The Sweetheart Of Song Tra Bong Character Analysis

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

In the chapter “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” Rat tells the story of a time when Mark Fossie, a soldier brought his girlfriend to Vietnam. She was a sweet gentle women who paid attention and learned fast. She gets along with everyone pretty well including the Green Berets. Mary Anne’s personality was changing, not just in front of the soldiers but also in front of Fossie,. According to the “Greenies” Mary was fearless, she would go and do stuff that even the greenies were afraid of. During ambushes, Mary would go off on her own and not come back for hours or days. One day she walked off by herself and never came back, from time to time the greenies would see her in the shadows, wearing her pink sweater and human tongue necklace.

Even though many supporters suggest that Ralph is a great leader, it is obvious that Jack is the best leader on the island. Since the boys set foot on the island, Jack was honest, and he never hesitated to express his feelings. “Human nature cannot be so irremediably bad if the arrival of one adult can immediately put everything to rights” (Reilly,10). This quote explains that when Jack was introduced on the island he was a great leader, and this made the boys realize they each have individual responsibilities in order to contribute to the group. While being honest, Jack demanded the group to do what he wanted, and the boys would obey him. “Jack at first demands to be called as at school, Merridew, the surname his mark of superior age and authority”(Oldsey 4). This quote illustrates that Jack immediately separated himself from the other boys on the island.

In the chapter, “The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, we meet an interesting character named Mary Anne. She was a seventeen year old lady who just got out of high school and went to visit her boyfriend Mark Fossie in Vietnam. It started out as just visiting a childhood sweetheart, except it all changed in a matter of weeks. Mary Anne began to take too much interest and she became engulfed in vietnam. She wasn’t all too careful, rather than her swallowing the land, she was swallowed whole by it. Vietnam changed Mary Anne into something she never thought that she would become, she changed into a lone soldier, physically, behaviorally and psychologically.

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.

In the novel, The Lord of the Flies and The Twelfth Night, the similar theme of adapting to different cultures become evident. However, other conflicts and difficult do arise when adapting to a culture different from one’s previous customs. While being far away from their homes not able to return, the characters from both The Lord of the Flies and The Twelfth Night begin to develop a new way of living. Being trapped or lost from one’s home and having to adapt to new surroundings, enables conflicts to arise and the characters can discover their true selves.

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of young British boys are left stranded on an island after a fatal plane crash in the midst of a World War. With no communication to the outer world and no presence or influence of adults on the island, Ralph, Jack Merridew, and Piggy are forced to take initiative if the group of hopeless boys want to survive. The group of boys experience a drastic change throughout their time on the island, a change that no one would ever expect to occur to a young group of primed British boys. The leader of the stranded choirists on the island, Jack Merridew, shows such a change that he soon persuades other boys to follow his savage actions as the novel progresses. Though the changes to Jack’s mental and physical characteristics advance slowly at first, the final personality of Jack is instantly taken over at the climax of the novel to a dehumanized savage. Jack’s innocence is corrupted by his inability to withstand a society without rules proving man's good essential nature is altered by the evil within society.

Jack gets mad at Ralph. Because he blamed by Ralph and he is always a lot of set up. This makes her get bored and go away from Ralph. Jack felt that he more deserves to be a leader. Then, this separate do not make him doubt at all. It is because Jack has an ability of hunting to survive on the island. In addition, there are other kids who follow him and accompanied him to keep each other. it make him sure for what he has decided. It show by Jack's speech when he says that Ralph was not the one leader who deserved,

As the days go by, Mary Anne is becoming more distant from Mark Fossie and more attached to the war. This is obvious when Mark Fossie asks her if she wants to leave Vietnam and she tells him that she does not want to leave, since everything she needs is in Vietnam. Later on, Mary Anne starts joining the Greenies, which is a group of elite army soldiers, who fight in the war. Mary Anne disappears and Mark Fossie ends up finding her with the Greenies, completely changed by the war and a different person. “Quietly then, she stepped out of the shadows… For a long while the girl gazed down at Fossie, almost blankley, and in the candlelight her face had the composure of someone perfectly at peace…’You 're in a place’, Mary Anne said softly, ‘where you don 't belong.’... Rat listened for a long time, then shook his head. ‘Man, you must be deaf. Shes already gone.’” (O’Brien, 105-107) As portrayed in the novel, Mary Anne is clearly too attached to the war and cannot leave Vietnam. She leaves Fossie for the war and joins the Greenies, since she cannot move on, for she is held back, due to the war. In a way, Mary Anne is a representation of war itself. She is an example of what war does to a soldier and how it can greatly impact their life, not letting them move on.

We meet people everyday that change for many different reasons. People change due to the people they are around, the places they live or simply age and surroundings. Just like people change in life, characters can change in movies and books. As a matter of fact the “Lord Of The Flies” by William Golding shows us many ways of characters changing due to their surroundings and people around them. “Lord Of The Flies” is a book about boys crashing on an island and getting trapped. The pilot of the plan is killed, but many of the boys survive the crash, boys soon realize there is no adult supervision. Soon the boys start to find each other on the island. In the book “Lord Of The Flies” the main character is Ralph and throughout the book he changes a lot. He changes from being a very young mature and civil kid to someone who is “savage” and doesn't have awareness in what he is doing. Ralph represents order, civilization and morality in the book and on the island.

Before entering Vietnam Mary Anne had an extremely bubbly personality. Before she came into the war, she would always wear fancy clothes, such as culottes. This is a true reflection of what her personality used to be. In a way, the changes that Mary Anne go through symbolize the changes that every

When Mary Anne came to Vietnam, she was described as “happy”(89), “curious”(91) along with having “a good sharp mind”(93). Mary Anne was just a normal teenage lady just out of high school and “the war intrigued her”(91) She enjoyed learning learning everything that the guys taught her. Her curiosity symbolizes how adventurous she could be, and foreshadows how lost she would become. Her sharp mind symbolized how ready she was to be in the combat zone and how fast she learned things.

Mary Anne’s initial personality was one that most would say is that of a typical American teen. Her relationship with Mark Fossie is the reason why she came over to Vietnam. They were the best of friends, “It was almost disgusting, Rat said, the way they mooned over each

Mary Anne’s story begins when her boyfriend, a soldier in Vietnam, flies her over to Vietnam so that he can see her. When she first arrives, she looks

All people change over time. They develop, mature, and leave their childhood behind. But what causes this realization of their own place in the world? Lord of the Flies, a fictional allegory written by William Golding, demonstrates the protagonist evolving throughout the story. Ralph matures from an easygoing and carefree boy to being aware of the inner demon residing in humans.