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The Thing's They Carried Literary Analysis

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The Thing’s They Carried by Tim O’Brien illustrates the war in Vietnam through the perspective of various characters including Norman Bowker, Mary Anne Bell, and Rat Kiley. The literal and figurative “things” that these characters carry symbolize how they attempted to cope with the hardships of the war in Vietnam. Rat Kiley entered the war as a happy medic who carried comic books, M&M’s, and all of the stuff a normal medic would carry, but as the war went on, he began to carry pain and suffering, and he eventually broke down and shot himself so he could leave the war. Mary Anne Bell, a character from Rat Kiley’s story the Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong, was innocent when her boyfriend Mark Fossie brought her to the war, however, the war turned her into a savage, and by the end of Rat …show more content…
Mark Fossie was Mary’s childhood sweetheart, and Mark brought Mary to Vietnam. When Mary arrived she carried a curiosity for “the land,” and “the mystery” of Vietnam (O’Brien 91). Mary’s curiosity showed that she did not understand the overwhelming danger of Vietnam. Ultimately however, she became engulfed by Vietnam and wouldn’t leave. At first, she underestimated Vietnam. She thought that she was untouchable when she explored the Vietnamese villages, rivers, and jungles. Eventually, she became distant from the soldiers and began to consume herself with Vietnam. She was seen in a hut with incense and skeletons lying around, “and at the girl’s throat was a necklace of human tongues.” (O’Brien 105) She became the land, the violence, and the war. She was no longer on the side of the soldiers; she was on the side of Vietnam and all that it represented. The necklace that she carried symbolized the hardships and violence of the war, and the idea that war can corrupt the most innocent of

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