The Man to Send Rain Clouds
Readers Reaction
This was quite an interesting story. There were three sections to the story which broke the story in three different times in one day. The characters were all very nonchalant except for the priest who showed some emotion when he found out that old Teofilo died. The story kept our interest, however, it did not lead a very clear trail to the end, and there was no real climax where we felt there was a good peak. The story needs to be read more than once to really be appreciated.
Plot Summary
One
Teofilo is at the sheep camp in the arroyo when he rests in the shade under a cotton tree and dies.
After Teofilo missing for a few days, Leon and Ken come looking for him and find that he "had been dead for a day or more, and the sheep had wandered and scattered up and down the arroyo."
They gather the sheep and then come back to wrap Teofilo up in a red blanket.
They paint his face with different colors and ask him to send them rain.
On Leon and Ken's way back into pueblow (town) they see Father Paul, who asked if they found their missing grandfather yet, and they tell him where they found him, but not that he's dead. "Good Morning, father. We were just out to the sheep camp. Everything is o.k. now."
Two
Louise and Teresa are waiting for them to get back with any news about Teofilo.
Leon tells the girls that they found Teofilo died near "a cottonwood tree in the big arroyo near sheep camp."
Leon and Ken carry in red blanket with teofilo's body, dress him in new clothes to be buried in.
After a quiet lunch, Ken went to see when the gravediggers could have the grave ready, "I think it can be ready before dark."
Neighbors and clans people come by their house...
... middle of paper ...
...lants and animals on it.
Theme
The theme to this story is that people will always be different and you cannot force your ideas into them. In this story the priest is ignorant to the fact that these Indians do not want to have a Catholic burial and that they only want to use the holy water to bring rain. All the priest is interested in is gaining parishioners, while the Indians just want to pay their respects to the old man by staying true to their heritage.
Historical Significance
Leslie Marmon Silko was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1948, where
she grew up on the Laguna Pueblo Reservation. There, she is from a
mixed heritageAnglo, Mexican, and Native American and lived among all
of these types of people. This is reflected directly in The Man to
Send Rain Clouds. The story deals with the native Mexicans living with
the white priest, father Paul.
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