“Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” is my favorite story from The Things They Carried so far. Mary Anne herself was a fascinating character to me, from the moment she landed at the camp to her mysterious “disappearance” into the jungle by fourth-hand account. Her transformation from something recognizable, familiar enough that she could be someone I know, to a Green Beret wearing a string of tongues around her neck was equally fascinating to witness. During our class discussion we entertained the speculation of what actually happened to Mary Anne, what this transformation was and what she transformed into. We didn’t really pin it down, but I’d like to put forth my own theory; Mary Anne didn’t become part of the jungle or mountains, and she didn’t just go crazy--rather, I think she witnessed the true horrors of the war as a clean slate, and the war affected her so deeply that the war became part of her, and eventually took over. I saw Mary Anne’s story, from start to finish, as a metaphor for war and what it can do to people.
At the beginning of the story, Mary Anne arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, so unprepared for what was to come, much like her fellow Vietnam soldiers. However soon she was put into situation after situation that pushed her to her limits. She showed that she wasn’t what the men expected, just like the war wasn’t what they originally expected. Eventually she got “out of control” and everything was done to rein her in before things got too bad. However, just when things calmed down she went completely off the deep end. I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this, but just like Mary Anne a war can be going so well before it turns at the last minute.
The final confrontation scene provides the most convincing evidence. Mary Anne was still beautiful from a distance, but up close proved horrible and grotesque (necklace of tongues = the victims a war takes, eh?), which reminded me of O’Brien’s description of how a war can be “almost nice,” especially when she says, “I know what you think, but it's not... it's not bad." Also, when she says, “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 there inside me,” besides being extremely disturbing, it’s also a blatant metaphor for war--how it eats the land, leaving nothing in its wake. I think this seen shows that Mary Anne has not only been affected by the war, but in some sense is the war.
Finally, Mary Anne’s mystical disappearance at the end further proves my point. No one really knew what happened to her except through stories, just like in a war, and her disappearance was sudden but somewhat a relief. The fact that the soldiers still felt the need to be on the lookout for her, though, is exactly how many feel about war, and Mary Anne’s elevation to myth/legend status shares a likeness with how wars are spoken of after they happen.
I’ve rambled enough about this, but overall--Mary Anne drove men crazy (just like war), and I enjoy this story, whether it’s “true” or not.
