The Killer of the Song Tra Bong (Entry #5)

         “The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” is an intriguing story with a lot of details that leaves the reader out of breath once finishing it. The message in this chapter is exactly what Tim O’Brien has intended to transmit throughout the whole entire story. Mark Fossie decides to bring his high school sweetheart and to-be-bride, Mary Anne, to Vietnam. She never came out of Vietnam as a whole; she turned from being a bubbly, innocent girl to a woman with no fear of anything—only desire for killing and blood.

         There are various places in the book that makes the reader think that Mary Anne is a killer; I have concluded thus, when I read about the part in which they describe her with the Greenies, with a tongue necklace. The fact that she transformed dramatically made me think that that’s what turned her into a killer; she turned into a human being that cares about nothing but battle and blood. I think that the war has illumined the darkest part of her soul, and Tim O’Brien was trying to emphasize what impact the war had on every single one of them. Everyone was slowly changing, Mary Anne being one of the most noticeable examples.

         I don’t think that it necessarily matters because she is a woman; but I do think that the fact that she’s a woman gives the story another interesting twist. Women are naturally seen as gentle and controlled creatures; unexpectedly, Mary Anne seems to be an innocent figure until war turns her around and reveals her wild inner part. She cuts her hair short, speaks in a lower tone of voice, and seems to have developed distance from her boyfriend and the rest of the team; it suddenly becomes clear to the reader that she is not going to part of them anymore.

         I think that it’s extremely interesting that Tim O’Brien chooses Rat Kiley as the narrator for “The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”; his over exaggeration and overstatement could easily mislead people and it’s not entirely reliable—yet that’s most probably the reason why O’Brien chose his point of view. Rat Kiley’s facts were based on senses; his exaggeration did not mean deceit, just merely heating up the truth. He particularly felt strongly about this particular story, unlike the other guys who were mourning over the loss of Mary Anne; he based his story entirely on what he perceived what happened and all of his true senses—no one could’ve described the situation better than he did.

         Rat’s version of the story completely fits Tim O’Brien’s criteria on “How to Tell A True War Story”.  Rat Kiley, telling the story entirely based on his senses and feelings, emphasized the truth and didn’t smooth down the horrors and the dramatic changes to the story just to give the story a moral—according to Tim O’Brien, a true war story never has a moral, virtue, or a conclusion of any kind. Tim O’Brien also says that a true war story cannot be believed, because of its craziness. Insanity and truth are not antonyms in Rat’s dictionary; he would do whatever it takes to express what happened, or what he thinks happened. Rat Kiley tells the story without holding back, which leaves the reader to the choice to choose for themselves whether or not to believe it.