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None Provided8

None Provided8 Rain of Gold, is a true story about the history of Mexican people, their culture, traditions and customs that were passed down from the Euro-Indian heritage of Mexico. Rain of Gold was written by Juan Villasenor in search for his ancestral roots. The people of this story are real and not fiction. The places that are discussed are true. And the incidents did actually happen to his family. There are several underlying themes that need addressing. Such as: the importance of family, the importance of religion and spiritualism, woman as center of home and family, respect--protection of woman's virtue; ideal of women as pure, power of the woman--the mother, being a man-man as protector of the family, pride of man to be a provider, importance of traditions, respect for life, work and education/learning, death as part of life, honor, dignity, and finally discrimination and prejudice. I will be using this book as a reference and as a guide throughout this review to discuss the themes that are stated above. "La Lluvia de Oro" that means Rain of Gold in English, was the name of a gold mine located in a box canyon in the mountains of Chihuahua. I would first like to introduce you to the Gomez family. There's Dona Guadalupe who was an unofficial adopted Yaqui child of Leonides and Rosa Camargo. Dona Guadalupe married Victor Gomez, and they had Sophia, Maria, Carlota, Victoriano, and Lupe. Lupe was conceived in 1910 when a huge meteorite hit the box canyon where her family lived. It was said that her parents thought that it was the end of the world so they prayed and made desperate love, asking God to spare them (p. 9). Lupe was referred to as the meteorite child. Next, I would like to introduce you to the Villasenor family. Dona Margarita was the daughter of Don Pio (founder of Los Altos de Jalisco) and Silveria Castro. Dona Margarita married Juan Villasenor and they had Jose, Alejo, Luisa, Emilia, Lucha, Domingo, and Juan Salvador. Juan Salvador and Lupe were destined to find each other. Later Juan and Lupe would marry and have a family of their own. Both families emphasis the importance of family. In this sense family is defined as your immediate family consisting of your parents, brother (s) and/or sister (s). "No man, no matter how wonderful, is to be put before a women's first loyalty, which is her family…. So understand you're no child, and you first loyalty is to your brother and sister and me-la familia", Dona Guadalupe saying this to Lupe (p. 42). Lupe's first love was the Colonel who was fighting in the Revolution. Everyone in the box canyon believed that the Colonel would steal their gold mine and give it to the Americans. Lupe loved this man with all her heart and couldn't believe that anyone thought he would do such a thing to hurt the people of Mexico. And Dona Guadalupe had to tell her that her first loyalty should be to her family and it didn't revolve around the man you love. The goal of both families was to one day see their children be married and have children of their own. The importance of religion and spiritualism is what held these families together through all they had to endure. Dona Margarita once told Juan Salvador, "Do you really think God stopped talking to us, His people, with the Jews and the Bible. Oh, no mi hijito, God lives and He still Loves to talk, I tell you. All you have to do is look around and open you eyes and you'll see his greatness everywhere-the miracles of life, la vida (p. xxii)." In believing and feeling so close to God they would speak to God on a daily basis just as if he was their friend right next to them. And the way that God would respond to them was in a form of a miracle. These miracles allowed them to deal with the world around them. And they viewed life as a miracle in its self. The women were the center of the home and the family. Sometimes the women would have to raise their children most of the time alone while the fathers would be out in the mines or the crops working. Sometimes the father's wouldn't even see their children for many years leaving the mother to take on the role of the father as well. Don Manuel was the major of the canyon. He was to perform the wedding ceremony for Sophia's (Lupe's sister) and Don Tiburcio's wedding. Once the Americans left the canyon Don Manuel went into a deep depression. "She's el eje de su familia," Dona Guadalupe said this about Josefina. There could be no higher compliment for any woman. El eje was the center of the home; it was the hub from which all the spokes of power flowed out to the rest of the family, like the umbilical cord from a mother to her child (p. 175). Josefina was the center of her family. She was the one who keeps her family together through good and bad times. Many of the women these were el eje de su familia. They helped strengthen their families. Respect, protection