Question Five Response

I believe Mary Ann is neither a traitor nor a hero. I believe she is symbolic of youth and innocence of the soliders ghosts. They are no longer the innocent young boys they began as. Vietnam is symbolic almost as a poison with Mary Ann as it's victim. She goes through a change much more vivid and poignant. It is almost a drastic magnification of what is happened to the men. They are changing in every way. They are no longer innocent, they no longer feel pain or greif as a normal individual would. Instead their experiences with death and torcher rot who they are and morph them into selfless robots. Mary Ann symbolizes someone who has gone insane, rotten. She is the soliders emotion, who they are on the inside. Mary Ann is the image of something that is not seen or tangible. It is their character, their character's makeup, everything they are is being soiled from Vietnam.