Elene Bezarashvili War and change the book the things they carried written by Tim O’Brien provides examples of young men who are going through the path of change during Vietnam war. Even author himself experiences and characterizes this change and shows influence of war on soldiers. war changes people and their sense of identity and place in society as well as their moral.
One of the soldiers who is going through rough time after war is Norman Bowker. Bowker feels a sense of uncertainty, isolation and alienation from himself and society. He find that he is questioning
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at the beginning Mary Anne is a young innocent girl. Through the story which Rat Kiley is retelling Mary Anne changes: physically, mentally, morally, and becomes socially independent and isolated form society. First she is wearing makeup and wearing fancy girly things, but later She does not wear makeup or girly clothes, her view on her future plans change, she is shortens her hair and changes style of dressing.”A girl that’s the only difference, and I’ll tell you something; it didn't amount to jack. I mean, when we first got here - all of us- we were real young and innocent, full of romantic bullshit, but we learned pretty damn quick. And so did Mary Anne”(97) After her physical change only difference between her and soldiers is the gender and experience, but later she radically shifts to another person, she finds a soldier inside herself. In war She lost her girly manners, identity, and her innocence. “ Sometimes I want to eat this place. Vietnam. I want to swallow the whole country— the dirt, the death — i just want to eat it and have it inside me. That’s how i feel. It’s like…appetite. I get scared sometimes— lots of times—but it’s not bad. You know? I feel close to myself.” (111) In war she finds her feelings and way of living. Even thought she changes she spiritually finds path were she feels everything she wants to …show more content…
For character of Tim war was Brotherhood of soldiers who shared same guilt, same fear, even thought they all where hiding their emotions they were all common innocent boys who shared all same feelings in war. “I envied him—all of them. Their deep bush tans, the sores and blisters, the stories, the in-it-togetherness. I felt so close to them, yes, but I also felt a new sense of separation.” (194)During war Tim’s character is turning evil, envious character who is seeking to revenge on Bobby gorgers and all soldiers cause they isolate him from brotherhood. “I felt something shift inside me. It was anger, partly, but it was also sense of pure and total loss: I didn’t fit anymore. they were soldiers, I wasn’t.” (198) the Change occurs in Tim he losses his identity and reputation in society, he is isolated. Also the Shift happens in his character the feelings inside him kindle, he gets more severe, cold, angry and dark. “I’d turn mean inside. Even a little cruel at times. For all my education, all my fine liberal values, I now felt a deep coldness inside me, something dark and beyond reason. It’s hard thing to admit, even to myself, but I was capable of
Anything can change a person if they are not ready for that change. The short story Sweetheart of The Song Tra Bong, in Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien represents this by showing change in Mary Anne, who is a character the reader probably would not expect to see in a book about the Vietnam War. There are many parts show the change in her from the average high school girl she used to be into a predatory killer, but there is only one reason for her change, and that is the war itself.
It is a well known fact that experiencing war changes people; there is an innocence that is forever lost. In Tim O’Brian’s, “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, Mary Anne Bell is an unusual example of the innocence that is lost in war because unlike the rest of the soldiers, she is a woman. Mary Anne’s transformation from innocent “sweetheart” to fierce warrior left readers with mixed emotions because although Mary Anne felt at peace with her transformation, she was also disconnected from reality.
Tim’s embarrassment manifests itself into a vision of people yelling at him, causing more embarrassment. Of course, they are not really there. However, this thorough description of people yelling at him, calling him a turncoat and a traitor causes the reader to understand the embarrassment he felt that made him go to
War. War does something to the mind, it changes they way you are, it turns you into someone you won't recognize. The chapter “Sweetheart Of The Song Tra Bong” from the story “The Things They Carried” By Tim O’brien, shows a young adult woman who has been sent to war to see her boyfriend, using the psychological lens you can see how war changed who she is. In the beginning of the chapter you see this young girl named Mary Anne, she has a boyfriend at war, his name is Mark Fossie.
In the fictional novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien vividly explains the fear and trauma the soldiers encountered during the Vietnam War. Many of these soldiers are very young and inexperienced. They begin to witness their acquaintances’ tragic demise, and kill other innocent lives on their own. Many people have a background knowledge on the basis of what soldiers face each day, but they don’t have a clear understanding of what goes through these individual’s minds when they’re at war. O’Brien gives descriptive details on the soldiers’ true character by appealing to emotions, using antithesis and imagery.
