In the story Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong in The Things they Carried byTim O Brian Mary Ann Bell goes from one end of the spectrum to the other. Mary Ann is brought in by her high school sweetheart, Mark Fossie. They aredestined to be married and live out the rest of their lives together.
In amatter of weeks she is transformed from a cute, blonde high school girl to aferocious animal of the jungle. Mark Fossie first toys with the idea of bringingher over from Cleveland and then goes through with it. Listen, the guy sendsher the money. Flies her over. This cute blonde- just a kid, just barely out ofhigh school- she shows up with a suitcase and one of those plastic cosmeticbags. Comes right out to the boonies (pg.
102). She is very young, at mostseventeen years old. She is pretty and has a great personality that all the guysappreciate. She is never afraid of the unseen horrors of the war. She thirstsfor knowledge about everything around her.
Mary Ann wants to know abouteverything and her desire for knowledge leads her to the loners of the war, thegreen berets. She starts by just going out on ambush with them then itprogresses more. The way she quickly fell into the habits of the bush. Nocosmetics, no fingernail filing, cut her hair short and wrapped it in a darkgreen bandana (pg. 109).
She breaks it off with Mark Fossie and doesnt wantto leave the bush. She does stuff even the greenies wouldnt do. She stayswith them until she eventually disapears. The greenies say shes still alivebut theyve never really seen her again.
She was one with the jungle. She wasyoung and innocent then became a ferocious hunter of the jungle. She wasdangerous. She was ready for the kill (pg.125).Book Reports
