Pagel 1

The Things They Carried​ One Pager

In Tim O’Brien’s novel,​ The Things They Carried​, the vignette “Sweetheart of the Song Tra
Bong” revolves around the compelling story of Mary Anne in the midst of the Vietnam war, in which her
change in appearance symbolizes the loss of identity for many soldiers who were traumatized by the war.
At the beginning of the vignette Mary Anne is arriving in Vietnam and unaccustomed to its
horrors and the sheer amount of work necessary to survive the war. She is portrayed as stepping out from
the helicopter with her “long white legs and blue eyes and a complexion like strawberry ice cream”
(O’Brien 89). Not only does her description scream innocence, but her “white culottes and sexy pink
sweater” reveal how unprepared she was for war and the landscape of Vietnam (O’Brien 86). Her long
white legs and blue eyes are a depiction of the American dream girl and signify how almost all of the
soldiers were once innocent, naive American boys who went to Friday night football games and
homecomings, with no thoughts of war, death, or loss of self identity. Her clothing is bright and pure
without the stains of war similar to how the soldiers’ uniforms and consciences looked when they first
arrived in Vietnam. These descriptions set the foundation for how much Mary Anne and the American
soldiers in Vietnam will change and rapidly lose their sense of self.
Further into her stay in Vietnam, Mary Anne begins to adapt to her surroundings and changes
from her pure teenage-self into a soldier of war. She no longer wears “cosmetics, [nor] fingernail filings”
and, instead of having her long blonde locks, she “cuts her hair short and [wraps] it in a dark green
bandanna” (O’Brien 94). Additionally, her “hygiene became a matter of small consequence” to her as she
focuses on learning her surroundings and how to work the artillery (O’Brien 94). This transition from her
previously being primarily concerned with her looks and hygiene, to a state of focus and determination to
learn all that she can in order to assist the troops, represents how the soldiers had to give up their routines
and cleanly nature for one that would best equip them to survive the war. Although Mary Anne is very
welcoming of these modifications, the majority of the soldiers resented this change that was forced upon
them when they entered the war. O’Brien illustrated this change by using Mary Anne and her appearance
because society views femininity and war to be far more juxtaposing than masculinity and war. Therefore,
the change in the soldiers would be much more evident when placed next to a woman. Undoubtedly,
Mary Anne has developed from a young sheltered woman to an inexperienced soldier of war at this part
of the vignette.
Succeeding weeks of her being involved in the Vietnam War, Mary Anne completely loses her
identity and becomes one with Vietnam; her essence dependent on the war’s violent nature. After a night
of staging an ambush, Mary Anne comes back to the camp hardly recognizable with “a bush hat”, “filthy
green fatigues” and her face “black with charcoal” (O’Brien 98). The juxtaposition of her charcoal black
face with her previously white unblemished skin is an illustrated representation of how war can turn
something pure and unmarred into something damaged and corrupted. Despite her fiance, Mark Fossie,
attempting to force her back into the attire she wore prior to the war, consisting of “a white blouse [and] a
navy blue skirt” with her hair “freshly shampooed”, Mary Anne’s heart and soul had been obliterated by
the war and she was unable to refrain from her newly acquired violent and dirty disposition (O’Brien 98).
This context of Mark Fossie forcing Mary Anne to act as if the war had not changed her is a direct
comparison to how society expected soldiers to come back from the war physically and emotionally
identical to the way they were prior to leaving for the war. As Mary Anne revealed, this is not conceivable
in most cases. Near the end of the vignette, Mary Anne is indifferent to those around her and, far from
being innocent, she now represents the grotesque part of the war with her chosen jewelry of “a necklace
of human tongues” that were “threaded along a length of copper and wire” with each “tongue overlapping
the next” (O’Brien 106). Mary Anne was no longer the virtuous girl she was prior to Vietnam; she was
now an unrecognizable soldier with no sense of self. This global issue of loss of identity is evident
throughout the novel with Mary Anne’s appearance playing a major role in its illumination.