The tittle offers a clear preview of the contents in the book. It gives the idea that characters in the story carry something of importance. Every reader can interpret what O’Brien is trying to say and the outcome may be different. It is clear that each physical object that a soldier carries has a symbolic meaning. These objects also define the character in some way. For …show more content…
The photos carried an extreme emotional connection. They carried photographs to help them cope from being away from their families and loved ones. The pictures responded to the weight of a memory. A photo is not physically heavy but it has a huge emotional weight. For instance, Lieutenant Cross burned his pictures of Martha because when he saw them it reminded him of how his obsession with her caused one of his soldiers to die. “On the morning after Ted Lavender died, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross crouched at the bottom of his foxhole and burned Martha’s letters. Then he burned the two photographs” (O’Brien 23). Burning the photos was a way for Ted to release any guilt that he had.
It is very apparent throughout this book that the things the soldiers carried were physical objects and metaphoric objects, both with significant weight. The metaphoric objects such as the emotional and mental baggage seemed to create a heavier weight on them. Both can be traced through the book the struggle with the metaphoric weight carried the most meaning and helped create a strong imagine for the