O’Brien and the Alpha Company face a lot of adversity. Whether it’s with the help of love, comfort, or superstition, he makes you experience what he went through. The first chapter, “The Things They Carried”, is the first instance of rape of innocence. “..and comic books and all the things a medic must carry, including M&M’s for especially bad …show more content…
It can be compared to killing an enemy in battle. The soldiers become so used to killing that it desensitizes them. No wonder Azar acted as if nothing were wrong, the Vietnam War had victimized him relinquishing his innocence. Ted Lavender’s encounter with the puppy foreshadows how many Vietnam Veterans cope with PTSD. They use the comfort of a dog to help them get through day to day activities, such as going to the grocery store or sleeping at night. In “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, Rape of Innocence is expressed through a different window of the world. “Mary Anne Bell and Mark Fossie had been sweethearts since grammar school. From the sixth grade on they had known for a fact that someday the would be married..”
(Page 94) When Mary Anne first arrives to Vietnam, her eyes were as blue as the ocean. Fossie thought he had the jackpot, his girl was finally there by his side. Mary Anne represents the outsider, she didn’t belong there by any means. “Twice, though, she came in late at night. Very late. And then finally she did not come in at all.” (Page 99) Mary Anne was no longer herself,
She transformed from a pretty allamerican girl to an animallike hunter who wears a necklace