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Female Characters In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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War consumes and countries manipulate. The book “The Things They Carried” is a collection of short war stories written by Tim O’Brien. These war stories take place during the Vietnam war. In these stories there are very few female characters but the few that do appear are packed full of symbolism and meaning. In “The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien uses female characters to illustrate a soldier's relationship with their country and how the wars they fight consume those involved.
In the book “The Things They Carried” written by Tim O’Brien, the first short story is also called “The Things They Carried”. This short story is about the soldiers, the things they carried, and follows a soldier by the name of Lieutenant Cross and his love for a …show more content…

His girlfriend, Mary Ann, was figuratively and literally consumed by the war. When she first came she was the perfect image of femininity and innocence as described by Rat Kiley. “Mary Ann made you think about those girls back home, how clean and innocent they all are,”(p.68 Brien). Mary Ann was the perfect sweet girl, but she didn't stay that way for long.
Vietnam began to consume Mary Ann and change her. But she wasn't the only one that this happened to, as Rat Kiley described in this quote. “What happened to her, Rat said, was what happened to all of them,”(p.69 O’Brien). The war changed everyone, even the sweet, innocent Mary Ann.
She began to change and take even more interest in the war. When mark Fossie noticed this he decided it was time to send her home, but the night before she was to leave for home, she left with a group of Green Berets.“The next morning she was gone. The six Greenies were gone, too,”(p.63 O’Brien). Mary Ann became even more apart of the war, refused to leave it.
As The Days went on Mary Ann Became more and more apart of the war until she was consumed as shown in this quote. “And then one morning, all alone, Mary Anne walked off into the mountains and did not come back,”(p.69 O’Brien) Mary Ann was consumed by the war. O’Brien uses her in his story to show just how all consuming the Vietnam War

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Once the war was over, Mary had her son, John L. Hayes. Time passed and her husband past away. She remarried to a war veteran by the name of John McCauley. There are different versions of what happened to him. Some say he died, or that he spent all her money and ran away, and others say that they went there own ways.

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As was common at the time, Mary stayed with her husband throughout the war. She served as a camp follower to her husband’s regiment. Other camp followers enlisted alongside Mary for shelter, work, food, and safety. Women were allowed to join because the army couldn’t afford to lose more soldiers due to family crisis, and with the wives nearby the soldiers would not need to unenlist to help their families in need. Given this extreme reasoning, the camp followers were not always wholly accepted into the group.

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As she becomes engaged in the war Mary Anne evolves to embrace the savage beauty of the land and is lured by the mysteriousness of war. Mary Anne’s presence represents a semblance of normalcy and beauty, contrasting with the harsh realities and horror of combat. This beauty lies in her determination to follow her heart despite the dangers surrounding her. Her interest with Vietnamese culture and integration into their way of life reveals both the allure and the terrifying consequences of war. The beauty lies in her curiosity and willingness to embrace new experiences, even in the midst of a war zone.

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Mary Anne took dangerous risks during night patrols and acted completely focused with the war. She disappeared into the mountains one morning and was never seen again. However since no body or trace of her was found some believe that Mary Anne still

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1. The only experience that I have had so far that relates to what had happened to Mary Anne Bell was when I had gone to a concert with a few of my friends. At first I was really reluctant because it was my first time going to a concert and I don’t like listening to loud music. But as soon as the music started playing, the bass reverberated through me and the crowd, and everyone was just swept away by the music. Which is some sort of correlation to what had happened to Mary Anne Bell, since she was “fresh out of Cleveland Heights Senior High”, and how “Her pretty blue eyes seemed to glow” (O’ Brien 68), just as I was new to concerts, so was she to the war, and it had completely swept her.

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There were many different type of women in the novel The Things They Carried. These roles of women were displayed in Martha, Linda and Kathleen the most. In my opinion Linda has one of the most important/impactful roles in the novel. Linda is Obrien’s child hood first love. Unfortunately she died at the age of nine because of a brain tumor.

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In The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, many of the characters’ thoughts stay centered around love. The Things They Carried is a collection of short stories based upon Tim O’Brien’s time in the Vietnam War. Throughout his writing, Tim explains the ups and downs of war, the feelings he and the other men felt, and the situations they found themselves in. He gives a very in depth look specifically on the idea of love during a time of war. The Things They Carried demonstrates the power love has over the thoughts and actions of the people in its stories.

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You would not think that war cause change such a kind good hearted person in such a matter of time. In the beginning he descibes her as ‘’She had long white legs and blue eyes and a complextion like strawberry ice cream. Very friendly too.’’ (89) before she started to change Mary Anne was bubby and always smiling and laughing,she was to never thought kill a person let alone be in the army. As time went over O’Brien starts to write how she changes emotionally and somewhat physically.

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Mary Anne Bell’s character shows how much war really changes someone. She was shipped over to Vietnam by her boyfriend, Mark Fossie, at just seventeen years of age. She was an innocent, young and pretty girl from Cleveland Heights. When she first arrived,

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She took these negative happenings in her life and somehow twisted them into a positive. After the death of her mother, husband, and grandson, Mary became a completely new person. She’s now much closer to God than she’s ever been before, and she finally learned how to really listen to Him. Also, She is now more open to people, and “actually has friends now!” (Kenyon).

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“That’s what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future ... Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story” (36). The Things They Carried is a captivating novel that gives an inside look at the life of a soldier in the Vietnam War through the personal stories of the author, Tim O’Brien . Having been in the middle of war, O’Brien has personal experiences to back up his opinion about the war.

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When we dragged them out, the girl kept dancing"(Pg.129). War will destroy your humanity and innocence, and there will be no mercy. It will destroy the most innocent of people. The destruction of humanity and innocence is not something good to hear, it 's horrific and shocking, it 's a terrible thing. The destruction of humanity and innocence was also seen when a soldier, Mark Fossie, invited his girlfriend, Mary Anne, to visit.

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This passage explains love and emotional significance in the war . Although the small role of women in The things they carried ,it is an importance threw out the book. Females character’s Martha ,Mary Anne and Kathleen have all effects on the men. Different women in the book have different effects on the men and affect them in different ways .For an example “Jimmy cross carried letters from a girl who named , Martha who 's an English major at Mount Sebastian College.

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As such, Anne murdered one of her servants with a knife, and beat a suitor half to death, who had tried to rape her. Mary excelled at living as a man. Around age thirteen, she served as a “powder monkey” on a British man-of-war during the War of the Grand Alliance. Next she joined the Army of Flanders, serving in both the infantry and cavalry.

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