Question 4

Mary anne goes on a night time operation with the green berets or "greenies". For whatever reason the green berets either see potential in her or something similar, as she gains their respect in one night, whereas the rest of the base itself barely interacts with them at all. Fossie, Mary Anne's boyfriend, forbids her from doing this again but after a while she along with the green berets disappear for weeks. She comes back a different person, as though she belonged with the green beret squad and had been part of it forever. I think that she became enticed with the adventure and danger and it completely consumed her. She had no idea what to expect in Vietnam, and what she got was a feeling of completeness that she could never find anywhere else. She fit in with the hardcore green berets and the jungle and the danger. No where else on earthecould she find that feeling, nothing comes close. Then she disappeared all together. Vanished, supposedly living high in the mountain jungle. Perhaps something snapped inside her and she could not bear to live a tame life again. Its almost as though she became an animal, and felt more at home among danger and wild than she did among people

i agree with his interpretation to an extent. I believe that she engulfed herself in this behavior because it was exciting. I think she always had in deep inside her, but in America she was innocent and sweet, and i think she knew this was expected of her. When she came to Vietnam she had no inhibitions and complete freedom. I think she got carried away and eventually let it consume her completely. I feel like her coming to Vietnam was like her finding herself. Although this is not what Fossie wanted, or his intent when he asked her to come, i think it was bound to happen. When you bring someone out of their comfort zone and force them into a completely different environment, i think they have no choice but to change. She wasn't in safe America anymore. It reflects the differences between America and Vietnam at the time . While involved in the war, America was not the actual battle grounds, all the fighting and killing and devastation took place in Vietnam. America was happy, and safe, while Vietnam was the complete opposite. I think Mary symbolizes this.

I agree with Miranda when she said that when you take people out of their comfort zones they have to adapt to their new environment. Mary Anne was taken out of her comfort zone in America and changed in Vietnam, but it wasn't her that was scared tochange, it was society that had hindered her. Vietnam was a place where there wasnt any strict social rules, and toughing it like the men she was surrounded by was acceptable. Changing was a product of her changed environment but it didn't change who she really was deep down