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Mary Anne Bell In The Things They Carried

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Moving into a new environment is not an easy thing to do. One will have to adapt to the many new changes they will face. Not everything is the same as it was back then. In the novel, The things they carried by Tim O’Brien, the character Mary Anne Bell must adjust to life in a new environment. Firstly, the character Mary Anne Bell is a seventeen year old girl from Cleveland Heights. She has a very friendly, bubbly personality, a personality that makes everyone instantly like her. She is a tall blue eyed, blonde, adorned with jewelry and makeup. She was a girl who wanted to get married and have kids with her sweetheart, Mark Fossie, who decides to bring her right into the middle of the Vietnam War because he wanted to show his comrades that it was possible to bring a girl into the base. The moment she got there, she seemed misplaced and innocent. Mary Anne was always by Mark’s side, staying inside his tent, walking around while holding hands. But over a few weeks things began to change. Mary Anne soon begins to adjust to life in a new environment, as time progressed, Mary Anne started to get curious about many things. She would ask questions about how their equipment and weapons worked. She then started to get into the habit of not wearing makeup or jewelry, she also cut her long blonde hair short along with not …show more content…

Over time Mary Anne Bell had changed. The moral of Mary Anne’s trip to Vietnam showed that the war can change anyone. She was an innocent, shy girl who was misplaced in a War, but over time she had changed to the point that no one recognized her. The war had taken over her, making it the only thing she could think of. This only happened because of the experience and the many gruesome things those people go through everyday. The war will affect anyone, making them change the way they view things just like Mary Anne. It was changing them for the worst, that is something the author wants to

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(O’Brian 110). O’Brien wants us to see her like all the soldiers do, scared of her change. She doesn't care about anything but going out on dangerous missions and killing Vietcong. There is no risk for her, she doesn't care. As proved by the author, Mary Anne has all of her

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