1) When Wes Hamilton visited our classroom to speak about his experiences of the Vietnam War, he told us that nobody went by their real name during war time. Each of their names was given to them by their peers because of something they did or they where known for. For example Wes Hamilton's nickname was Baron, for reasons he didn't disclose. Baron was Wes's new identity during the entire time he was in Vietnam he regards it as a highly cherished gift. In The Things They Carried none of the characters had nicknames, and Tim O'Brien seems to know all of them by their first names. For example Tim O'Brien uses Norman Bowker's real name in the book, even tho Bowker asked him not to. I think that this means that the characters in The Things They Carried were closer than Wes was to his squad.
2) For me, Mary Anne Bell is a character that represents the changes that being in a combat zone during a war has on a person no matter how innocent and pure. Mary Anne went from a fairly innocent and pretty girl to a war savage who cuts out the tongues of her fallen enemies to use as a necklace. Being in the military camp somehow inspired Mary to want to aid her country in the conflict with Vietnam to the point of savagery. What specifically changed her Tim never really says, but is apparent that something affected her.I think also Mary was put in the book to show that it wasn't just men that fought and died in Vietnam.
3) I think that Tim O'Brien's stories are both true and false. I think that the general story is true, but some of the details are fake or over exaggerated. I think most of the tragedies that occurred in the book are true, like when Kiowa and Ted Lavender die but most of the other stuff is made up. An Example of made up text was when Tim talks about the Vietnamese man he killed, and how he tells the man's whole life story. It isn't possible for Tim to know all of that info about a man he didn't know at all, and had no way of contacting his family.
The advantages of telling false information about the story is those who have a weak stomach for war can read the book without reading about the grotesque details. The disadvantage is for those who want to really know what happened with out the made up stories, and the exaggerated heroism. I don't like reading this book specifically because every time I pick the book up to read, I know that most of what i'm reading never happened and is made up.
Questions
1) How much of Tim's story is actually real?
2) Is it right for Tim to include Bowker's real name in the book even though he asked him not to?
