Summary vs. Analysis

“Sweetheart of the song Tra Bong” is a story that takes place during the Vietnam war. The writer is explaining a tale that he heard from another soldier named Rat Kiley. Rat tells an exaggerated story about a girl who goes to visit her medic boyfriend in the village of Tra Bong during the Vietnam war. Mary Anne, the girl in the story, was an innocent, naïve girl, straight out of high school. Mary Ann had a passion for learning about the war, the more she learned the more she wanted to know. Pushing the limits to more and more dangerous awareness. She becomes obsessed with the soldier life style and the more she learns, the more she begins to lose her innocents.
This story reminds me of a tale that would be told at a camp fire. Lonely, bored soldiers telling war stories to pass the time. The narrator is remembering back at some of the stories that have stayed with him. Among these story’s was the one that Rat Kiley told. Known to elevate anything he says, Rat tells a story about a young girl that goes to Vietnam to visit her medic boyfriend during the war. The young girl, Mary Anne goes to this foreign land, “like a cheerleader visiting the opposing team’s locker room.” (O’Brian 96) Innocent and sweet, wearing culottes, and straight out of high school, this sheltered child becomes intrigued with this new world. “The war intrigued her. The land, too, and the mystery.” (O’Brian 96) Mary Anne becomes fascinated with the war, she learns how to use weapons, help the medic’s with casualties, and “quickly fell into the habits of the brush.” ( O’Brian 98) She begins to go on ambushes with special forces called the “Greenies” and begins to lose her childlike ways. This story represents all soldiers and how war can change you. Rat explains, “Like you and me. A girl, that’s the only difference, and I’ll tell you something: it didn’t amount to jack. I mean, when we first got here-all of us-we were real young and innocent, full of romantic bullshit, but we learned pretty damn quick. And so did Mary Anne.” (O’Brian 97)