Throughout war, there are many changes that can occur. People can change both in their character and personalities. Transformations occur through the whole book. People have to deal with the terrible war in Vietnam. It is very hard for the soldiers to adjust to the rough terrain and appalling climates. When someone comes into a place or environment they have never been before, there can be many reactions from them. Certain situations can bring feelings that someone would have never thought they could express. In “Enemies”, Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen got into a fight. They fight quickly escalated, resulting in Lee Strunk having a broken nose. Strunk joined the men a few days later wearing a metal splint and a lot of gauze. Seeing Strunk like
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Mary Anne Bell was a character that went through a huge transformation. Mary Anne joined the men in Vietnam at a medical detachment in the mountains West of Chu Lai. When she first arrived, she was curious about the culture and her surroundings. She went down to the villages with the men, she learned to cook rice, and picked up a few words of Vietnamese. “I’m here,’ she’d say, ‘I may as well learn something” (91). Soon, Mary Anne began to go out with the Green Berets. She would join them on missions and ambush attacks. She began to truly immerse herself in the war. After a while, she would leave for days, weeks, even months at a time. She began to ditch Mark Fossie; the only reason she came over to Vietnam. When Fossie saw her again, she had truly gone mad. The hootch she was staying in had bones, dead animals, and a horrible smell. Mary Anne told Fossie that she was no longer the sweet innocent she was before. “The girl joined the zoo. One more animal— end of story” (O’Brien …show more content…
After hearing rumors of the NVA having massed artillery and Russian tanks, the platoons began to take precaution. For almost two weeks, the men slept during the day and moved during the night. It was very difficult to move due to the thick cloud cover and lack of light. Vietnam was a place that was darker than black. The men were terrified and took precautions that may or may not have helped them both physically and emotionally. Rat Kiley had become paranoid with “the bugs”. He explained how they were all after him, how they had become infected with mutated DNA, napalm that altered them, and how they became huge. Rat Kiley broke down in front of Mitchell Sanders one day. He seemed very stressed by his whole surroundings. He had lost sense of everything around him. “He said he was scared. And it wasn’t normal scared. He didn’t know what it was: too long in the country probably. Or else he wasn’t cut out to be a medic. Always policing up the parts, he said” (211). He would begin to imagine how the men would look dead, without their arms and legs, or with their insides ripped out. He describes not seeing a person, as a person, but rather just their liver or appendix hanging out of them. Kiley imagines himself dead and his body being mangled by the wild animals of Vietnam. “One of these nights I’ll be lying dead out there in the dark and nobody’ll find me except the bugs— I can see it—
Mary Anne Bell was a character that went through a huge transformation. Mary Anne joined the men in Vietnam at a medical detachment in the mountains West of Chu Lai. When she first arrived, she was curious about the culture and her surroundings. She went down to the villages with the men, she learned to cook rice, and picked up a few words of Vietnamese. “I’m here,’ she’d say, ‘I may as well learn something” (91). Soon, Mary Anne began to go out with the Green Berets. She would join them on missions and ambush attacks. She began to truly immerse herself in the war. After a while, she would leave for days, weeks, even months at a time. She began to ditch Mark Fossie; the only reason she came over to Vietnam. When Fossie saw her again, she had truly gone mad. The hootch she was staying in had bones, dead animals, and a horrible smell. Mary Anne told Fossie that she was no longer the sweet innocent she was before. “The girl joined the zoo. One more animal— end of story” (O’Brien …show more content…
After hearing rumors of the NVA having massed artillery and Russian tanks, the platoons began to take precaution. For almost two weeks, the men slept during the day and moved during the night. It was very difficult to move due to the thick cloud cover and lack of light. Vietnam was a place that was darker than black. The men were terrified and took precautions that may or may not have helped them both physically and emotionally. Rat Kiley had become paranoid with “the bugs”. He explained how they were all after him, how they had become infected with mutated DNA, napalm that altered them, and how they became huge. Rat Kiley broke down in front of Mitchell Sanders one day. He seemed very stressed by his whole surroundings. He had lost sense of everything around him. “He said he was scared. And it wasn’t normal scared. He didn’t know what it was: too long in the country probably. Or else he wasn’t cut out to be a medic. Always policing up the parts, he said” (211). He would begin to imagine how the men would look dead, without their arms and legs, or with their insides ripped out. He describes not seeing a person, as a person, but rather just their liver or appendix hanging out of them. Kiley imagines himself dead and his body being mangled by the wild animals of Vietnam. “One of these nights I’ll be lying dead out there in the dark and nobody’ll find me except the bugs— I can see it—