Every day, people are trying to change themselves to become a better self, or for worse. Sometimes, changes happen because of curiosity. In one of the chapters of “The Things, They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, tells us about a female character named Mary Anne Bell, who is curious about Vietnamese culture. She later joined the Green Berets and disappeared into the jungle, reappearing ready to kill. The reason she became a predatory killer is that she became curious and learned about Vietnamese culture quickly. She changed her cultural identity in her new, warlike environment.
Mary Anne Bell shows curiosity around her situation. When she arrived by helicopter, she is a very fast learner; she learned how to cook, studied Vietnamese, utilize military weapons, and tended to the wounded. However, she started to become curious about the surrounding area, the people and the culture that comprises Vietnam, willfully becoming different than her American allies. One morning, Rat Kiley and two other medics went down to the village with Mark and Mary as bodyguards. Mary seemed comfortable and loved the lifestyle and culture of the Vietnamese villagers. She also stated that she could not get enough of it. One of the medics, Eddie Diamond, responded solemnly to someone in his group: “There’s the scary part. I promise you, this girl (Mary) will learn.” Rat and the other medics thought her comfort in the village was troubling because she was naive. They thought that Mary did not know what the nature of war was truly like. However, Mary knows what the nature of war is, she is just curious by trying to understand, enjoy, embrace and eventually become the culture that makes up Vietnam.
Mary refused the idea of going back to Ohio with Mark to start a family and stated she could not get enough of Vietnamese culture. The best thing she could experience was more of Vietnamese culture is to join the group of elite soldiers called the Green Berets (also called the Greenies). When mary is out in the jungle, she started coming back late or not coming back at all for weeks. Mark once saw that she is out the entire night in the jungle refusing to carry a gun. When she returned to base three weeks later, Mark waited for her in the special forces hut until midnight. Rat and Eddie checked up on Mark and the three men heard Mary Anne’s singing and her tribal music. They barged into the hut and saw Mary with a tongue necklace, and the smell of incense and “something indescribably powerful- like a kill”. This shows that Mary Changed from a cute young American girl into a Vietnamese style predatory killer. It was described in detail that she is refusing to carry a gun, it shows abandonment with American culture, and with the tongue necklace, it shows that she is a killer and became part of the Vietnamese culture.
Mary Anne Bell shows that she changed from an innocent girl to a predatory killer. She shows curiosity about Vietnamese culture and wanted to become part of it. She may be changed for the better or the worse, but certainly, she changed out of her Curiosity.