Mary Anne Bell

Over the course of “The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong” Mary Anne Bell underwent extreme changes in her personality. It is unknown as to whether she went crazy or whether aspects of her personality, that would normally be hidden, were brought out through the war.

I think that she always possessed these personalities but they were just hidden. By entering the harsh environment Vietnam brought, her true personality could be seen. She is really an extremely tough person, possibly more so than some of the soldiers fighting in the war. One event where this is evident is when she goes out on the ambush in the middle of the night. This is extremely dangerous for even the most experience soldiers fighting in the war.

Before entering Vietnam Mary Anne had an extremely bubbly personality. Before she came into the war, she would always wear fancy clothes, such as culottes. This is a true reflection of what her personality used to be. In a way, the changes that Mary Anne go through symbolize the changes that every soldier in Vietnam went through.

Mary Anne is the only real example of love in the book. Many other soldiers carry pictures of their girlfriends. Some even carry items that belong to their girlfriends, such as the stockings. However, Mary Anne is the only girlfriend that was actually brought to Vietnam.

Ultimately, she changes to the point where Mark Fossie doesn’t even recognize her. They begin to slowly separate as she spends time in Vietnam.

I think that the life they were living before Vietnam was a complete fantasy. It was a fantasy that would be proven impossible after Mary Anne experienced how real life could be.

The war didn’t make her crazy and she didn’t go mad. It was simply that the war brought out a side of her that was previously unknown to everybody else. She changed in the same way that every other young man that went through the war changed. Their true colors show in serious circumstances such as the Vietnam war.