Maryanne and Kurtz

Maryanne’s character in O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried is portrayed as a woman who loses herself to the jungle. She is a representation of an outsider, someone who does not belong. It is her first time in a foreign land so everything about this place intrigues her. She came to this place as a innocent girl who had her whole life planned ahead of her so this experience was completely new to her which is what intrigued her the most. She arrives with the intention of not even taking part of the war, however this changes completely. As she becomes more familiar with how things work in this place she begins to go on night missions in the jungle and becomes an animal hunter who wears a necklace of tongues. She eventually loses herself in the jungle and in a way becomes part of the land. Kurtz’s character in Apocalypse Now, is similar to Maryanne in the way they are both outsiders and people that don’t belong to the place they are in. Kurtz is remarkable military man who ventured into the jungle’s of Vietnam and his experiences deranged him from who he actually was before. He becomes part of the primitive culture and he commands an army of these people. They believe no one can judge him, not even himself. They see him as a godlike figure and follow his demand. Just like Maryanne, they both came to this unknown land as people who were not familiar with the place and slowly began to lose themselves. These two characters represent the damaging psychological effects war has on people. Along their journeys they both lost their minds and eventually never returned form this. This is a perfect description of how war can consume you.