Dynamic Character

Throughout this novel I believe O'Brien is trying to teach the reader a few things. One of the major lessons i feel that O'Brien embedded within this story is the dramatic way the war could change a person. I mentioned this theme in a previous blog but i think that it is much more evident within chapter nine through the character of Mary Anne. on pg 90 O'Brien describes her by saying "This was VIrtname, agter all, and Mary Anne Bell was an attractive girl. Too wide in the shoulders, maybe, but she had terrific legs, a bubbly personality, a happy smile." But after just a few weeks in the war Mary Anne undergoes major changes. She runs off with the Greenies and becomes one of them. Towards the end of the chapter O'Brien later descrbes her stating "It took a few seconds, Rat said, to appreciate the full change. In part it was in her stare, no sense of the person behind it." Although there are many lessons to be gathered from this story, I really believe that O'Brien tries to stress the idea that war does change people. Even if individuals don't change within the war (such as Mary Anne) they may change in the years after (such as Norman Bowker). It just makes you think- even if you come out alive, you still may not come out the same way.