Hook
High School can change and twist a person’s characteristics while they are on their quest of “fitting in”. This process of changing a person’s personality is very similar to what happened to many of the characters in the Book the Things They Carried.
Context
This book takes place during the Vietnam War and follows the lives of american men who are trying to survive the horrible conditions of Vietnam.
Thesis
In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien , the author uses the character development of Mary Anne and Rat Kiley as well as his own to show how being in environment like Vietnam can twist your sense of right and wrong and your mental stability because of the things you are exposed to.

Body Paragraph One
Topic Sentence
In the Book …show more content…
Mary Anne is shown as a nice bubbly girl. It is also brought up that people like her would never understand any of this. By displaying these characteristics Tim O’Brien is setting Mary Anne up for character development.
Transition Phrase
Further on in the book we see a psychologically changed Mary Anne, and she
Context #2 is shown to have stopped talking to all of the soldiers, becoming secretive as she begins to sneak out at night, and losing her fun bubbly characteristic.
Evidence #2
[Mary Anne] had crossed to the other side. She was part of the land. She was wearing her culottes, her pink sweater, and a necklace of human tongues. She was dangerous. She was ready for the kill.
Analysis #2
Mary Anne is shown in her normal clothes but is said to have crossed over to “the other side” and she has the addition of a human tongue to her wardrobe. She is given this sense of innocence at the beginning of the text however, at the end of her story she has evolved into a nutcase with questionable taste in jewelry. This display of Mary Anne later on in the book shows her character development.
Conclusion
Mary Anne was driven insane after having spent just a few weeks in Vietnam, it seems as though Vietnam affects everyone