the man to send rain clouds essay

“The man to send rain clouds” by Leslie Marmon Silko Essay

Introduction, how conflict is developed, how conflict is resolved, works cited.

The central conflict in a story is normally the fight between the main character and other things that hinder him or her from achieving or accomplishing something that he or she wants (Garfinkel, 44). If there is no central conflict then a story does not exist since other characters and themes revolve around the central conflict to make a story. At times the central conflict in a story can be the burning issue in the story that needs to be addressed or resolved (Fog & Budtz, 66).

In the Story “The man to send rain clouds” by Silko, the central conflict is lack of rain or drought. The main character is an old man by the name Teofilo whose work is to look after the sheep and return them to the sheep camp where he looks after them over the night. The concept of drought or lack of water is introduced in the very beginning of the story when Teofilo is found dead under a dry cottonwood tree (Lesli1).

This shows that the old man had taken rest under the cotton tree to protect his body from the scorching sun when he died. When Leon and his brother -in-law went looking for Teofilo, only to find him dead, Leon stood under a tree as he waited for Ken again giving more evidence that the sun was scorching (Lesli1). The presence of bare cottonwoods and wide sandy arroyo still tells that there was no rainfall for a long time.

As the story continues, Leon looks at the sun and unzips his jacket a sign that it was hot. After painting the old man’s face, they both ask the dead man to send them rain clouds establishing further the conflict of drought. As the preparation of the burial is made, Ken points out that only the top layer of the soil was frozen and the gravediggers could complete digging the grave before dark.

Again this tells how the weather is, with some parts covered by snow and no rain. When Louse tells Leon to look for a priest to sprinkle holy water for Grandpa, this is more of a religious activity but one can tell that Louse said this due to the dry spell experienced in the area.

As the evening approaches, the weather changes to a chilly one and the Pueblo road was full of dust (Leslie 1). Here the author creates the central conflict of a drought because whenever there is drought it is very hot and windy during the day, cold and windy at night. Louse stands shivering and then zips his jacket which is a sign of a cold weather.

The idea of drought also rises during the dialogue between Leon and father Paul when Leon tells the father that they want the old man to have plenty of water. Although this is more of a ritual, the author has used it to bring out the idea of drought.

The dry tumbleweeds that grew in the graveyard were dry which a sign of a dry spell. As the priest pours holy water on the old man’s body and the grave, the water disappeared before it touched the dim, cold sand. He continued to sprinkle more water until when the container was empty.

According to the story, the water dried immediately like it happens when there are showers of rain and sun at the same time in August. The priest’s brown robe, corn meal and pollen that were sprinkled on the blanket were also blown away by wind. Presence of strong and chilly wind in the evening after a hot and cold day as explained in the story clearly brings the idea of a drought.

The central conflict is normally solved in the story through the actions of different characters (Novakovich 54). As the story opens, Leon and his brother-in-law Ken are seen to contribute in solving the central conflict. After painting the old man’s body, they both shout “Send us rain clouds, Grandfather” (Leslie 1).

Culturally the two believed that when the old man dies, he is capable of sending rain clouds and could be a solution to the drought. During the burial of the old man, water is sprinkled on his body and grave since some of the characters believed that by giving him adequate water he could in return send them rain clouds.

After the burial Leon again looks at the high Blue Mountains which were initially covered by snow. He is happy since the snow had melted and the priest had agreed to sprinkle holy water on the old man thereby enabling him to send rain clouds (Leslie 1). The absence of snow symbolized the onset of rain and end of drought thereby resolving the central conflict of the story.

Fog, Klaus & Budtz Christian. Storytelling: Branding in Practice, New York, NY: Springer, 2010. Print.

Garfinkel, Asher. Screenplay Story Analysis , New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing Inc. 2007. Print.

Leslie, Marmon S. “ The Man to Send Rain Clouds ”. Retrieved from web

Novakovich, Josip. Fiction. Writer’s Workshop: The Key Elements of a Writing Workshop , Omaha, NE: Writer’s Digest Books, 2008, Print.

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IvyPanda. (2019, December 9). "The man to send rain clouds" by Leslie Marmon Silko. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-man-to-send-rain-clouds-by-leslie-marmon-silko/

""The man to send rain clouds" by Leslie Marmon Silko." IvyPanda , 9 Dec. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/the-man-to-send-rain-clouds-by-leslie-marmon-silko/.

IvyPanda . (2019) '"The man to send rain clouds" by Leslie Marmon Silko'. 9 December.

IvyPanda . 2019. ""The man to send rain clouds" by Leslie Marmon Silko." December 9, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-man-to-send-rain-clouds-by-leslie-marmon-silko/.

1. IvyPanda . ""The man to send rain clouds" by Leslie Marmon Silko." December 9, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-man-to-send-rain-clouds-by-leslie-marmon-silko/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . ""The man to send rain clouds" by Leslie Marmon Silko." December 9, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-man-to-send-rain-clouds-by-leslie-marmon-silko/.

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The Man to Send Rain Clouds

20 pages • 40 minutes read

The Man to Send Rain Clouds: Contemporary Stories by American Indians

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

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Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

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Discussion Questions

Consider the setting of the short story. In what way does Silko reflect the story’s narrative with the weather, season, and natural phenomena that occur in the novel? Provide examples to support your answer.

