60 pages • 2 hours read
Sandra BenitezThe Weight of All Things
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2000A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaChapters 19-21
Chapter 19 Summary
About a week after the funeral, one of the guerrilleros arrives at the rancho with news of an incoming Army assault. Dolores immediately orders everyone to pack up and leave as quickly as possible. Dolores tells Tata that if he and Nicolás stay behind, the army will treat them as sympathizers because it is so apparent that the guerrilleros have been using the rancho. Even so, Tata decides to stay and hide in the cave. Nicolás says goodbye to Carmen, the cook, and she gives him a pot of beans and tortillas. She wishes that he would come with them and they are sad to say goodbye. Nicolás and Tata stand and watch as the guerrilleros walk away into the forest. Nicolas sees that they have left behind a faded bedsheet, covered in red roses. The sight of the sheet makes him very sad. Once they have left, Tata and Nicolás stock their cave with water and food and cover the entrance with tree branches. Tata ties leather around the dog’s mouth to stop him from barking. In the cave Nicolás notices his grandfather is sweating in the same profuse manner he had when he fell ill. They wait nervously in the cave.
Chapter 20 Summary
About an hour and a half later soldiers arrive at the rancho. They move through the buildings and survey the scene. They throw a grenade at the buildings. The sound causes the dog to jump and knock over their freshwater. Tata calms the dog and they listen to the shouts of the Army, which are growing closer. They are terrified that they will be discovered in their cave. Tata can barely function through his pounding headache and fever. They hear the leader, Lieutenant Galindo, call their captain on the radio. He describes the scene and says that the guerrilleros can’t be more than a few hours away and should be easy to find by helicopter. Shortly after, they hear the sound of the helicopter circling the trees, followed by the sound of machine guns and explosions. Nicolás hears over Galindo’s radio that the helicopter did find the guerrilleros and have shot many of them. The Army heads in that direction to see who has been killed and try to find and punish those who are alive.
Chapter 21 Summary
Galindo finds “carnage” (127). Lydia and her baby are dead, strewn amongst an explosion of their supplies and medical equipment. Just as Elias had ransacked the bodies of the Guardia, the lieutenant’s men take whatever they find useful from the dead guerrilleros. Miraculously, no rifles or weapons are found, suggesting that some of the guerrilleros may have escaped. The lieutenant tells his men to head back to the rancho.
Meanwhile, Nicolás and Tata are still in the cave, Tata’s fever raging. Nicolás is afraid that Tata’s fever will elevate and he will get as sick as Nicolás did and die. He scrapes what he can from the water jug, spoon feeding it to Tata. Nicolás repeats over and over, “Holy Mary, Mother of God” (130). Nicolás holds the statue of La Virgen to his chest and is soothed enough to sleep. He wakes in the middle of the night and asks Tata how he feels. Tata says he feels better. Nicolás tells him he dreamed that he was a lion and Tata tells him that he is a very brave boy. They fall back asleep. When Nicolás wakes in the early morning he puts the carved statue of a lion in his pocket and repeats, “I am brave. I am strong. I am like a lion” (132). He walks to the river to fill their bucket with water. He stops to pee in the bushes and as he zips his pants up a soldier pokes a rifle into his back.
Chapters 19-21 Analysis
As the FPL prepare to flee the rancho, Nicolás sees the sheet used on the makeshift surgery table. It is covered in pale roses, faded with wear. He says, “those little roses were the saddest sight in the world” (120). These roses represent death and loss. They also foreshadow the scene in which red roses will provide him with a clue to La Virgen’s plan for his escape from death. The faded sheet in particular represents the loss of a makeshift family and maternal figures: the cook, the nurse, and even Dolores. Although Nicolás did not want his rancho overtaken by the FPL, he grows to love the crew and feels sad at their departure. Accustomed to living alone with his grandfather, this is his first experience of an extended family. When Carmen tells him he should come along he is touched “because she cared enough to not want him to stay” (119).
The tender feelings and bonds developed between Nicolás and the FPL crew are sharply contrasted with the arrival of the Army. The first words Nicolás hears from inside his cave are “Assholes! Sons of bitches! We’re going to blow you away!” (125). Almost immediately they do just that, using a helicopter and grenades to destroy in one moment all the people Nicolás has come to care so deeply for. While the novel is clearly indicting both sides of the war for the endless violence, this scene makes it obvious that the brute force of the Army against common people with almost no weapons is excessive and cruel. The narrator describes the site of the attack as “carnage” (127), unprovoked and extremely destructive.
In the face of this extreme violence, and with his sick grandfather to tend to, Nicolás finally sheds the identity of the lamb and states, “I am a lion in a cave” (130). His grandfather confirms this, telling him, “Lions are brave and they are strong. You are a brave and strong boy” (131). In perfect foreshadowing, Nicolás places the statue of La Virgen back in her niche in the cave and places a wood carving of a lion in his pocket just as he steps into harm’s way.
Related Titles
By Sandra Benitez
