In the beginning of the story, the first encounter between the priest and the Native Americans shows the reader the stark contrast between the two cultures. Father Paul is portrayed as very forward and somewhat intrusive: “ ‘Did you find old Teofilo?’ he asked loudly...’[He] is a very old man. You really shouldn’t allow him to stay at the sheep camp alone’ “ (120). The Native Americans have just found Teofilo dead. Their demeanor, however, is very quiet and reserved. Silko, who is herself a Native American, casts an unattractive light on the priest right from the beginning. Even though he had no idea that Teofilo was dead, he is loud and telling these two men how to take care of a relative. Silko sets the reader up to see the story from the Native Americans’ point of view because most people have never seen through their eyes. Because of this, the actions of the father are put into the same context.
Leon goes to Father Paul to ask him to sprinkle holy water on Teofilo’s grave and the reader is exposed to the Franciscan’s lifestyle and thinking. “The priest dragged a chair out of the kitchen and offered it to Leon,” (122) indicating that he does not consider Leon a friend because he had a “brown sofa [and] green armchair” (122) in the living room, but did not want Leon to sit on either. It also might tell the reader that Father Paul does not get many visitors because he has nowhere for them to sit. This could also mean that he is lonely. Because he is a priest, he must remain celibate, but that does not mean he must be lonely and without friends. Christianity teaches that all Christians are part of the family and body of Christ meaning that even if you are alone, you can be satisfied and happy. Silko shows the reader that Father Paul really is very lonely when he looks:
...out the window at the patio full of shadows and the dining-room windows of the nuns’ cloister across the patio. The curtains were heavy, and the light from within faintly penetrated; it was impossible to see the nuns inside eating supper. (122)
He cannot even see the nuns, let alone speak with them. He is even separated from his own people. The priest is completely isolated and alone. Evangelicals claim that those that are lost are the ones who feel alone because of the shroud of sin that is pulled over them; however, the father is one who is in this position not the “lost” Native Americans. Loneliness can really wear down on a person, especially when coupled with difficulty at achieving a goal in his work.
The padre has obviously been trying to save Leon and the other Native Americans in the community. He says to Leon and Ken in the beginning, “ ‘I hope I’ll be seeing you at Mass this week--we missed you last Sunday’ “ (120). The reader can assume he has been evangelizing to them for quite some time. When he finds out that Teofilo has died and Leon did not ask him to perform a Christian burial, he is not happy and says, “ ‘Why didn’t you tell me he was dead? I could have brought the Last Rites anyway....For a Christian burial it was necessary’ “ (122). All the priest can see is his own rituals and traditions. There is nothing outside of that. This is demonstrated when he sits down and picks up a magazine with “colored pages full of lepers and pagans” (122) suggesting that he considers them one in the same. To Father Paul, the Native Americans are pagans and their traditions: pagan.
Again, it is ironic that the priest feels so negatively about the Native Americans’ way of life because he is the one who, to the reader, seems miserable. Leon even notes that, “his blue eyes looked tired” (122). He is tired of trying daily to save these people only to have one of them ask him to participate in one of their rituals. This is contrasted with the Native Americans who, while they do not willingly and wholly accept the priest’s culture, they are willing to coexist and allow the Franciscan to continue to believe what he chooses. They do this amongst the bombardment of the church in their lives. It is ever-present. This is illustrated through the ringing of the church bells: “It was noontime now because the church bells rang the Angelus” (121). Time, in Western culture, is a vital part of life and the church bells keep it for the whole town. It reminds everyone that the church will forever be in the background of their lives.
At the end of the story, Father Paul has a final confrontation with the Native Americans’ pagan rituals. It is difficult to see his motive for agreeing to participate, but the reader could speculate that it was simply his own weariness and desire to be around other people that caused him to break down and participate. Even after he agrees he is still weary that it might be “some perverse Indian trick” (122). He does not trust them because they are not Christians like him. He is even confused by his own decision. As he sprinkles the water it “reminded him of something--he tried to remember what it was, because the thought if he could remember he might understand this” (122). He does not understand his own reasons for agreeing to come to Teofilo’s grave. He is lost and struggling to find reason, just as he thinks the Native American’s are lost because they are not Christians.
This story is told through the eyes of Native Americans. The reader is given their perspective and is forced to draw conclusions based on it. Father Paul is presented as an overbearing, but very lonely and sad man, while Leon and the other Native Americans are shown as patient, reserved and understanding. Evangelical Christians, as Silko points out in the story, attempt to bring those lost and in darkness to the light. The irony is that because of the father’s lifestyle and his complete unwillingness to accept the Native Americans for who they are, he is the one who is in darkness.
Works Cited
Silko, Leslie Marmon. “The Man to Send Rain Clouds.” Literature for Composition: Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Sylvan Barnet et al. 7th ed. New York. Longman, 2005, 120-123.
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