The Rain God
| Author | Arturo Islas |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Design by James Stockton & Assoc. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Hispanic American literature |
| Publisher | Alexandrian |
|
Publication date
|
1984 |
| Media type | Hardback |
| Pages | 180 pp. |
| ISBN | (Correct for first Printing, 1984 Alexandrian |
The Rain God is a novelised family portrait by Arturo Islas of a Mexican family living in a town on the U.S.-Mexican border, illustrating its members’ struggle to cope with physical handicaps, sexuality, racial and ethnic identification in their new surroundings.
In five chapters, the author draws a character study which reveals the saints and sinners of the family.
In the first chapter, Miguel Chico, son to Miguel Grande and Juanita is introduced. He is the only member of the Angel family to achieve a college education so far, and he lives away from the rest of the family in San Francisco. Because he has chosen to live so far away, he is viewed with suspicion by some members of the family.
Nina, Juanita’s sister, is presented in the following chapter. Her sexual and rebellious nature, which caused many fights and arguments with her father, has been passed on to her son Antony. Nina, not having learned from the mistakes she used to criticize her father of, does not peacefully settle the differences between herself and her son. After one of their fights, Antony dies, and it's unclear if the death was a suicide.
Another “sinner” is profiled in chapter three: Miguel Chico’s father; Miguel Grande, who is having an affair with Lola, who is his wife Juanita's best friend. He is torn between them and unable to choose.
Chapter four tells the story of Miguel Grande’s brother Felix, who is killed by a soldier toward whom he made sexual advances. In chapter five, Felix’s son, JoEl, has night terrors as a child; the chapter deals with his feelings about his father's death.
In the last chapter, the family matriarch, Mama Chona, Miguel Grande’s mother is portrayed as a beast-like figure. Having fled from the 1911 Mexican Revolution, Mama Chona tried to hold the Angel family together and keep its dignity all her life. However, she failed miserably.
One of the main protagonists is Miguel Chico. His real name is Miguel Angel, but he is called Miguel Chico, or Mickie, in order to distinguish him from his father. He was born in the early 1930s, a short time before the Second World War. As one of the first persons of Mexican origin who went to a prestigious private school, he is very well-educated. After receiving his doctorate, he becomes a university professor and as such lives alone in San Francisco. Once, when Miguel Chico becomes afflicted with a common bladder infection, his doctor, who did not know about the intestinal problems Mickie suffered from childhood, prescribed him medicine he would not have been allowed to take. Consequently, Miguel Chico had to be operated on, because the medicine had already done too much harm when he discontinued taking it. His intestines were badly damaged, requiring him to have a colostomy. He sees himself as a “slave to plastic appliances”.
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