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

Rain is a pervading symbol that occurs throughout the entirety of the short story. The title of the work, “The Man to Send Rain Clouds,” gestures at the importance of rain and nature to the Pueblo people. The importance of rain as a symbol in the text is made most clear when it remains at the forefront of Leon’s mind when he discovers his grandfather’s body. After painting stripes of white, green, and blue on Teofilo’s face, Leon smiles and asks him, “Send us rain clouds, Grandfather” (1). Rain must be important to the Pueblo people for numerous reasons; Father Paul himself wonders if Leon’s request for him to sprinkle holy water on Teofilo is “something they did in March to insure a good harvest” (4). This is merely a presumption on Father Paul’s part, and Silko does not go into detail about why rain is so important to the characters in the story.

Rather than emphasizing and explaining why rain clouds play such a vital role in their burial rites, Silko draws attention to Teofilo himself. Beginning and ending on how “now the old man could send them big thunder clouds for sure,” Leon articulates rain as a gift from his deceased grandfather (4).