. The qualities Elroy possesses are admired by O’Brien as courageous, to the point that his experience and wisdom makes him something larger than humanity, a man above men, meant to be revered. “He didn’t speak…And yet by his presence, his mute watchfulness, he made it real…He was a witness, like God, or like the gods, who look on in absolute silence as we live our lives, as we make our choices or fail to make them.”(60) Elroy is watchful, and though quiet, he is not passive and O’Brien hints about his extreme intensity. Seemingly indifferent, O’Brien holds him in the highest regard as his savior, and as someone who just “knew”, without having to be told. Elroy teaches him how to live among books and newspapers, and about splitting firewood. His masculinity is tinged with domesticity, experience and patience, which distance him from fighting and from war, completely opposite of Mary Anne’s descent into masculine

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