ipl-logo

The Rain God Sparknotes

1244 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Chicano culture intro

The Chicano Movement of the 1960s brought to the forefront of Mexican-American consciousness the need to identify as a self-determined group with unique histories, legends, heroes, triumphs, and legacies (Garcia). This belief in the importance of a renegotiation of Chicano subjectivity and the retrieval of a lost history is embedded in the text of Arturo Islas’ novel The Rain God. Miguel Chico puts forth in this story about a family of sinners—the Angel family—that literature can be utilized as a source of recovery through the acknowledgment of systems of oppression. Miguel, who is the narrator-protagonist of the story, as well as a closeted homosexual, writes, “Perhaps he had survived to tell others about Mama Chona and people like Maria. …show more content…

During his dream, Miguel Chico confronts head on the same monster that Mama Chona believed to have taken over her uterus, and which she denied the existence of. This monster of shame tells Miguel, “You are in my cave, and you will do whatever I say,” before he jumps off the bridge with it, killing both his previous self and the monster of shame associated with it (160). When he wakes from the dream, he has a profound …show more content…

In the poem that Miguel Chico is given by his Aunt Mema, it says, “Nothing recalls them [the dead] but the written page” (162). From this poem comes the title of the novel, and the basis for Miguel Chico’s effort to celebrate the life of his uncle who was forgotten in death, and simultaneously loved by his family and hated by the dominant culture during his life. Uncle Felix achieves perfection and becomes the rain god who takes Mama Chona to the next life. He is also, with his scent of the “desert after a rainstorm,” an angel that precedes the coming of rain (180). In this desert wasteland setting, Miguel envisions his Uncle Felix as the restorative cure for his family—the water in the lives of these individuals who see nothing but drought, death, and punishment around them. His death represents a rejection of the oppressive Catholic beliefs that Mama Chona instilled in her family, and an embracement of a pre-colonization belief system in which shame and guilt do not factor into the

Show More
Related

What Is The Theme Of We Were Here By Matt De La Pena

1071 Words | 5 Pages

Next Why Miguel acts the way he does at the beginning of the novel transitioning into how he developed towards the end. Third we will highlight how Rondell bonds with Miguel throughout the story from stomping on Miguel in the group home to journeying to Mexico. Last is the tragic but important role Mong fills in the threes adventure. Breaking down the message at the beginning of the story is complicated and can be portrayed many different ways. I believe the beginning stanza describing how one can change so quickly is a relation to Miguel's mental development.

Read More

Quixote's Soldiers Summary

741 Words | 3 Pages

For this book review, I am going to be talking about David Montejano’s book entitled Quixote’s Soldiers, A local history of the Chicano Movement, 1966-1981. The author’s purpose is very well explained and it is not hard to understand. The author clearly tries to explain different ideologies, individuals and organizations located in one of the Southwest’s major cities, San Antonio, Texas, during the late 1960s and early 190s. All these varieties mentioned above made possible that a movement was created called Chicano Movement, a group that David Montejano provides a deeply understanding and description of the movement during the reading of the book. Since, the city was governed by a tough Anglosocial elite that was firmly convinced in the way

Read More

The Decolonial Imaginary Summary

1190 Words | 5 Pages

The Decolonial Imaginary, an undoubtedly challenging book that makes the reader question not only their knowledge of history and theory but also the way in which it has been told through the centuries. Emma Pérez, a Chicana historian with her bachelors, masters, and doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles, put into perspective the ideas of Freud, Foucault, archeology and genealogy to lead the reader through the deconstruction of Chicana feminist historiography. Pérez then reconstruct history in a way that breaks the destructive cycles of patriarchy. She crosses many boarders as she takes nationalist history and traverses it into a Chicana Feminism, and by doing so she rewrites history from the perspective of a decolonial imaginary.

Read More

Themes In Mi Familia

938 Words | 4 Pages

The immigrants entering the United States throughout its history have always had a profound effect on American culture. However, the identity of immigrant groups has been fundamentally challenged and shaped as they attempt to integrate into U.S. society. The influx of Mexicans into the United States has become a controversial political issue that necessitates a comprehensive understanding of their cultural themes and sense of identity. The film Mi Familia (or My Family) covers the journey and experiences of one Mexican-American (or “Chicano”) family from Mexico as they start a new life in the United States. Throughout the course of the film, the same essential conflicts and themes that epitomize Chicano identity in other works of literature

Read More

Clay We Are Created Flashbacks

1114 Words | 5 Pages

Jose had no idea that he ran over the little girl and rushed off the car. He then realizes that it was a child, the mother of the child runs out of her house crying for her daughter’s life. On the other hand, in the short story “And of Clay We Are Created,” the narrator utilizes Rolf Carle’s flashbacks of his

Read More

The Man To Send Rain Clouds

583 Words | 3 Pages

The Man to Send Rain Clouds Essay (Rough Draft) In the story “The Man to Send rain Clouds” written by Leslie Marmon Silko, expresses the differences between two different cultures and their way of doing certain things. The story demonstrates how each culture in this story handles situation having to do with life and death. It states the different religious views one has over the other. The rituals of the Catholic Church and the rituals of the Pueblos are very different, in this story both religions cross paths at one point.

