After reading of Mary Anne Bell’s transformation in behavior, it became clear to me that this story is more than likely made up. The notion that a normal person could actually go to the point of wearing human tongues around her neck after being in Vietnam for a little while is completely ridiculous in my mind. Obviously Mary Anne must have had some deep emotional problems to undergo such a rapid transformation after seeing a few dead bodies. This image is so powerful that it seems clear to me that O’Brien must have been trying to send a message in her story. Perhaps O’Brien is trying to show how traumatic events such as tending to the casualties of a war could have a serious effect on that person. I know this idea better than most, which is why I can understand how O’Brien could have thought that the reader would buy into this idea. However, it seems quite transparent when I think deeply about the change in Mary Anne’s behavior. I think it is clear that O’Brien portrays Mary Anne as definitely going insane. A person faced with a new culture that adapts to it so quickly and devoutly must have had serious problems before even arriving in Vietnam.
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