Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"

The clear implication is that sweep and every the men in the war suffer from much(prenominal) a noble collection of heavy physical, emotional and new(prenominal) burdens, that when the strings of life are cut there is goose egg but the remainderlike burden of cement. The accompanying implication, emphasized by most of Cross's observations, is that much of his and their energy is taken up in simply keeping upright under such burdens.

When the dead man is taken away, carried off into the sky by the helicopter, Cross's burdens are increased:

He tried not to cry. With his entrenching tool, which weighed five pounds, he began digging a hole in the earth. He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as a consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would make to carry like a st single in his patronise for the rest of the war (8).

The world in which Cross lives is wizard in which his life can be taken away without warning. Death is the overriding weight in this world and is constant. Counteracting this weight is another weight, in Cross's case, namely, his fantasy relationship with Martha. This relationship consists in all of letters at the moment and is fueled by Cross's yearn for some escape from reality. Not only is it a fantasy, it is a fantasy which adds to his suffering because he cuts it is unreal and because it leads to Lavender's death.

Thus, Cross has nowhere to turn to find release from the weight of his burdens

. Death is a release, but it is not the one he or any of his men seek. In fact, it is the keen and terrible weight which they business most. Death makes everything in Cross's intellect heavy with weight and worry.

Even the good-luck charm Martha sends is reduced to a measure of weight; "It was a simple pebble, an ounce at most" (4). Martha herself in Cross's mind is often seen in name of weight: " . . . her entire weight, which was just over one speed of light pounds" (3).

Cross and his men carry extra burdens--good-luck pieces, Bibles, vitamins--when they face difference or special danger. Added to this external weight is the internal: "They all carried ghosts" (5). These ghosts include all those to whom Cross and his men are connected. Cross's terrible circumstances remind the reader of the connections which all share with those they know and love, for all face the threat and burden of death and the fear of death, whether one is in a country torn by war or one marked by coition serenity. If one were not connected to other human beings, or to the material things which symbolize those connections, then perhaps the fear of death would not be so terrible. Of course, Cross attempts, likely in vain, to disconnect from Martha at the end of the story, trying to become a military leader
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