Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

The Profound Effect of the War on a Human in The Things They Carry The Things They Carried is a captivating, fictional novel by Tim O’Brien that provides various experiences that O’Brien and others go through during their time serving in the Vietnam War. As in any book, many different types of change are prevalent throughout the stories that are told; however, the clearly most profound change that is dealt with in this book is the unalterable mental and emotional change that the soldiers themselves endure during the war and the seemingly eternal effects of the war on the human spirit. Although every character is touched both negatively and positively by the Vietnam War in their own way, Mary Anne Bell, Norman Bowker, and the narrator himself

In this story, Mark Fossie, a medic, decides to bring his girlfriend, Mary Anne Bell, to the outpost they are located at. When she first arrives, she is depicted as a “tall, big-boned blonde… [with] long white legs and blue eyes and a complexion like strawberry ice cream… very friendly, too” (O’Brien 89). She also has “a bubbly personality, a happy smile” (O’Brien 90-91) at this point. Basically, Mary Anne is the embodiment of an innocent, soft person who had not been exposed to the horrors of life-changing events of the war; at the time of her arrival, she is the opposite of a war-changed person. However, soon enough, Mary Anne, as a curious and outgoing individual, begins to ask questions about the war as well as the weapons and equipment utilized by the soldiers. Everything about “[t]he war intrigued her” (91), and she continues to gain more and more knowledge about the war as time goes on. A hint of foreshadowing is given on page 92, where Eddie Diamond says, “‘There’s the scary part. I promise you, this girl will most definitely learn’”; by saying she will “learn”, Diamond is referring to the fact that Mary Anne will be greatly changed by the war. She begins to get more and more involved physically in the war, helping out the medics by even treating bloody bodies and other serious