In the story “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, when Mary Anne first arrives, she is said to have been “good for morale” (95). She played on the volleyball court with “cut-off blue jeans and a black swimsuit top” much to the delight of all the homesick, lonely soldiers (95). This passage reminded me of the many USO shows that took place during the war that were meant to lift the spirits of the soldiers. According to the official USO website there were close to 6000 total shows during the Vietnam era, many of which involved women as the "entertainment". While seeing beautiful American faces was no doubt a pleasure for many soldiers, it was still like putting a band aid on a bullet wound. These men had seen things men were never meant to see; death and suffering beyond anything they could have imagined. So while these USO shows did have some merit and they no doubt lifted morale for a short time, in the end their effect was washed away after a few days back in the jungles of Vietnam. Mary Anne is no different from these shows; her novelty act’s value eventually faded away and she became one with the trees, the rivers, and the dirt. She was one with Vietnam, no longer an American far from home. The image seen above is from the film "Apocalypse Now". Playboy bunnies were brought in to "entertain" the troops however the audience of soldiers quickly grew restless and the bunnies had to be hurried off in their helicopter. When confronted with something from home the soldiers had a hard time holding back their war-like savagery and selfishness. It was also showing the men that if they did ever return home, it would never be the same to them because of what they'd experienced.
O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway Books, 1990.
4 comments:
I think that it is almost shallow, that during this war, the quick answer of how to get these soldiers to forget the thigns that they had seen was to go and either drink their problems away, or try and enjoy something that they know will only last a moment. During this time it was almost as if nobody knew the long-term effects that this war would have on these soldiers and their problems went virtually untreated while in Vietnam.
Cory makes a point that by drinking or doing drugs is not going to take any of there pain away except for a moment, just as sending the playboy bunnies over to see our current troop was almost like nothing but a tease to them. its not as if any of the soldiers could actually have those girls yet, for a moment it took away the pain from the girls or whomever it was that they missed.
I think what was really important about the scene was just that it wasn't so much a feeling of missing the girls back home or anything like that, it wasn't love as much as it was lust. The men may have come over to Vietnam with feelings of love for someone but after a while in the jungle they reverted back to their instinctual lust. Interestingly there's a scene later in the film where Martin Sheen arranges to trade some fuel for a few minutes with the bunnies for his squad. One of the girls is totally crazy after spending so much time in Vietnam that all she can talk about is how she used to work at Busch Gardens. The other girl sees a dead body and starts crying and saying "That was someones son..." After weeks of objectification (the feeling that by having sex with the soldiers they would be doing there country a service) and seeing all kinds of crazy things it's no wonder what these girls really wanted was to just talk to someone.
This was a great discussion, y'all :)
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