He lived in a “simple minded patriotic” town, even though Tim never conversed with most of them; he held them, their “prideful ignorance” and their “acquiescence” personality accountable for his decision to uphold the honour society has instilled within him. This is evident when he states “ I feared the law.I feared ridicule and censure.” (page 5). Which reveals he fears being mocked for being a patriotic disgrace, “Traitor! They yelled.” (page 15) and the need to live up to expectations so he doesn’t lose the respect of his parents, “I feared losing the respect of my parents.” (page 5). The thought of losing his honour made Tim recognized that he could no longer run away from his situation, instead he must restore the honour he tarnished. This is evident when he claims “ And what was so sad, I realized was that Canada had become a pitiful fantasy.” (page 14) and “I gripped the edge of the boat and leaned forward and thought. Now. I did try.It just wasn’t possible.” (page 15). These examples exposes the idea that Tim was unable to disappear from his current dilemma and they only way for him solve this problem; was to reestablish his image. Even if deep down he knew that this wasn’t the right choice, he could not live with the
In this sense Tim feels very betrayed because his family and friend are
If Tim O’Brien does not change something in his characters he will not make a good point on war’s effect on peoples’ life. For example, also if Mary Anne Bell and if Timmy does not change the reader will not learn something from that chapter because that in the novel Tim O’Brien was trying to send the reader message about how war and a loved person death can change and effect people in a horrible way. If a person fights in war he or she usually change in a negative way and in the novel Tim O’Brien mostly focuses on the negative change caused from war but he also talks about positive changes like when he makes friends. The theme of change always takes a huge role in many novels, T.V shows and
Mary Anne adjusted to the life in Vietnam, as did the soldiers that were there, and as time progressed she began to enjoy or get a thrill out of being in Vietnam. "I mean when we first got here-all of us- we were real young and innocent, full of romantic bullshit, but we learned pretty damn quick. And so did Mary Anne,"(97). The learning curve in war is quickened by the fact that it is a matter of life or death when you are working in a war, and it did not matter who you were the you quickly learned how to operate in a battle field. Mary Anne did not fit in a first and did not know or understand her role in the war, and just like the fresh soldiers coming from America did know or understand their role in the war. As the soldiers, as well as Mary Anne, begin to realize the realities of the war they move their focus away from their homes in America and begin to focus on the work that needed to be accomplished in Vietnam. The physical changes that occur to Mary Anne as she begins to be assimilated into the Vietnam War are like night and day. She came as your typical American girl, but then becomes a fighting soldier looking and anticipating ugly war
The biggest avoidance Norman Bowker faces is by taking his own life. Tim claims “Eight months later he hanged himself” (O’Brien 154). He took the ‘easy way out’ of not dealing with any of his feelings and numbness. He avoided talking about it, explaining himself, and sharing all the traumatic dreadful events that happened to him during the war.
This chapter covers the transition of Mary Anne Bell, of how she changed from being a normal, sweet teenage girl to being one of the Green Berets, filled with enthusiasm for the war and intrigued with the culture of Vietnam. This message is about how the innocence of women is consumed by the war and how once they begin to learn more about it, they are hopelessly entranced by it, far from returning to their usual selves. Rat talks about how, “Anne made you think about those girls back home, how they'll never understand any of this, not in a billion years. Try and tell them about it, they’ll just stare at you with those big round candy eyes. They won't understand zip.”(O’Brien 108), and this shows that women won’t understand what Vietnam really is like, they have to experience it themselves. Women also won’t understand the grueling mental pain that soldiers experience in the war.
Change In The Things They Carried a war novel by Tim O'Brien, we are told many short stories compiled to make a whole. I want to emphasis on the importance of the chapter "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong". In this chapter we are introduced to the character Mary Anne. She shows the changing power of Vietnam, that a sweet innocent young girl can come into this land and be forever consumed by her surroundings. The speaker show us this through character action, character description, dialogue and metaphor; this enhances the literary work by showing us that the soldiers will always be a part of Vietnam no matter how hard they try to get away from it.
He believes that their is a possibility that people are needlessly dying for a war that doesn’t make any sense. This makes him an outsider in his hometown because the way that he views this war is vastly different from his home town. Tim doesn’t get the sense of pride in his country for joining the war like his community does, and he asks questions about the war that he feels that his community won’t ask because of their patriotism, and viewing the war as something to be proud of.
Norman Bowker keeps his thoughts to himself, because of his difficulty expressing his emotions. He could not find the words to show and tell others how he felt from his experiences from the war. In doing so Bowker carries all the damage that war can do to a man during and after the war. The crucial healing process that includes telling one’s stories and thoughts of the war was something he could not do properly. Bowker had a possible chance of some therapy through the story in the book from O’Brien, but the story is not told in the correct way to Bowker’s true feelings, and leads to his emotional burdened death.
When she first arrives, she is described by Rat Kiley as a: “cute blonde – just a kid barely out of high school – she shows up with a suitcase and one of those plastic cosmetic bags.”(pg. 94) She is also said to be wearing “white culottes” and “sexy pink sweater”, stereotypical female outfit, where colors pink and white could be a trick used by the author to emphasize on Mary Anne’s innocent and sweet nature. Her young age, cosmetic bags and culottes, all serve a purpose in character, mostly to show the difference between how with a change of inner self, the same items, such as culottes, can be distorted with the hideousness of one’s nature. Also the fact that in the end of the chapter she is seen to be wearing a tongue necklace shows her change based on the way she dresses. During the novel, the stories about the first days of the soldiers are omitted, and Mary Anne is the only character whose development is shown from the day one to the very end. Nevertheless, the brutality and the change the war brings to one’s nature are visible not only in Mary Anne. Characters like Rat Kelley, Dave Jensen, Azar and even Tim O’Brien are also shown to have outbursts of cruelty, upon which the war can be