Imagery

In the chapter Sweetheart From Song Tra Bong, the imagery was incredibly vivd for me. I found it so vivid because of the rich adjectives and exact wording that O'Brien used in his writing. Using strong description was extremely important in this chapter because of the type of story being retold. The author needed to accurately and clearly describe Mary Anne's transformation from the girl with the "bubbly personality, [and] a happy smile" to the person who "...never returned. Not entirely, not all of her." The transformation of Mary Anne is seamless because of the detailed progression of naive child to hardened woman. Words and phrases such as "full of dreams", "laughing", "coy and flirtatious", "come-and-get-me" were bountiful in the beginning of the chapter; however, by the chapter's end, the phrases turned to a dark place. "Disappear inside herself", "no emotion in her stare", "slow and impassive," "her eyes: utterly flat and indifferent" are phrases that show Mary Anne's reversal as a character. Without the use of such powerful imagery, the change in Mary Anne would not have been compelling for the reader.