An Intangible Weight to Carry

An Intangible Weight to Carry In an excerpt from Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, O’Brien acquaints us with a story of a group of soldiers in the Vietnam War enduring extreme physical and mental circumstances. He goes to vast lengths to describe the tangible difficulties these men must face while linking us to the mental anguish. This story is a beautiful account of love and the lack thereof, pain and tragedy, imagination and reality, and all the weight of burdens carried throughout life in war.When O’Brien describes Lt. Cross ‘watching the night’, he says, â€Å"The air was thick and wet. A warm dense fog had settled over the paddies and there was the stillness that precedes rain. † (O’Brien 57) Later he writes, â€Å"The fog made things seem hollow and unattached. † (O’Brien 67) Hollow and unattached seems to be how most of these men were feeling through such difficult days. He goes on to speak about all of the diseases, physical pains, and unthinkable turmoil they are facing every moment. The expressions of agony reflect the emotional distress of the men.It is repeatedly noted that each man had something sentimental they were carrying that likely allowed them this escape. O’Brien states, â€Å"They all carried ghosts. † (21) This is a true relation to how all of the soldiers, including Cross, held onto something they didn’t have in order to redirect their true emotions for reassurance. The ‘ghost’ turns into an unfortunate reality for Cross when Lavender is killed. Cross was distracted by his daydreams of Martha, a ghost of his own, leading to Lavender’s death, which is a ‘ghost’ he will carry forever.