Character Analysis Of Mark Fossie In Sweetheart Of The Song Tra Bong

When thinking about the well known comedy Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare the audience is quick to focus on the wit and comedy that the play has to offer, rather than the understated villain who easily disappears in the background. While reading the play, one can posit that Don John is not the typical villain who acts with a specific motive in mind, rather, he is acting out of an obligation he feels to serve as an antagonist considering his position as a bastard. This is demonstrated in his dialogue, which reveals his inner turmoil on being chained to the villainous role and his willingness to act on any malicious opportunity that presents itself to him. This is significant in that, it provides another layer to our villain and causes the audience to think beyond the first layer that is easily presented, and into the true inner motives of the character.

Going back to the Vietnam War and its effect on Mary Anne. At this point, it can be seen that Mary Anne has completely crossed over. She has a necklace of human tongues, which is crazy weird. However, Mary Anne is still wearing her culottes and her pink sweater, the very pieces of clothing that made her appear so American at the beginning of the story. The reason for Mary Anne’s change is not because of the Vietnamese or even Vietnam, even though it appeared to be at the beginning. It's the war itself. The war is half-Vietnamese and half-American. A example that shows Mary Anne going through her change is in the quote, "Mary Anne made you think about those girls back home, how clean and innocent they all are, how they'll never

It is a well known fact that experiencing war changes people; there is an innocence that is forever lost. In Tim O’Brian’s, “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, Mary Anne Bell is an unusual example of the innocence that is lost in war because unlike the rest of the soldiers, she is a woman. Mary Anne’s transformation from innocent “sweetheart” to fierce warrior left readers with mixed emotions because although Mary Anne felt at peace with her transformation, she was also disconnected from reality.

Mary Anne is the stereotypical-looking high school girl that every soldier dreams of. When she first arrives she is shown as being just out of high school and might only be seventeen years old (O’Brien, 89). Rat Kiley, who is the one telling the story, describes her as “a tall big-boned blonde” with “long white legs and blue eyes and a complexion like strawberry ice cream” (O’Brien 89). This description provides the reader with the idea that she is the stereotypical innocent high school girl (Schoolworkhelper). She appears like she does not fit in the setting at all and is almost like she should not be there (Schoolworkhelper).

Were you ever nervous and bothered about changing the life you've lived the most? Freddie in the Shade, written by Pam Munoz Ryan, is about a young boy named Freddie who struggles with realizing the beauty of change and moving forward in life. Having a hard time with moving on, Freddie is left disagreeable but soon begins to let go of the past and becomes acceptable to new things coming his way. Freddie is an interesting character because he likes to have power over his own life but he tries to hold himself down to feel empathy for those he truly cares for. There are several events and examples throughout the story Freddie in the Shade, that express Freddie as a strong, caring, and kindhearted character.

At the end of “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, Mark Fossie gazes upon his previously demure and sweet girlfriend as a demon, surrounded by carnage, a necklace of shriveled human tongues around her neck as she stands barefoot in the hootch of the Green Berets. The male reader is meant to resonate with Mark’s horror and be terrified of Mary Anne’s feral transformation. The pure, sweet, socially conforming to-be wife has been corrupted by

Mary Ann, the cute blond with the cosmetic bag and pink sexy sweater portrays the perfect picture of a high school sweetheart of the seventies. She is being imported "with the daily resupply shipment" and presented as an object of the men's enjoyment. "The men genuinely liked her" means they liked what they saw, her body. But this image of Mary

The final theme I notice between Tim O’Brien and the Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam videos is the blame or guilt every soldier felt between things going wrong on missions or losing their friends. In “The Things They Carried”, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross takes the blame for the death of his soldier Ted Levander. In the story it states “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war”. Lt. Jimmy Cross often caught himself dreaming about a girl he loved to escape the war. He possibly thought about her too much which is why he took the blame. But in all reality, Lavender was shot while using the bathroom and that’s that. The only blame for that would be the war itself. In the video 60 Minutes: “My Lai Massacre”, a report on a very brutal attack on a Vietnamese village by U.S Soldiers, Hugh Thomson is a hero for saving many Vietnamese civilians from an awful fate. More than 150 women and children were marched

In this book there are three major women Linda, Martha, and Mary Anne. Linda's role is positive yet very saddening because she in a way has given Tim O'Brien the power to tell stories so in depth using memories. Mary Anne's role is encouraging because she comes to Vietnam and throughout the journey she discovers herself; she redefines the typical role of women. Martha's role in this book could be considered positive because she is keeping up Jimmy Cross's morale but, at the same time it could be negative because she leads him on. So the role of women in the book is very influential in a positive way.