of woman's virtue; ideal of women as pure is a theme that begins when a woman is giving birth. An example is when Sophia is giving birth to her first child. "Please, now, leave before you witness something you shouldn't." Dona Guadalupe ushered Don Tiburcio out of the door in a hurry. Lupe felt such tenderness for him. But he wasn't a woman, so he couldn't stay and help (p. 191). Men were not allowed to see a woman give birth to their child. It was as if men could not handle seeing and hearing his wife in so much pain. If they witnessed this it was somewhat of a sin. After seeing a woman go through labor they may not see them as "pure" anymore. This was not just an issue that Mexican women had to deal with; it was an issue that all women had to deal with in the past. The power of the woman, especially the mother is seen the be overwhelming. Being a mother myself, I understand that this statement is true. The mother is the first to give nurturance and to educate their children. For example, when Juan was talking to Lupe the day she was trying to learn how to drive the family truck without anyone knowing, he said this to her: "…Any man whose true interest is in his offspring has the responsibility to find the smartest, most educated woman he can find, because the mother is after all, a child's first and most important teacher (p. 405)." He believed that in order for a man to have children who will become something in life, his wife also has to be someone who is special and educated. The mother has the power to bring the family closer to each other. In both of these families (Lupe's and Juan's) the mother was the primary caregiver of the children. The mother was the one who needed to socialize their children to become productive adults. In doing this there needed to be structure in the family and the mother was the one who was also responsible for this. The father may be the breadwinner of the family, but it is the mother who the children would seek comfort and guidance from. Being a man, man as protector of the family, pride of man to be a provider is what many see as the "man's" role. "For Salvador (Juan) took care of his family; he was an example of what mejicano could be if only he carried his balls with pride" (p. 387). Juan always took care of his family. No matter what type of job he had to take on. He became a bootlegger in order to make money for his family to survive. He loved it when he could give his mother money so she didn't have to find other means of getting money. Juan became the man of the family even when he was still a very young. He took on this role with much pride and dignity. Also, Juan was soft and tender, hard and tough, all at the same time. He was not afraid of letting others see him cry. He knows that a real man could have all these qualities and still have respect from others. In contrast, Lupe's mother became the protector of the family when Don Victor was away and Victoriano was still young. When Lupe and her family were still living in the box canyon. The Mexican Revolution was going on at this time and it was a scary and hard time for a lot of families in Mexico. If the soldiers were going up to box canyon, Dona Guadalupe would hide her daughters in the manure to prevent the soldiers from raping and killing her children. This idea of hiding her daughters in manure took much wits to come up with, it saved her daughter lives. Importance of traditions was what kept these families going day to day. A Mexican tradition is Cinco de Mayo and it is celebrated on May 5th in the United States. Senor Gonzales was a man in the community of Santa Ana and was one of the officials in the Cinco de Mayo parade. Carlota and two of her girlfriends entered the contest to be the queen of the pride. Lupe did not enter the contest. Senor Gonzales came by their house to talk to Lupe and her parents. Lupe was offered the position of being the queen of the parade. This is what Senor Gonzales said to Lupe with her parent's present: "…And this year, for the first time we want to have a big celebration with a parade and extend it past the barrio in the americano part of town so we can include the gringos in our celebration…you see, many of our people who came here during the Revolution, as did your own family are beginning to think that maybe this country (U.S.) is going to be our permanent home. So that's why we want to include the gringos and teach them of our Mexican traditions so we don't lose our culture"(p. 318). As stated above, they wanted to teach the gringos and teach them of the Mexican traditions so they don't lose their culture. This was a celebration that would help preserve the culture of the mejicanos and teach others the purpose of the celebration of Cinco de Mayo. Respect for life, work, education/learning was a moral that everyone learned. If you could not have respect for life, work, education/learning then how could you