Response to Question 1

“The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong” is the only story in which a female character is the protagonist. Even then, the woman’s own sensibility remains a mystery. Her narrative is filtered through Rat Kiley’s retelling.The lesson to be drawn from Mary Anne’s story is that the war affects women exactly the same way it does men. Women, too, can be driven mad. In this story, the madness takes the form of a transformation from one familiar literary figure to another. Not only does Mary Anne become a killer, but she also becomes a sexually liberated female.