In the short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin a schoolteacher from the city of Harlem struggles with life and figuring out how to helped his troubled brother. All though named Sonny’s Blues the main character is actually Sonny’s brother who is the narrator and goes through his life and how he reacts to the many problems his younger brother has come into. The brothers grew up in the poverty stricken city of Harlem where the brothers had to avoid drugs and violence constantly. Growing up, Sonny struggled to stay out of trouble and ended up making some bad decisions throughout his life and ends up landing him in jail and addicted to heroin. The un-named brother of Sonny who is the narrator of the story begins to

Michael Dorsey is a talented young actor, arrogant, stubborn and is so hard on him self and others that he could no longer find a job in his town after twenty years. After a daytime soap opera audition goes bad, Michael takes on the role of an actress Dorothy Michaels and wins the part of the audition. What was supposed to be a short-term role with the intention to raise the money to star in his roommate’s play turns into an extended contract, but when Michael falls for his cast mate Julie, complications develop that could destroy everything. And Michael eventually realizes that he is a better person as his second character Dorothy Michaels than he was as Michael Dorsey. Michael Dorsey finds it interesting as Dorothy begins to take on an independent life of her own. She is a free woman who seems sort of strange and funny at first glance, but grows on people afterwards as she begins to inspire women with her acting by standing up for what is right. Other complications begin to arise as the men which Dorothy surrounds herself with are beginning to fall in love with her such as Julie’s father and John Van Ron who is also plays the role of doctor in the play.

What are the most five important things that have happened to your character in his or her life so far?

Being a women during the 50’s Mary Ann was expected to be proper, innocent and unable to understand or handle the extreme emotions and pressures of war, however, she quickly adapted to the war and went against everything expected of her and joined the green berets. O'Brien pushed the irony of Mary Ann’s story even further than just defying gender norms as he juxtaposes innocence and the savagery of war together through Mary Ann's actions and appearance at the end of the chapter. The men all talk about how Mary Ann is still out in the woods fighting, they say; “she was wearing her culottes, her pink sweater, and a necklace of human tongues” (110). Although it is extremely unlikely that this experience ever happened, O'Brien uses this story to show just how life changing war can be, he proves that even the most innocent person can walk into the war and come out a savage, hostile and war oriented person. Had he never juxtaposed the innocence of Mary Ann and her ‘girly’ clothing against the demented and horrifying necklace of severed tongues, his point may have never had the deep message he wanted to portray. There are many other examples of irony spread throughout the novel, however this example had one of the most powerful message and proof of how

In this book there are three major women Linda, Martha, and Mary Anne. Linda's role is positive yet very saddening because she in a way has given Tim O'Brien the power to tell stories so in depth using memories. Mary Anne's role is encouraging because she comes to Vietnam and throughout the journey she discovers herself; she redefines the typical role of women. Martha's role in this book could be considered positive because she is keeping up Jimmy Cross's morale but, at the same time it could be negative because she leads him on. So the role of women in the book is very influential in a positive way.

Mary Anne was the girlfriend of a soldier stationed with Kiley and one night he got the bright idea to bring his girlfriend to the base. When Mary Anne arrived she was sweet and innocent and had no idea what she had just gotten herself into, just like most of the soldiers. By the end of the story, Mary Anne had become a completely different person, she had adopted the bush way of life, started going on late night ambushes with the Green Berets, and acquired a necklace of human tongues. (pages 85-110) The men were all once innocent and quiet, but through the many months in the bush, they began to change. They became more vulgar, extraverted, and confrontational. They feared for their lives and always felt like they had to watch their