Rain of Gold

In addition to nationality, race, and class, gender plays a significant role in determining the outcome of these families’ lives. As the town midwife, Angelina, said, “God needs to be reminded that it’s no joke what He puts us women through!” (172). The women in the book walk a much steeper path than the men because of the discrimination against their gender. For example, all of the women in this book live under the constant threat of rape, of being abandoned, of being impregnated, of being cheated, and of being ignored. As Angelina sagely says, “No girl is ever too young to learn the ways of a woman” (52). Even at six years old, Lupe has to worry about being sexually assaulted by soldiers and about being touched inappropriately by miners. After the violence increases, Lupe becomes hyperaware of this fact, realizing that “no girl was safe anymore” (70).

Women also suffer through the painful and visceral experience of childbirth, an experience that is captured in great detail many times in these pages. Women also face disrespect from men, such as when Doña Guadalupe is insulted by Old Man Benito and has to bear it because she is a woman and to do otherwise would be social suicide. This disrespect is also evident in the many Mexican women who were left behind by their American husbands when the men’s tenure in their country was up. Lupe’s fear of rape and ridicule is so severe that she eventually “wished that she’d never been born a woman” (170). Even Juan’s sister Luisa, who is constantly described as strong both physically and mentally, tells Juan, “I can’t do it alone, I’m a woman and unfortunately a woman alone can’t do it” (128). After she says this, Juan admits that Luisa would have been so successful if she had just been a born a man. However, despite such depressing statements as Sophia’s announcement that “a woman has absolutely no chance in this world without a strong man” (219) and Doña Guadalupe’s insistence that trees and flowers love women better than any man ever could, they eventually work out a better balance, with Doña Guadalupe heroically declaring that “[m]en do not tell me what to think or how to live anymore. I think and live as I, a woman, see the world around me” (185).

It’s not just women who suffer from gender stereotypes, however; the men must meet high expectations to gain acceptance. For example, Juan thinks, “I guess it’s up to me, I’m the last man,” signifying that there are certain unquestionable responsibilities that must be upheld by the man of the family (128). Not only are men supposed to be masculine, they are supposed to support and raise a family, as Doña Margarita tells Juan “no man is worth his salt if he doesn’t marry and have children” (204). In fact, he proposes not to Lupe but to her family, who in turn must judge his suitability and merit as a husband and father before accepting or rejecting his offer. Feeling incredible pressure to perform as a man, Juan feels that “only women and children [can] afford the luxury of love” (248). Like Doña Guadalupe, however, Juan is eventually able to find a balance between his masculine responsibilities and his familial ones.