Reading #5 Question #1

[Brianna]

Why is it that Mary Anne was so attached to Vietnam and danger itself?

[Emily Richards]

That's a good question, Brianna. I think that Mary Anne is drawn to
Vietnam because she never knew what life as a soldier was like. She
has lived in the United States her whole life, and I think she feels
oblivious to Vietnam and the struggles of the soldiers. But when she
gets there, she feels like a new person. She joins the soldiers and
then joins the Green Berets. Like O'Brien describes and Mrs. Baran
often mentions, the people in the letters back home have no idea how
the soldiers in Vietnam feel and letters cannot compare to life in the
United States. So when she gets there, I think Mary Anne expects
something really different, and then realizes that fighting with the
Green Berets gives her a thrill she never experienced and through this
experience, she is able to put her old life behind her and find a new
person. This person is described by O'Brien as "...too stiff in
places, too firm where the softness used to be. The bubbliness was
gone. The nervous giggling too...while the men played cards, she would
sometimes fall into long elastic silences, her eyes fixed on the dark,
her arms folded, her foot tapping out a coded message against the
floor" (O'Brien 94-95). She wanted to detach herself from that old
person and experience the thrill of Vietnam.

[Lindsay Padgett]

Great question Brianna and you made some really good points Emily! I agree with you here Emily in the fact that Mary Anne was just completely enthralled with everything about Vietnam. The letters that Martk sent her could barely describe all the events that took place in this country and once she arrived there, she had the opportunity to experience it first hand. I think Mary Anne also enjoyed this experience because she said,"I feel close to myself. When I'm out there at night, I feel close to my own body, I can feel my blood moving--". (106) Being in Vietnam made her experience new feelings and things about herself and I think this intrigued Mary Anne. Even Mark realized the difference, "A differnt person, it seemed, and he wasn't sure what to make of it." (94) I think being in Vietnam also made Mary Anne feel powerful. She talks about how she went out at night with the Green Berets and how she is able to carry her own gun. Having this kind of weapon and individuals like the Green Berets watching over her made Mary Anne feel like she could take on any danger in Vietnam, changing her personality from a naive, innocent American girl, to someone who has realized the power that they themselves have.  

[Jessica]

I agree with both Emily and Lindsay. I think they both make some very
good pionts. I think that Mary Anne lived a sheltered life in the U.S.
and once she got to Vietnam she wanted to explore and see what life
was all about. At first, Mary Anne was very naive and asked multiple
questions, like a young child. After about a week, however, she began
to change dramatically; she became like one of the men. I think Mary
Anne tried so hard to learn everything that the men did because she
wanted to be able to step outside of her comfort zone and take risks
that before coming to Vietnam she never would've taken. Once Mary Anne
got a taste of the danger in Vietnam, she craved more. "Sometimes I
want to eat this place. The whole country-the dirt, the death-I just
want to swallow it and have it there inside of me. That's how I feel.
It's like this appetite," (O'Brien 106). I think that Vietnam
intrigued Mary Anne because it was so different than anything else she
had ever experienced.

> > > Why is it that Mary Anne was so attached to Vietnam and danger itself?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Moria]

While each of you guys make great points, I think that Mary Anne was
so attached to Vietnam because she was naturally good at everything it
took to be successful there.

As Mary Anne began training with the men, learning to shoot and care
for injured people, she truly began to grasp an understanding of what
these men dealt with. Through her training, she began to improve on
her skills impressively. Rat Kiley explained that "there was a new
confidence in her voice, a new authority in the way she carried
herself" (O'Brien 94). Her success led her to learn more, play a part
in the war, and become closer to the area. She craved the adrenaline
that came with working with the Green Berets and eventually chose to
fend for herself in the rain forest. If Mary Anne had not been so
naturally good at all of these things, it is very likely that she
would have left much earlier.

On Feb 7, 7:49 pm, Brianna <lolamonroe1...@yahoo.com> wrote:

[Ian McKay]

That is a good point Moria I agree.

I believe Mary Anne was so attracted by Vietnam and danger because she
was oblivious to what it even entailed. Life in the States was nothing
like Nam, and for Mary Anne to experience Nam firsthand, it made her
feel as if her life was extremely sheltered back home, and it gave her
a rush of excitement. "At times, in fact, she seemed fascinated by it.
Not the gore so much, but the adrenaline buzz that went with the job,
that quick hot rush in your veins when the choppers settled down and
you had to do things fast and right" (O'Brien 93). Mary Anne got off
on the adrenaline of the war. She loved the feeling when she had to do
an important job with no room for error, it gave her a rushed, excited
feeling she never felt before, and she thrived on it; she wanted more
and more. She would sneak out at night with the Green Berets and go on
ambushes with them. Mary Anne's life was boring to her compared to the
atmosphere of Vietnam, and she was addicted to it like a drug; her
desire for it rose until she went overboard. She began doing things
the Green Berets even thought was crazy. "There were times,
apparently, when she took crazy, death-wish chances-- things even the
Greenies balked at. It was as if she were taunting some wild creature
out in the bush..." (109). Mary Anne excreted so much adrenaline it
drove her to the point of insanity. She lost all sense of thought and
put herself in the most dangerous positions in Nam without a care.
Mary Anne craved the adrenaline and that is why the war fascinated her
so much, she was hypnotized by the rush she felt, it consumed her
whole being until she went menatlly crazy.

[Rosemary]

I agree with Ian's argument that Mary Anne wanted to feel the
adrenaline, but I especially like Moria's response that Mary Anne's
successes kept her in Vietnam. I think she found what she figured was
her place in the world. "She seemed comfortable and entirely at home"
in the Vietnamese village (O'Brien 92). Then, when Fossie suggested
she go home, she said, "'everything I want...is right here.'" (94).
O'Brien never elaborates on her life in the United States, except
where she went to school. I think he does this to show that Vietnam
became her only home. By the end of the Rat's story, "she was part of
the land" (110). She thought she fit perfectly in Vietnam and the war,
so she considered it her home and that home shaped the person she
became.

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -