Mary Anne Bell's Argumentative Essay

Women have always been judged, we have been called sensitive, emotional, vulnerable, pathetic, sentimental, and, many other labels invented by society. I mean, is being sentimental a bad thing? No, it’s not, it’s completely normal to have emotions, everyone has emotions. Mary Anne Bell symbolizes how women are capable of being part of a war and finding interest in subjects in which society would consider “Only meant for men”. Tim O’Brien is not a feminist, I believe that he is making an argument discussing how women should be treated equally as men, no gender labels nor excuses. O'Brien says, “If Mary was a man it wouldn't be a big deal”. No matter what gender soldiers are they lose their innocence. War changes soldiers into completely different people and damages them mentally even causing them to commit suicide. …show more content…
She caught up quite fast, she soon was able to do the same things other soldiers like cook food in a can and how to use an assault rifle. All women are different, some women have more pain tolerance than men and some men more than women. Tim O’Brien shows the effects of war on both genders using Mary Anne Bell and Norman Bowker to show how they lose their innocence and how war changes soldiers regardless of their gender. O’Brien says that “ “Speaking of Courage”, was written at the request of Norman Bowker who, three years after the story was written, hanged himself in the YMCA, right before Saigon finally collapsed. He received a seventeen-page handwritten letter from Bowker saying that he could not find a meaningful use for his life after the war. He worked several short-lived jobs and lived with his parents. At one point, he enrolled in junior college, but he eventually dropped out.”. This shows how it was really tough for Bowker to adapt and feel at home in his own house. He had trouble speaking to people about what happened at