‘Rain of Gold” by Victor Villasenor
The “Rain of Gold” is a novel depicting the true history of the Mexican people; their traditions, culture, and customs that were passed down from the Euro-Indian heritage of Mexico. Juan Victor Villasenor wrote the book as an effort to find his ancestral roots (Martinez 253). The people and places discussed in the story are true – not fiction. The incidences are a narration of what happened to his family. Victor narrates the individual stories of his parents in the book and their journey out of the Mexican revolution to the United States (DeWald and Villasenor 130).
Simply put, the novel is an exemplary description of the survival wars between three generations of two typical Mexican families. The story is studded with a large cast of characters: Victoriano Gomez, Don Victor Gomez, Dona Guadalupe Gomez, Juan Salvador Villasenor Gomez, Carlotta Gomez, Lupe Gomez, Maria Gomez, and Dona Margarita Silveria, among others (Villasenor 5-20). Victor Villasenor has based his sprawling and complex tale of experiences of his entire family members and the interviews he ever had with them. The author, in fact, has included several actual photos of the people has written about, lending a certain measure of authenticity to this Mexican narrative (Day 327). This paper discusses how Victor Villasenor conceived the characters and the information about them, the struggles of two metaphorical families in escaping Mexico into the United States, and their final immigration to California in the “Rain of Gold”.
The first five chapters of the book are an introduction to the characters: Lupe, the main character, and her family. Socially, Lupe lives with her parents, her three sisters (Sophia, Carlota, and Maria) and her only older brother Victoriano (Villasenor 55). Lupe grew up in a quiet village in the mountainous Northern Mexico named La Lluvia de Oro, literally translated to mean “Rain of Gold.” The beautiful village was once littered with streams and forests before the later destruction by the discovery of the vein of gold in less than two decades. At a tender age, Lupe’s father left home, and since then her mother raised her and her siblings alone. The novel begins with the green Lupe working with her mother, Dona Guadalupe, preparing breakfast and doing laundry for the miners (63). The breakout of the Mexican revolution sees the arrival of Colonel Manuel Maytorena in the village, tasked with ensuring the safety of the mines and the gold. Lupe circumstantially falls in love with the Colonel despite his marriage and a huge two-decade age difference; consequently, referring to him as “my colonel” (Villasenor 74).
Colonel becomes amused by the religious devotion of Lupe’s family and requests that they take care of his pregnant wife Socorro as he fulfills his military duties. Colonel is later killed by rebels while on a mission to deliver gold from the village to the United States. Lupe becomes emotionally devastated and seeks solace in the Colonel’s’ military jacket. The colonel and his military coat are used in the novel to represent the nobility of his character. Lupe, later in the book is caught by the gentleman dressing style of Juan Salvador Villasenor.
Juan, the presumptive godfather of the author, is extensively discussed in chapters 9 and 10 of the book (Villasenor 113). Juan is the real personification of the determination that migrants have to do what they have to do to survive with a measure of dignity. He exemplary demonstrated the willingness of migrants to work hard as the human effort can go to save himself and his family from languishing in poverty. He also represents the people who take advantages of the opportunities presented by the southwestern part of the united states to study (Martinez 273).
After Juan endured the harrowing experiences of the Mexican Revolution with his family in the mother country of Mexico, he too had to flee for America. Juan then struggles in the United States to fend for both his family and his mother, Dona Margarita; going as far as committing crimes (Villasenor 149). At one point in the novel, he is noted to distract a farmer so that he can steal his corn. Another time, Juan travels to the desert to find wood to sell, with the endeavor being such physically challenging that he almost loses his life. Eventually, Juan commits himself to gambling and other more serious endeavors, which finally land him incarceration at a prison in Arizona. His eventual escape to Montana is futile as he is recaptured and sent back to jail. The release of Juan and further prohibition sees him become both a professional gambler and a bootlegger; occupations then enable him to afford a privileged and lucrative lifestyle. His beautiful clothing and possession of nice things capture the attention of Lupe at first sight (Villasenor 151-153).
