69 pages • 2 hours read
Rain of Gold
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Lupe
Lupe is Victor Villaseñor’s mother and the protagonist for much of the narrative. Beautiful and passionate no matter her age, Lupe is one of the most steadfast characters. When the story opens, Lupe is a little girl growing up during the Mexican Revolution. She has long, dark, curly hair and a “gentle voice” (16). She proves to be a dedicated little helper in labor as well as in love. Lupe helps constantly around the house and with the family business. She also happens to fall madly in love with a handsome visiting colonel. Her pure and all-consuming love for him proves how deeply Lupe experiences the world and how much love she will eventually give a suitor when she’s older. Growing up, Lupe retains her passion but mostly channels it into her love for education, such as when she reads with her friend, Manuelita, or when she visits the library religiously. Her love for education is matched only by her talent for it; as her teacher Señora Muñoz once said, Lupe is quite smart and gifted. She also continues to work hard, always helping her family in the fields and at home.
When Lupe becomes a teenager, her beauty comes alive. She is curvier than ever, and at one point the town makes her the queen of their festival simply because she is so good-looking, not because she wants to. After witnessing years of senseless violence and constantly being prodded by unwelcome men, Lupe becomes quite introverted and speaks only to the few people she is close to. The biggest change for Lupe comes when she develops feelings for Salvador. Her attraction to Salvador is not in keeping with her personality, since he has a penchant for frivolity and violence, though he hides it. Lupe finds herself enamored by his love for life and for his mother. Lupe perseveres through several terrifying circumstances, and it is with this same gusto that she enters completely uncharted territory—marriage with Salvador—with a smile on her face at the end of the book.
Juan/Salvador
Juan Salvador Villaseñor Castro is the only surviving son of Doña Margarita and Don Juan. He is daring, wide, and dark-skinned like his mother. He has beautiful eyes and a beautiful heart deep down, but it takes several years to reveal that beauty. Juan is a mischievous 11-year-old when the book opens, always pushing those around them to the edge of their patience. He takes constant unnecessary risks and is full of pride. Mistreated by his father because his skin was darker than that of his siblings, Juan carries this negativity with him the rest of his life. Growing up, he constantly finds himself hurt because he risks too much without thinking it through, such as when he plays a game with some boys and ends up missing the train to the next city, leaving him to walk the desert alone for an entire day, or when he shows off for the other powder men only to lose his job.
As time goes on, however, Juan starts to learn his lesson and begins to plan rather than act impetuously. As an angry alcoholic bootlegger and gambler, Juan isn’t the ideal match for Lupe, who is repulsed by violence and tomfoolery. However, his newfound love for planning saves him. He avoids being busted by the law several times, and he learns to gain the heart of the lovely Lupe. Through his mother’s direction and Lupe’s inspiration (and a run-in with the law), Juan becomes Salvador, a more gentle, open-hearted, intelligent version of his earlier self.
Doña Guadalupe
Doña Guadalupe is the narrator’s maternal grandmother who told him stories about life during the Mexican Revolution and inspired much of this book. She is Lupe’s mother, “a very proud woman, [who] kept one of the cleanest homes in all of the village” (18). She is also very strict, as she does not allow soldiers or alcohol into her home. Throughout the book Doña Guadalupe is the rock of the family. She tries to steer Lupe away from trouble and keep her grounded. She always stands up for her family whether it is to Old Man Benito, to soldiers, or to approaching suitors. As a child, her parents were burned to death in front of her. She was saved by a soldier named Leonides, who risked his life to raise her. Doña Guadalupe is best described by her husband, Don Victor, who once said, “You’re the most loving woman I’ve ever met” (141).
Doña Margarita
Doña Margarita is the small, sassy mother of Juan and several other children, most of whom die before she does. She is loving, wise, immensely religious, and unafraid to be crude. When Doña Margarita was younger, she was fiery and did her best to survive a marriage to Don Juan, an angry, impetuous, and racist man. After losing so many children to war, Doña Margarita’s main concern is keeping her children alive, although she has a special dedication to Juan, as for most of the book he is her only surviving son. She constantly favors him, even when he is in the wrong, a fact that comes back to haunt him later in life since he was is unused to consequences. However, as time goes on Doña Margarita does not spare Juan either, constantly pulling him aside to give him eye-opening if demeaning talks. Her love for him is eventually what saves him, however. Lupe can see how deeply he cares for this dirty, rag-covered old woman, and it shows her he is capable of deep emotion and a reverence for women.
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