Alyson

“What I see is that the author Tim O’Brien, is using Mary Anne in The Things They Carried to make tangible the emotional changes happening within the men as they stay out in Vietnam. By witnessing the drastic switch in personality and behavior of Mary Anne, the men better understand the increased hardening of their own psyches while at war. Essentially, Mary Anne is a means for these characters—and the readers—to see more clearly what is happening to them, or has happened to them, internally.”

It wasn’t all about me but, of course, I thought it was. I suppose, in my defense, that I only had the capacity to think of myself, a burning building. What else could I do? It continued to be about me for a while. Secrets: Visits and breakfast pills and euphemisms. Being able to feel comfortable in this niche only began to pay off recently, because I am better now. I can appreciate it. That tends to happen right about the moment that you learn you have to share these souvenirs.

I still can’t believe…it. For as much as he is a jerk, it is painful for me to consider anyone else experiencing this void. My brother. We have always been in competition. Being the eldest, I have had the honor of being the parenting gerbil; he has been served the refined version. But even that couldn’t stop genetics, and perhaps pure evil, from infiltrating his sandy head.

I don’t enjoy watching this. I didn’t expect my very own Mary Anne. I didn’t ship her out to Vietnam asking for a mirror to see what I thought was too far behind me to be seen. I even try to argue with myself about the parallels in what has happened, and is happening, to us. When looking with my eyes, I see that I am being followed down my path. Lucky for him, I took care of the thorny shrubbery lining the dirt trail on my journey here. ♦