Things They Carried "Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong" Chapter Analysis

In the second half of the chapter “Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong”, Tim O’Brien depicts the deteriorating relationship between Mark Fossie and Mary Anne, along with her transformation to the setting of the war.  

The relationship between Mark and Mary starts to take a wrong turn when Mary begins to gain a stronger feel for the war environment around her. She slowly becomes absorbed into the ambiance of the Vietnamese culture which causes her to engage herself into more war activities such as ambushing. The tensions between the two grows higher as the days passed, and “in the presence of others, at least, they kept on their masks” (O’Brien, 99). O’Brien’s illustration of their worsening relationship can be applied to those in today’s society. In front of friends and family, couples disguise their disputes with fake smiles to create an outward appearance that appears to be happy. No one wants to be caught by the eyes of others in the middle of a break up.   

In this story, Tim O'Brien depicts Vietnam as a world that drastically affects the troops who set foot onto this strange land which they are not accustomed to. He portrays the clear-cut difference between the multi-faceted world of Vietnam and the native world of the Americans. Here, even the most innocent and pure beings are lost at war. As a war hazes a spectrum of brutality, warfare sheds off the maturity of an individual, even at a young age. Bright and aspiring students freshly graduated from school are subjected to the harsh enemy lines that causes them to walk upon the tightrope between life and death. Ideals of dream careers and futures are shattered by waves of draft notices, enabling them to expect nothing but fear in the world.

In this chapter, Mary was seen wearing girly pink clothing which threw the soldiers off of her real personality. She was viewed as an innocent person who was curious about the Vietnamese culture. She thought gaining all the information was going on was going to be easy and simple; however, the Vietnam side consumed her, and she had to change who she was. The necklace Mary wore showed her true interest in the culture. This necklace had tongues on it which revealed Mary’s personality to be emotionless as well as fearless. Mary knew she had to be fearless and let the Vietnamese culture consume her for her to know everything.