So now after the DEEP chapter about truth and fact and fiction and truth, comes probably my favorite chapter thus far. Since O'Brien has divulged some information about what truth is in a war story, I kind of take that as a little challenge from the author to find the "truth" in this chapter.
Naturally one wonders how any of a story about a girl-next-door flying to Vietnam, becoming a stone hard killer, and prancing off at the end with a necklace of human tongues could possibly occur. O'Brien, though, mentions that in war, the crazy things are more likely to have happened. But that's not what he wants us to be concerned about. O'Brien wants to convey truth, and I believe I found it in this quote from the chapter.
"...They won't understand zip. It's like trying to tell somebody what chocolate tastes like."
"...There it is, you got to taste it, and that's the thing with Mary Anne. She was there. she was up to her eyeballs in it. After the war, man, I promise you, you won't find nobody like her." pg. 108
So, the "truth" is in there somewhere, and I feel O'Brien dedicated the chapter to convey exactly how people change during a war. Sure, we get illustrations of people in his platoon and others mentally (and sometimes physically, but we're not talking about that kind of change) snapping, but to use an innocent-seeming girl from way back home as the main character, then distorting something that we feel wouldn't or shouldn't be disturbed (in this case a young woman's "innocence") into something almost grotesque, or at the very least unusual, drives the author's point home with steroids and a cork bat that war can reach into images of our everyday life and even twist those which we hold sacred.
I dunno, but that's just me.
Today, I was perusing last year's yearbook, and I saw that Mrs. Helbing's quote was "Nothing is crazier than what actually happens," and I thought of that when I read your post. She and O'Brien should be friends.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it makes me realize what a dynamic character Mary Anne was =D. I always forget to analyze what sorts of characters are in books.