strive to live? One day Juan had to teach his two nephew's (Luisa's son's) Jose and Pedro a lesson. He found out that the two boys had taken the pants off their teacher and threw him out the window. So Juan took both of them to work with him. He made them get up when the day was just beginning. They had to dig up the barrels of liquor that Juan had put there for safe keeping. After they were done shoveling they put the barrels into the back of the truck and covered them with manure. They went on their way to deliver the liquor and Juan was talking to the boys as he drove. Pedro took the caliber .38 gun from his brother and shot the front windshield. Since Juan couldn't really see what was in front of him they almost went over the cliff. Juan took Pedro into the bush about a mile ahead and cut a branch off of the tree. Juan began to switch him and shouting, "I work for my living! I don't go around shooting people! And I wouldn't shoot a gun inside a house or car no matter if God Himself tells me to! I think, I use my head, and I work hard! I'm a businessman! I'm not a stupid gang of little two-bit, ass-turning punks, ganging up on an old teacher and pantsing him! I got balls, you understand? I got respect! I sweat! I work!" (p. 313) Juan needed to have this one on one conversation to tell his nephew that just because he was a bootlegger that didn't mean he didn't have respect for life, work and education. Juan goes on saying, "Reading, education, that's what's going to get us ahead in the long run. Not this bootlegging." (p. 315) Juan did not get an education and he believes education is the way for his nephews to get ahead in life. Both of these families had to accept the fact that death was a part of life. Don Tiburcio saved Lupe from the bandits that were trying to rape her. And in doing this he lost his life. Sophia was devastated that her husband had died but yet she had to go on with life. She could not weep for the rest of her life. She had a child she had to think of and one on the way and in order to survive she had to remarry one-day (p.197). Dying and death had become a part of everyday community life. They had seen many die before and it was a process in which all had to deal with one day. This was an understanding that these families came to grip with when they were young. Honor and dignity was imbedded in everyone in the family. Juan told Dona Guadalupe and Dona Manza (Dona Guadalupe's bestfriend) about the time his father sold their goats to a shrewd businessman. When Don Juan got back home, Dona Margarita told him to go and ask him for his goat's back. He said to her, "…No Villasenor has gone back on his word in five hundred years" (p.383). He had so much honor in his business transaction that he could not ask for his goats back. If he did he would be going against all he was taught by his parents. He had so honor and dignity in his families name that he could not ask for his goat's back. Being a Villasenor to him was like being a Kennedy today. There was no greater honor. Everyone faced some kind of discrimination and prejudice. Being a Mexican was a hard thing to be when you were surrounded by a great majority of Anglo-Americans. When Juan returned from Montana to his mother's house he went to a café in town. Juan had sat down and ate and was beginning to smoke a cigar when the cook told him this: "Excuse me,…but you see, my waitress, she's new and so she didn't know that we can't serve Mexicans….I live just around the back with my family and to my home you're welcome anytime. But here, you know ho it is; I have to stay in business, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave (p.231)." Juan was good enough to go to the man's home, but not good enough to eat in his restaurant. This was only situation that Juan had encountered. Another time Juan was setting up his distillery in an Anglo community. Juan was carrying in the big metal stove when a little white dog came running up, barking, and bit him. "Don't Tiny! Shouted the elderly lady from across the street. "They're dirty!" (p. 302) The lady did not know anything about Juan and she had a stereotype of what Mexican's were. This happens to many people. People are ignorant and don't watch what they are saying. This type of behavior leads to discrimination, prejudice and racism. I really enjoyed all of the characters and this book tremendously. Both Lupe's and Juan's mother were very strong and God fearing women. They had a very strong bind between their children who were taught values and morals. This book made me want to know my ancestral routes and learn more about my culture. Since this book was a true story about Victor Villasenor's family, it made the stories even more real. I would recommend this book to everyone who loves to read. Bibliography: Reference: Villasenor, Victor. Rain of Gold. Arte Publico Press, 1991.

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