60 pages • 2 hours read

The Weight of All Things

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2000

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-18

Chapters 19-21

Chapters 22-24

Chapters 25-27

Chapters 28-30

Chapters 31-33

Chapter 34-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 31-33

Chapter 31 Summary

At sunrise, Tata and Capitan are fishing in the river. Tata speaks to the fish in his head, asking them to come to him to feed the hungry people of the village. Tata drifts off into a memory of a time when he worked as a laborer in Honduras. After a fiercely competitive soccer match, a war broke out between Honduras and El Salvador. Tata had to risk crossing the river during a dangerous flood season in order to escape the war. He thinks about the harrowing journey and how he eventually got himself to shore. When he comes out of his reverie, he hears his dog barking and turns to see Nicolás standing on the riverbank.

Chapter 32 Summary

Nicolás and Tata sob in each other’s arms. Nicolás shows Tata his wound and explains that he doesn’t know if the Army or the guerrilleros shot him. He tells him that Alvarado cleaned his wound and helped him. Nicolás says he walked all night and when he stopped for a drink of water, he saw Tata. They make their way into El Retorno, where everyone celebrates his arrival. They want to hear all about his experience and comment on his newly filled out appearance. Nicolás is thirsty and exhausted and goes to sleep in the church under the statue of Our Lady. When he wakes in the night, he finds Tata sitting up. Tata explains that in the morning they will take a bus to San Salvador so a doctor can look at Nicolás. He also explains that the Salah family (his mother’s employer) wants to help them. Nicolás decides to tell Tata the truth about his mother being dead. Tata says that he already knows and has been to her grave. Instead of angels or a tombstone, her grave has a small statue of Our Lady.

Tata and Nicolás head to Ursula’s for fried fish and company. The adults all want to know everything about what Nicolás saw, but he would prefer not to discuss it. Suddenly Capitán begins to growl and a woman’s voice calls out. She says they are from San Francisco Morazán. They have been forced out and are on the move with their children. As a few other adults emerge from the darkness, they see that Basilio Fermin is among the group.

Chapter 33 Summary

This group shares the news that the Army is searching the area of Tejutla for any insurgents. People from the region are fleeing their homes northward. Don Basilio learned of the sweeps from Señor Alvarado when he arrived to pick up Nicolás. He assumed that Nicolás must have headed for El Retorno and followed him. He says it is a miracle that he managed to get there without being stopped by police or Guardia. The people discuss plans going forward. They decide it is not safe to remain in El Retorno. All but Emilio and Don Pablo agree to leave together. They plan to walk through the night and cross the river to a refugee camp in Honduras. Along the way they will visit the people’s clinic where Dr. Eddy is stationed to have Nicolás examined. Then they will cross at the very same spot where Tata was swept away a decade ago.

Chapters 31-33 Analysis

Chapter 31 offers the deepest insight into Tata’s character. We discover that he and Nicolás share a language of spirituality. Tata believes in miracles and divinity, just as Nicolás does. Also like Nicolás, he keeps this to himself. When Tata fishes, he speaks to the fish: “the old man called the fish in, something he always did, but in his head, where it was safe to have such conversations” (199). Tata speaks to the fish and asks them to come to him so that he may feed the people of his village, and they speak back in agreement. This is a biblical allusion to the miracle of the loaves and fishes. This allusion places Tata in line with the religious miracles that La Virgen represents for Nicolás. As the text compares Tata to Jesus feeding the people with fish, Nicolás is the lost lamb searching for his shepherd.

Fishing along the Sumpul River, Tata reflects on his life. Though he is stationary, he is constantly “caught always in between” (200) warring sides. His place on the river, geographically situated between two countries, represents his life: always caught between two dangerous forces that have nothing to do with his own beliefs. Tata’s memory offers a moment of foreshadowing. He recalls an earlier time in which he had to cross the Sumpul River. The river was too full from heavy rains and the current swept him away, almost drowning him. He was forced to cross much further downstream where the river is wider and shallower. This is exactly what will happen at the end of the novel, where only the miracle of La Virgen’s guidance will save Nicolás and Tata from drowning.

Chapters 32 and 33 further the theme of being trapped. The Army is angry at the guerrilleros for attacking their garrison, and they set out to punish anyone who might be affiliated with the insurgents. Innocent people trapped between the two sides are threatened, intimidated, or killed. They decide they are not safe in their homes and flee on foot, only to discover that they are not safe on foot either. The Army follows them on land and through the sky, always one step ahead and heavily armed. These chapters rely heavily on the omniscient narrator to give the reader a zoomed out view of the common people, thinking they are marching toward freedom while heading straight into a trap. Benitez uses dark imagery and sets the scene at night so as to represent the darkness of not knowing what is about to happen.