Juan suffered much discrimination in Los Angeles with his family after leaving Mexico. His American dream had turned into a nightmare. One day, Juan went to a cafeteria to have his usual breakfast of eggs, ham, and coffee. When the attendant saw him, he told Juan “but you see my waitress; she is new, and so she did not know we cannot serve Mexicans” (Villasenor 232). The Mexicans were not discriminated because of their color, but because they were Mexicans. The American laws of 1900 never allowed Mexicans into restaurants, stores, schools or any other public places (Fein par 7). The discrimination and prejudice, however, did not break Juan’s determination. Juan managed to bring a turn in fortunes for the family (Fein par 8). From the novel, readers learn that Juan used to work with a Montana road gang in 1921 – 1922, and after harrowing experiences, sought work in gambling dens and warehouses run by the notoriously famous Englishwoman who seemed to have an insatiable appetite for money and unending pretentions of being a lady. She saw something in Juan and taught him good manners, the mysteries of love, women, and life.
Villasenor’s “Rain of Gold” enumerates the Mexican culture portrayal of the family as an important and pivotal part of the lives of the migrants (221). Many people as possible had to support one another and stick together to survive the difficulties of surviving in a foreign land. Villasenor’s family had to keep the culture of their family surviving well beyond the death of the ancestors. The author portrays the significance of marriage to the Mexican people., and as Juan says “Why his mother was right — blood was blood. So the man did have to be very careful who he married if he wanted to have a good offspring” (228).
The novel is a depiction the lives of two different families and the struggles they had to undergo coming from the Mexican culture and way of life to the American dream (De 51). Dona Margarita and Dona Guadalupe are two main characters who taught and helped their families live and grow into their lives (Villasenor 302). Although these two main characters had differing ethnic backgrounds and originated from different places, they both find pride in their heritage in addition to being very religious.
Villasenor’s novel base on two family differences and their yet challenging survival journeys and their similarities is portrayed in the joining of the two families with the marriage of the youngest daughter of the Gomez family to the youngest son of the Villasenor family. The two families were experiencing contrasting journeys from Mexico to America. Juan’s family at one time was poor in Mexico after a spell of richness, but later again management to gain a reasonable amount of wealth due to Juan’s entrepreneurial activities (Villasenor 322).
On the other hand, Lupe’s family has no privileges of experiencing the fortunes of Juan’s family on leaving Mexico as a middle class family that relied on serving food to miners and the occasional finding of gold to support itself, and are still achieve economic prosperity on crossing to America (Day 328). Lupe and her family consequently have to adjust to the new lives. After the destruction of the village and murder of the men and boys by the Mexican revolution, the families decide to migrate to the United States. A train in the United States lands the family in the mines of Arizona, but finally, decide to relocate to the Californian field where they work with other hundreds of other Mexican migrant households (Villasenor 331). Lupe’s family struggles to settle down and continues to move across America to work in the American fields following the planting seasons and harvest. The two Mexican families, despite the difficulties they suffer, continue to attempt to escape the Mexican Revolution in desperate attempts to have better lives in the US. Chapter 20 ends with the two families uniting.
Villasenor’s ancestors worked in quarries, mines, cotton fields, farms and collected wood for sale to earn a little cash to survive on their first arrival in the United States. The treatment these people received at the hands of mine owners and the local farmers was neither progressive nor charitable, but marred with plenty downright cruelty and racial prejudice. A few of the ancestors even managed to see one or two corridors of a prison; but then at least, the border was easier to cross than it is today. The vivid description of the characters makes the book enjoyable to read. Juan and Lupe’s mothers have been depicted as strong God fearing ladies who strive to bind their children through correct moral values strongly. The book, as based on a true story, serves to give insight into the culture of the Mexican people and the struggles they undergo as refugees in an unforgiving America.
Works Cited
Day, Frances A. Latina and Latino voices in Literature: lives and works, updated and expanded. Westport Connecticut: Greenwood press, 2003. Print.
De, Mente B. Why Mexicans Think & behave the way they do! the cultural factors that created the character & personality of the Mexican people! U.S.? Phoenix books, 2005. Print.
DeWald, Celeste and Victor Villasenor. “Interview with Victor Villasenor.” Steinbeck Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2004, pp. 129-132. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/stn.2004.0034.
Fein, Esther B. “A Change of Fortune.” The New York Times, 8 Jan. 1992, www.nytimes.com/1992/01/08/books/book-notes-314092.html. Accessed 30 Nov. 2016.
Martinez, Wood J. Latino writers and journalists. New York: facts on file, 20014. Print.
Villasenor, Victor. Rain of Gold. New York, NY Delta Trade Paperbacks, 1992. Print Book.