Read More

Analysis Of Cesar Vallejo's Poem 'Los Heraldos De Negros'

513 Words | 3 Pages

In Cesar Vallejo’s poem, “Los Heraldos de Negros”, in English called “The Black Heralds”, themes of God, children, love, and tragic consciousness emerge. My aim here is to examine another important source of his meaning, which is how the speaker sees God’s role in his encounters with life’s struggles. In the poem, a hateful God replaces a merciful God. The nature of this hateful God poses as a savior but instead of being helpful, or being resurrected to save humankind, he poses as a false or fake entity, which confuses and frustrates the speaker. Vallejo depicts God as hateful instead of merciful, because the speaker challenges and questions God’s methods.

Read More

Chicanos: A Synthesis Essay

478 Words | 2 Pages

In this essay, I will argue how the Chicanos in the U.S. have responded to the lack of inclusion in history, opportunities, to racism and violence because through time we have seen how the Chicanos have been part of the country history and what it came to be, but we have been left out of history. The Chicano helped build what the united states came to be, we are part of its culture since the treaty of Guadalupe was signed, but our path has not been easy, many have been victims of oppression, poor working conditions, lack of civil rights and segregation. I’ll argue not that the Chicano has been a victim but what he or she have done to change the way things were for our ancestors in this obscure past of our history, how we have come together

Read More

Judith Ortiz Cofer's Silent Dancing

1389 Words | 6 Pages

Whether it comes from a memory that Cofer shares or a story that Mama tells, there is a hidden meaning for each story. At the beginning there is the story of Maria la loca, a women who was left at the alter by a man who lied and deceived her. The story was told by Mama while Cofer was a small child listening to the grownups talk. The story is told because Cofers’ Aunt Laura is going to get her wedding dress hemmed, but she does not even know if or when the wedding will take place. Mama describes the story in a way that catches each of the characters attention.

Read More

Ckahk Monumental Figure Analysis

88 Words | 1 Pages

The subject of the Monumental Figure is that he is portrayed as the Storm God, also knows as Maya deity Chahk. He was the personification of rain, storms and lightning in Mayan time. The sculpture was probably part of a royal court building, looking down and gazed on the people who entered. The warlike Ckahk sculpture represents the Late and Terminal Classic period. The scale and his stiff stature and other elements such as his attire indicate that it is from the Puuc hills of Yucatan and

Read More

La Mexicano Analysis

871 Words | 4 Pages

Octavio Paz, a Mexican poet and essayist, is one of the many philosophers with a written piece regarding his understanding of Lo Mexicano. Paz’s “Sons of La Malinche” was first published in the Labyrinth of Solitude in 1950 and is a rather grim interpretation of the Mexican character, however, it captures the crisis of identity that Mexico was burdened with after the conquest. Paz uses the Spanish term “chingar,” (when literally translated means “to screw, to violate”) and its associated phrases to understand the conquest and the effect

Read More

Mexican American Culture In Bless Me Ultima

1414 Words | 6 Pages

Through Antonio and Ultima, readers identify the creation of a culture that has been forge by war, discrimination, and common hardships. With Ultima being a powerful curandera, the story shows the importance of the female character within Mexican culture. Today, this is prevalent in many Mexican-American households, as the elderly women are held in the highest respect. Another aspect of Mexican-American Culture is masculinity, which is shown in Bless Me, Ultima when Antonio’s father says, “a man of the llano does not run from a fight” (Anaya, 1999, p.37). There are countless examples of Mexican-American masculinity in this novel, like when it mentions that Gabriel’s two eldest sons are fighting in WWII.

Read More

Tony Hillerman

547 Words | 3 Pages

HI-113A Assignment Thirteen (1) Write a brief biographical portrait of novelist Tony Hillerman, with emphasis on his impact and influence on the Southwestern novel. Tony Hillerman was an American novelist who was born to a less than wealthy family in Oklahoma. He and his two siblings grew up in a diverse agricultural region of the Southwest, therefore they were fully aware of the divisions of native, Anglo, and Hispanic Americans, as well as those of social class, religious, and political ideology: The environment in which he grew up greatly influenced the novels as an adult. As a child and young adult, he tended to focus on his education, rather than a social life, Hillerman showed great interest in many fields, and after graduating high

Read More

Law And Religion In Márquez's Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

1472 Words | 6 Pages

Márquez’s novella ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold’ tells the story of Santiago Nasar’s murder. It is based on the real-life incident that occurred in the 1950s in a small Colombian town, Sucre. Cayetano Gentile was murdered by the brothers of Margarita Chica for having allegedly stolen her virginity. This was revealed when she was returned to her family after her newlywed husband had discovered that she wasn’t a Virgin. In his novella, Márquez displays the influence of the social mores and shows how these supersede the law of the statute books and the authority of Catholicism, which was otherwise so important and therefore how these social mores affect the characters and their actions.

Read More

Irony In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

1487 Words | 6 Pages

When Santiago Nasar dies, his death had to be determined. In the Catholic religion, it is forbidden to do anything with the deceased. Nevertheless, Father Amador results on performing the autopsy of Santiago. Such autopsy can be interpreted as a “second killing”, taking away Santiago 's honour and his identity of a rich man; where Santiago 's “lady-killer face that death had preserved ended up having lost its identity”(Marquez 76), unrecognisable inside a luxurious coffin. Irony plays the role on criticising the church, it questions religion and illustrates the hypocritical values and role of priests in Latin American society.

Read More

More about The Rain God Sparknotes

Related Topics

Open Document