The Things They Carried
Questions for “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”
Since these are your notes, be specific about the ideas you gather from the chapter.
1. What part(s) of this chapter do you think are true? What evidence supports your conclusion?
2. Where do you think O’Brien embellishes? What evidence supports your conclusion?
3. Consider the following quotations:
“In many ways she remained naive and immature, still a kid” (98)
“Seventeen years old. Just a child, blond and innocent, but weren’t they all?”(105).
“What happened to her, Rat said, was what happened to all of them. You come over clean and you get dirty and then afterward, it’s never the same. A question of degree. Some make it intact, some don’t make it at all. For Mary Anne Bell, it seemed Vietnam had the effect of a powerful drug...” (114).
Why does O’Brien include Mary Anne’s story in this collection? In other words, how does her story enhance or help to clarify the other stories? If you are stuck, start by comparing her experiences with their experiences.