Consider the short story’s title. Who might “the Man to Send Rain Clouds” in question be about? In what way could all the named characters of the story also hold that title?

Make a list of the non-English words used in the short story and look up their definitions. Why might have Silko resisted translating these words? What effect does this have on the reading experience itself?

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The Man to Send Rain Clouds – Literary Devices

Point of view .

The story is told through an objective, third-person narrative, and unfolds in a rigidly objective tone. There is no hint of the narrator’s personal voice as each character is presented. With the exception of the graveyard scene that concludes the story, the narrator does not explain the character’s thoughts, but presents only the action of the story. 

Setting 

The story is set on the Laguna Indian Reservation in New Mexico. The landscape of the story with its arroyos and mesas is an integral part of the story. Silko captures the landscape very effectively in her narrative. For instance, “The big cottonwood tree stood apart from a small grove of winterbare cottonweeds which grew in the wide, sandy arroyo…. Leon waited under the tree while Ken drove the truck through the deep sand to the edge of the arroyo…. But high and northwest the blue mountains were still in snow…. It was getting colder, and the wind pushed gray dust down the narrow pueblo road. The sun was approaching the long mesa where it disappeared during the winter.” 

Allusions 

The title “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” alludes to the Pueblo belief that the dead are associated with rain clouds. The narrator makes several references to the Indian burial ceremony and the history of the Pueblo people. The story’s title is taken from a traditional prayer in which the Indians pray for the spirit of the deceased to send rain clouds so crops will grow and the community will not starve. To the Pueblo, death is not the end of existence, but part of a cycle in which the human spirit returns to its source and then helps the community by returning with rain clouds. The Pueblo paint the face of the deceased so that he will be recognized in the next world. They also scatter corn and sprinkle water to provide food and water for the spirit on its journey to the other world. The reference to the Catholic church’s “twin bells from the King of Spain” is important as it points to the history of the Pueblo’s initial encounter with Christianity. In 1598, when the Pueblo swore allegiance to the king of Spain, Catholic missionaries arrived to convert Native Americans to Catholicism. Although Christianity was forced on them, the Indians continued to observe their traditional religious practices. 

Humor 

In this story, Silko uses humor as a double-edged tool. The encounter between the young priest, who is denied the opportunity to perform Catholic rites, and Leon, who insists that such rites are not necessary, is humorous. The exchange also provokes an awareness of intercultural conflict. One illustration of this is the following passage: “The priest approached the grave slowly…. He looked at the red blanket, not sure that Teofilo was so small, wondering if it wasn’t some perverse Indian trick— something they did in March to ensure a good harvest—wondering if maybe old Teofilo was actually at the sheep camp corralling the sheep for the night. But there he was, facing into a cold dry wind and squinting at the last sunlight, ready to bury a red wool blanket while the faces of his parishioners were in shadow with the last warmth of the sun on their backs.”

Irony 

Irony is a literary device used to convey meaning to a phrase quite different than—in fact, often the direct opposite of—the literal one. Irony can be verbal or situational. Silko demonstrates a skillful use of irony in the story, notably in her depiction of the young priest, an authority figure who wants the Indians to follow Catholic ways but, in the end, himself uses holy water as part of a traditional Indian ceremony, participating in a non-Christian ceremony. 

Description 

Skillful use of adjectives and attention to detail are the hallmarks of Silko’s descriptions. For instance, in ”The Man to Send Rain Clouds” she uses such expressions as “wide, sandy arroyo,” “low, crumbling wall,” “brown, wrinkled forehead” and ”He squinted up at the sun and unzipped his jacket” to enhance the beauty of her narrative.

Dialogue 

Silko employs an interesting mixture of narration and dialogue. The dialogues between Leon and Father Paul, and between Leon and Louise, present the characters to the readers directly. Readers are able to draw their own conclusions as to the characters’ respective natures and motivations.

Source Credits:

Ira Mark Milne (Editor), Short Stories for Students – Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Short Stories, Volume 8, Leslie Marmon Silko, Published by Thomson Gale, 2000.

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• The Man to Send Rain Clouds - Analysis
• The Man to Send Rain Clouds - Summary
• The Man to Send Rain Clouds - Themes
• The Man to Send Rain Clouds - Characters
• The Man to Send Rain Clouds - Essay

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The Man to Send Rainclouds Essay

Danielson teaches English at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon. In the following excerpt, she offers a feminist interpretation of Silko's "The Man to Send Rain Clouds."

Over the last twenty years, the general development of scholarship about women's lives and art parallels an unprecedented flowering of creative writing by American Indian women. But in view of these parallel developments, American Indian women have shown little interest in the feminist movement, and conversely mainstream feminist scholarship has paid strikingly little attention to the writing of American Indian women.

Leslie Silko's Storyteller (1981), a product of this literary florescence, has remained virtually undiscussed as a whole by critics of any stamp. With its emphasis on women tradition bearers, female deities, and its woman author's personal perspective, Storyteller seems to ask for a feminist critical treatment. . . .

Particularly applicable to Silko's Storyteller are feminist critical strategies to reclaim as legitimate literary...

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