The Loss of Innocence in a Time of War Anonymous 11th Grade

Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried, said that the “most enduring Vietnam stories are those that are between the absolutely unbelievable and the mundane” (O’Brien 151). Such is the story of Mark Fossie - retold in the “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” chapter of the book – a soldier in Vietnam who brings his teenage girlfriend Mary Anne Bell to the seemingly safe and isolated war zone. But after a short period of relative normalcy, things don’t go as planned for the couple. Mary Anne becomes deeply involved in the war effort, helping tend to the wounded soldiers, cooking, and learning how to speak a little Vietnamese. She also stops being some fussy and cuts her hair short. When he notices how drastically Mary Anne is changing, Fossie starts to talk to her about heading home to the States. She refuses and becomes increasingly withdrawn before eventually disappearing for a while. When she returns to camp, she doesn’t stop at Fossie’s bunk, instead heading over the special forces tent. When Fossie learns of this, he goes to see her, but she looks different. She is wearing the same sexy and feminine outfit she arrived in, this time wearing a necklace with human tongues. Above all, in the “Sweetheart of the Song Tra...