The Things They Carried: Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong

Question: What transforms Mary Ann Bell into a predatory killer? Does it matter that Mary Ann is a woman? How so? What does this chapter tell the reader about the nature of the Vietnam War?

Answer:

            Mary Ann Bell comes to Vietnam in the middle of the Vietnam War as a young, innocent and naïve girl. Slowly, she begins to expose herself to the harsh realities of war and seems to accept them very well. She’s surrounded by injured soldiers who have missing limbs and bleeding profusely and visits a village where the children were unclothed and people were probably underfed. It’s not surprising that these events could easily begin her descent into insanity since they are far from anything she has ever seen before. Also, as she feels the rush from adrenaline while assisting the medics, she might start to crave that feeling and do more and more things to get it. Between her adrenaline hunger and the shocking events she recently saw, she decided to go with the Greenies, which probably encouraged both preexisting problems and maybe made her desire the wilderness as well. As she continues to spend more time with the Greenies, she changes. By the time Mark tries to stop it, she’s already changed and his efforts just push her away. She leaves with the Greenies and gets sunk in deeper and deeper until she’s gone forever. In short, it seems that Mary Ann couldn’t handle the horror of wars or resist the addicting feelings of adrenaline and the wilderness.

            It is important that Mary Ann is a woman. At the time, women are viewed as simply sweet and gentle. When Mary Ann arrives, they assume that she won’t turn dangerous because she is a woman and that’s not how they are. However, just like some men do, the war quickly changes her and she loses her mind. The Vietnam War changes people. Sometimes is just makes boys into men or it brings the courage and leadership out in people. However, other times it breaks people. It gives them the taste of blood or shows them things that they can’t handle seeing and they go crazy. Either way when someone goes into this war, they come out as a changed person.