Loss_of_Innocence

The Loss of Innocence In the story “The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, by Tim O’Brien, a soldier sneaks his girlfriend to Vietnam to stay with him in his medic compound, and she ends up becoming obsessed with Vietnam, absorbing the war, and eventually vanishing into the bush. Mary Ann Bell arrived in the medic compound bubbly and full of youthful curiosity, not unlike the soldiers when they first arrived in Vietnam. She came with more than just a pretty face. She represented what the soldiers left behind. As Rat Kiley stated, “...Mary Ann made you think of all those girls back home, how clean and innocent they all are, how they’ll never understand any of this...” (pg 113). She was their dreams, their youth, there escape, their future all in one package. Especially to her boyfriend, Mark Fossie, she was his future, his connection to normalcy and life after the war. When she changed, and ultimately vanished, it is as if the war stole every piece of him. Her transformation is quick, drastic and shocking. She makes the affect of the war tangible. Using a girl for the drastic transformation allows room for a love story to unfold, and enhances the sense of loss associated with the war. Mary Ann Bell and Mark Fossie were a picture of true love. They had been together since sixth grade, and planned to be together forever. When she first arrived in the medic compound, they spent every minute together. She is described as attractive, blond, blue-eyed and bubbly. The other medics liked her. She was unafraid and curious, asking questions and listening intently to the answers. She quickly adapted to life in the compound, and home became a distant thought for her. For Mark Fossie, she represented home and their future together after the war. She was his escape from the war. As Mary Ann began to absorb life in Vietnam, Mark Fossie became somewhat uncomfortable, yet proud of her eagerness and fearless quest for knowledge. Rat Kiley describes Mark Fossie as “proud, yes, but also amazed. A different person, it seemed, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it.” (pg 98). In the beginning Mary Ann and Mark spoke of their future often, and as time passed her tone changed and she became more focused on her new surroundings and less interested in her future as his wife. It was about this time that Mark Fossie began to mention her going home. He had held on to their life together for his sanity and now she was changing what that would look like. She insisted on staying. Her bubbly nature was replaced with a more intense focus. She claimed to be happier then ever in her life. The distance grew between them, and within weeks of her arrival she began coming in very late at night, and then one night she stayed out all night. She came back in the morning, and much to Mark Fossie’s dismay, had been out on ambush with the Green Beret’s. Mary Ann was immersing herself in the bush in Vietnam. For a few tense weeks after her night out on ambush, she stayed close to the medic compound and pretended to be satisfied there, to make Mark Fossie happy. Then one night she vanished with the Greenies. She was gone for weeks, and one night Rat Kiley saw her return in the night, but this time she didn’t come to the medic compound. She went to the Special Forces base with the Greenies. Mark Fossie was distraught. He confronted her and found a different girl. She wore her pink sweater, but around her neck she wore a necklace of human tongues. Mar Ann, as he knew her, was gone. She had become the war. She had become what Mark Fossie was trying to fight. Vietnam took every part of Mark Fossie. His innocence was lost, his future was gone and he would return from the war a different person than when he arrived. This story would not hold its value without the use of Mary Ann. She makes the story tangible and believable and shows how quickly the war can strip a person of their youth and innocence. Several times throughout the story, Rat Kiley made references to the changes they had experienced being similar to Mary Ann. He says, “What happened to her, ... happened to all of them. You come over clean and you get dirty and then afterward it’s never the same. A question of degree.” (pg 114). Mary Ann was a representation of all soldiers the were drafted into the war, or were there fighting. They were young, just like her, and curious and bubbly and the war stripped them of their youth. As Rat Kiley pointed out while telling the story, “Seventeen years old. Just a child, blond and innocent, but then weren’t they all'” (pg 105). He seems to be pointing out that the change wasn’t just happening to her because she was a girl, it was happening to them all. It just seems more tragic hearing about a girl who was changed by the war to such a drastic measure. On some level they all had changed just like Mary Ann. They were seeing horrific things that they were too young to know how to process, and they would never be the same again. In the same way that Mary Ann became intoxicated by the war, her story relates directly to the loss of innocence experienced by the soldiers. She was an example of how their innocence and naivety was absorbed by the war and vanished into it. She was a tangible source of proof of what happens to the soldiers. They start out with dreams and youthful curiosity and the war steals it from them and they are never the same. When war stories are told, men are used because it is more common for men to be soldiers. It is rare to hear a war story about a girl, so using Mary Ann to show such a drastic transformation enhances what the soldiers lost during their fight. The soldiers started out objectifying Mary Ann, and were impressed by her fearless nature. They enjoyed her company and she reminded them of what they left back home. The war stole Mary Ann just as it had taken their youth and innocence from them. None of them would be the same. She was a symbol of their innocence, and just as she became mysterious and evil, so had the soldiers changed to become mysterious and cynical because of the war. She was a piece of the love story that vanished, just like she did. She represents the dreams and futures of the soldiers. They became tainted forever with horrific images dancing in their dreams. They lived stories they could never retell the way they happened, for no one would believe it. Mary Ann Bell represented the relationships lost due to the war, the loved ones that had forgotten or who would never understand the changes. She represented the dreams that had changed and been lost. She was the innocence and naivety turned to cynicism. She arrived youthful and vanished into Vietnam, along with the youth of the soldiers.