The Things They Carried: Mary Anne

Why are the people at home so fascinated with the idea of war? When most of them don't even want to risk their lives to go fight? They would rather have someone else that they don't know go and do it for them. The men that go and fight the war are so sick of it and can not wait to come home or die. When a woman is thrown into the scene of war, they are baffled with it. Mary Anne is a perfect example of this. She flies onto the base, and is practically a "virgin" to war. After being at the base for a while, Mary Anne slips away to go to the "Greene's" base. She is drowned in the fact that they do all of the tough work and wants to become a part of it. The part of war that civilians never saw in the 70's was the action. Sure it was broad casted on T.V, but no guts were shown. The "Greene's" however are basically all action. Mary Anne becomes intrigued with them and runs away often at night to go into the forest. It is obvious that when Fossie waits for her to come out and then goes in to get her, he finds that she is infatuated with the "Greene's". "You just don't know. You hide in this little fortress, behind wire and sandbags, and you don't know what it's all about. Sometimes I want to eat this place... I want to eat it and have it here inside me... You can't feel like that anywhere else"(111). This quote shows how a woman might have a different opinion of the war. They want to just dive in and take it all up, they don't care about much except exploring. Mary Anne might also be a symbol of lost hope that the men have after she runs away into the forest and never comes back. Maybe this is the reason why women did not join the war until about the 80's or 90's. No one can be sure what the fascination is, we all just know that it is there and will probably never go away.


Works Cited
O'Brian, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York. Broadway Books. 1990. Print.

Courtney Rusch

The Things They Carried: The Dead Thumb

People all over the world have good luck charms. Whether it be a rabbits foot, or a stone from the ocean, many people have one. In The Things They Carried, Mitchell Sanders gave Norman Bowker a dead Vietnam boy's thumb. Is this a good luck charm or a present? Mitchell Sanders saw the thumb as neither, he saw it as a moral. I believe that the thumb symbolizes moral or war. Even characters in the book asked what the moral of the thumb was. "Henry Dobbins asked what the moral was. Moral? You know. Moral... Henry Dobbins thought about it. Yeah, well, he finally said. I don't see no moral. There it is man"(13-14). The thumb symbolizes that there is no moral to war. The quote is agreeing that none of the men know why they must fight in the war, only that they must. The thumb that was cut off and given to Bowker was a reminder that the war they are fighting has no moral. Maybe the question one should ask is if war is really worth the fight. The world should all just get along and enjoy the life that they are given and live it to the fullest. War has no moral and all that happens is death and destruction. Maybe the thumb symbolizes more than the pointless moral of the Vietnam War, but any wars in general. The symbolism of the thumb is, there is no moral to war, death and destruction.

Courtney Rusch