Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong

Mary Anne comes into the Vietnam War being an all American girl; time passes though,  and she becomes more passionate with the Vietnamese culture. It becomes kind of an obssession, an obssession that consumes her bit by bit. Eventually Mary Anne evolves into a savage, a killer. But how did her values change so dramatically in a matter of just weeks? Well maybe the chick isn't a killer, maybe she just emerges herself into the Vietnamese culture which we view differently than our Western-World background. But for the most part, it is not only this Asian culture that gets a hold of her, but its is the wilderness in the land itself. 

Imagine. You are in a war field. You live amongst the wonders of nature and  yet the terrors of technology such as guns and grenades sorround you as well. You seek protection and safety rather anything else, you cling to your life. Violence and threat sorrounds you; the only thing that can fight back is the same force of violence. It doesn't matter if you are a young, old, female, male, a newbie or a veteran--Bottom line is that you need to adapt to survive. Mary Anne surprised all of the men, they were very impressed by how this kid adapted to the wild war. However, Mary Anne didn't just physically adapt, but she also adapted mentally and a little too much I would say. It seems her mind did not hold up, it did not keep strong. The barbarious land and the culture consumed every piece of her brain, changing her moral and values. She became a savage, a killer. 

The reason why O'Brien allows Rat Kiley to tell the story is because he is the one who experienced it. Rat Kiley, since he lived this situation, was able to put in a lot of soul, voice and description in his story telling. On the otherhand, when Rat narrates the end which he did not experience, the passion in the story was lost. As a reader, I no longer found the story believable; primarily because the narrator himself wasn't too sure of what he was saying anymore. I do believe that Rat's story fits O'Brien's

criteria of a true war story. First of all because O'Brien claims a war story does no illustrate proper human behavior; of course, Mary Anne's wild side was deffinetly not the most exemplary behavior. The second criteria is that a war story is linked to obscenety, Mary Anne's actions do become repugnant at some points such as the tongue necklace. The third criteria that made this war story believabble is that it is so wild, astonishing and improbable that it is very possible that it did take place in a war setting.