Mary Ann Bell In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

Unfortunately, unlike Tim O’Brien, Norman Bowker cannot endure his life post-Vietnam War, and he incessantly reflects upon his memories of combat. Even after returning to his hometown and attempting to live normally in society, Bowker feels completely removed from the rest of his community. Additionally, as a Vietnam veteran, the American public believes that he and his fellow American soldiers have failed in liberating Vietnam from the communists, and therefore he and other veterans deserve to be largely ignored and unappreciated (Wells 455). Bowker feels especially isolated because the people in his town do not care about him and his well-being. Also, he cannot cope with his post-war disabilities and anxiety, which renders him unable to keep

his job and causes him to feel even more removed from the rest of society. The town appears completely separate from him, even after he has returned from the war for a few years. While reflecting upon his current life in his hometown in America, he states, “The town seem[s] remote somehow” (O’Brien 128). He does not feel connected to anyone in the town, which makes him feel hopeless and disenchanted with life. Bowker’s feelings of isolation become increasingly apparent in his small and carefree hometown as the years pass; he feels as if there is no purpose in his life, and he has no plans for his future: “There’s no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town. In general. My life, I mean. It’s almost like I got killed over in Nam” (O’Brien 150). In the present, he is detached from the town and appears to be a shell of the person he once was. Norman Bowker cannot mentally move past the war and suffers the consequences of feeling lonely and removed from his hometown that does not care for him.
Besides feeling isolated from society, Norman Bowker also struggles with his emotions and mental traumas that resulted from the war. He develops mental disabilities as a result of experiencing many traumatic events during combat, which have side effects that further alienate him from the rest of society and make him experience more further hopelessness (MacLean). Eventually, Bowker commits suicide in response to the depression, anxiety, isolation from society, and self-destructive behavior caused by his mental disorders. Norman Bowker simply cannot recover from the scarring and unforgettable experience of fighting in Vietnam and is unable to cope with the aftermath of it: “[Norman Bowker’s] stories are not about recovering from trauma or resolving the conflicts contributing to or created by the war in any permanent way; they are about accepting indeterminacy and learning to live not through Vietnam but with it” (Chen 80). The traumatic events that Bowker endures during the Vietnam War renders him anxious and depressed, and the brutal impact of his mental disorders cause Bowker to eventually take his own life.
In contrast to Bowker’s inability to adapt to the aftereffects of the war, Mary Ann Bell, a formerly sweet and innocent girl, transforms into a rebellious and fearless fighter because of her extreme change in personality as a result of being in Vietnam.

Originally, Bell had traveled to Vietnam to visit her boyfriend Mark Fossie, who served in the US military. She met everyone at the camp, and all of the soldiers saw her as a pure and innocent girl who would not be able to survive in Vietnam during wartime (O’Brien 92). However, Mary Ann undergoes a dramatic shift in character the longer she remains in Vietnam. She begins to gain interest in the activities of the soldiers and becomes more invested in Vietnam itself. Disappearing for hours at a time, Bell starts to participate in the raids with other soldiers and fights alongside some of the best soldiers there. Beginning with her arrival in Vietnam, Mary Ann’s personality changes from someone who conforms to society and would marry a soldier to someone who rejects the All-American sweetheart stereotype and becomes a soldier herself (Weil 38-39). Her wholesome and virtuous image before going to Vietnam has begun to thoroughly

transform.
After remaining in Vietnam for a while, Mary Ann Bell’s personality and physical appearance changes entirely.

Mary Ann evolves into someone completely new as a result of her presence there: “Mary Ann becomes other than Mary Ann, turning instead into some new, unidentifiable entity who simultaneously registers displacement and substitution through her physical transubstantiation into the imaginative landscape of Vietnam” (Chen 91). Her change is also illustrated by her mindset that shifts to better suit her surroundings: “In times of action her face took on a sudden new composure, almost serene… A different person, it seemed” (O’Brien 93-94). When Mary Ann begins to participate in combat, she becomes an unrecognizable person to the whole squadron that had been there to greet her upon her arrival to Vietnam. She develops a tranquil yet deadly composure, which vastly contrasts with her initial appearance of innocence and youth. Additionally, Bell also becomes more assertive and authoritative; the soldiers observe her drastic change in personality: “There was a new confidence in her voice, a new authority in the way she carried herself. In many ways she remained naïve and immature, still a kid, but Cleveland Heights now seemed very far away” (O’Brien 94). She has only stayed in Vietnam for short while, but she has transformed so dramatically that her hometown of Cleveland Heights now seems extremely distant and removed from where she is now and who she has become. Bell’s

mental state is not the only aspect of herself that changes; she also transforms physically: “[Mary Ann’s] eyes seemed to shine in the dark – not blue, though, but a bright glowing jungle green” (O’Brien 101). Even her physical appearance seems to have changed to blend in with the Vietnam environment and suit her surroundings more completely. Her eye color transforms from a pure and innocent blue that represents the ideal American girl to a bright, glowing, and unnatural green that matches the forest surrounding her in Vietnam. Mary Ann has become a completely unrecognizable person, and she never returns back to America; instead, she stays in Vietnam, fighting the communists while the rest of the American soldiers can only wonder about her fate. She gains independence and finds a place in which she feels a sense of inclusiveness. Mary Ann Bell’s experiences on the war front transform her into a strong and independent woman, and she thrives in her new home, Vietnam.
Tim O’Brien, Norman Bowker, and Mary Ann Bell change drastically from their personas prior to the war due to the experiences that they undergo while they are overseas and fighting to overthrow the communists. Tim O’Brien, after the war, becomes emotionally tormented by the guilt of responsibility for his fellow comrades’ lives and must cope with his burden by writing down all of his memories on paper in an effort to liberate himself from the thoughts that plague his mind daily. Norman Bowker physically cannot function after the war in his small hometown and ultimately commits suicide as a result of his inability to cope with his new situation. Mary Ann Bell changes so drastically that she is unrecognizable from the sweet and innocent person she was beforehand, and she transforms to fully suit her situation in Vietnam and reportedly never returns to America. All of these characters undergo extreme experiences during their time in Vietnam, and none of them have been able to completely return to who they were before the war. No person entering a war can leave unscathed, whether it is mentally or physically, and none can ever return to their personas preceding the war. That is the toll of war on the body and the mind.