Motifs_in_the_Weight_of_All_Things

In the novel The Weight of All Things, Sandra Benitez portrays many motifs that add to the strong feelings throughout the novel, such as the lamb & the lion, the Virgin and also through the representation of water. All of these motifs help one to truly understand the overall themes in the book and feel for the main character, Nicolas Veras throughout all of his misadventures. The author, Sandra Benitez, writes in a way that hides deep meanings behind each motif to collaborate together and create a overall feeling of the novel which is moving, touching and makes one think about the meaning of life. The Weight of All Things is morphed into the touching novel that it is through the motifs of the lion and the lamb which gave him courage, bravery and warmth, the Virgin, who guided him and through water which cleansed him. The lion and the lamb were essential to Nicolas while he was on his adventures through El Salvador because they made him stronger and gave him the tools he needed to battle through everything without letting it phase him. The lion gave Nico courage, strength and bravery to overcome everything that could possibly come in his way; the lamb gave him a warm heart for when he needed it. While Nico was trapped in the army garrison, Nico knew that he had to escape, no matter what, and he was sure that the courage that the lion had given him would do just that as proved in the quote, “He would escape from here as soon as he could. How he would accomplish this, he did not know. Of one thing he was certain: he was capable of whatever it took to do it. He was a lion, was he not'” (144-145). The significance of the lion giving Nico the courage to do anything and everything that he could to escape the terrifying fate that could have been foreseen, as long as Nico was, not only trapped at the garrison but also when the Guerillas take over his and Tata's rancho and at the final scene of the book, when the armys get into a battle over the lake, right in front of Nico, Tata and Basilio Ferman. The lamb gave Nico a heart of gold, compassion and a side of sensitivity. He became cautious but timid with the qualities of the lamb overpowering him and taking control. The lion hid inside the skin of the lamb and was there to balance things out for Nico and help him. La Virgen Milagrosa was one of the biggest impacts on Nico's life as she was a second mother to him when he needed her guidance and help at one of the hardest times in his life. When he witnessed a killing between the Guerillas and army, he immediately turned to La Virgen for help in the quote, “Nicolas turned from the window and slumped back against the wall, 'Virgencita,' he said aloud, 'help me,'” (103). Nico turned to La Virgen when he was in need of any type of help as she was his second mother and he had been named after her so that he could immediately have that close relationship and connection with her. Nico's mother was no longer around and so he turned to his other biggest influence, who happened to be La Virgen. She guided and helped Nico every step of the way on his journey to find out the truth about his mother and after that, as well. She taught Nico how to be like the lion and the lamb, showed him the way to escape the army garrison and appeared to him whenever he needed that extra little push to give him the courage to continue on his hard and heart-wrenching journeys. As with La Virgen, water changed the way Nico reacted towards different situations. Water had a relaxing and calming affect on Nico and seemed to help him wash away all of the bad things that were happening around. Water though, had a parallel with itself; in the day, it was a calming place that Nico went to to cleanse himself and purify, like Holy Water in a church, whereas in the night, the water was scary and Nico steered away from it. Tata and Nico's secret cave in which they stayed in during hard times was also by the water which gave him a special sense of security and safety. Many times in the book, Nico's relationship with his mother is related back to water such as, in the beginning of the book when Nico's mother was dragged away at the scene in front of the church at Archbishop Romero's funeral, he later said, “Like pouring water over a stone, that is how she slipped away from me,” (4). Nico makes the analogy of how his mother was taken away through the water because it was both good and bad, like the water at day and night. Good, in the sense that his mother had died protecting him and at the funeral of someone she loved but bad because he had lost his mother. The water gave Nico a sense of peace and serenity because it seemed to set things in motion and let him see the light at the end of the tunnel. The water washed away the bad things in Nico's life, such as at the end of the novel when he dissembles the gun in the river as if to wash away all of the evil from it and what it's uses were. In The Weight Of All Things by Sandra Benitez, the lion & the lamb, La Virgen and water all helped Nicolas Veras through the hardest time of his life and overcome some of the hardest of life's battles. These motifs collaborated together to create the theme of “Life is heavier than the weight of all things,” as he traveled on his journey and found out the truth of his mother's disappearance, all of these things guided him in the right direction and kept him strong and safe.