American War

Throughout the novel, Sarat cares less and less about material objects or nostalgic mementos. Perhaps the only exception to this is her father's statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a Catholic title for the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is first described in Chapter 1: "By the front door, a statue from the days of Benjamin's childhood kept vigil. It was the Virgin of Guadalupe, cast in ceramic, her hands pressed against each other, her head lowered in prayer" (11). The statue is one of the few non-essential items Martina takes with her to Camp Patience and it is among the only objects Sarat hunts down in the aftermath of the camp massacre. Years later, when Sarat returns from Sugarloaf a broken woman, she mentions this to Simon: "So I went back, and you know what I took? I took Dad's old statue, the Virgin of Guadalupe; I took that turtle Marcus and I kept as a pet; I took a couple of old photos from Mama's bunk. I didn't take any clothes, didn't take any of the money Mama had saved up all her life. Not a single useful thing. Just junk" (316). To which Simon replies, "It wasn't junk.