Weight is a Heavy Story
“Weight” is a Heavy Story John E. Wideman captured my interest with the short story “Weight” in a number of different ways. This story presented an image of weight as more than physically heavy things. I enjoyed Wideman’s viewpoint because he showed me the spiritual weight from a higher power than man, the emotional weight from a close relationship the character has with his mother and the of weight that the character placed on himself to succeed in life. ... Plagued by a fear of being too weak to lift the weight his mother carried, the narrator reconciles it all in the end as the character carries her casket and reflects upon his now lost relationship with her saying, “Do what you got to do baby. ... John Wideman’s character revealed that he was carrying the weight of what he had been molded by from youth, his mother’s strength and a belief in God. ... It is evident through out this story that the author is portraying a person who is heavily conflicted about much of what he was exposed to.