Rain of Gold

The Book 1 introduction briefly recounts the discovery of gold in the box canyon, the primary setting of the initial chapters, which follow Lupe and her family. It also includes a map of Mexico and a family tree tracing Lupe’s ancestry.

A man named Espirito follows some deer in search of a water source to help relieve his ailing tribe. The deer lead him to a spring where he tastes the “sweetest water” (11). For a while, his tribe makes good use of the spring, but eventually they come on hard times again. Espirito then travels into town with some of the water and a few of the rocks he found surrounding it. He tries to trade the water to a store owner named Don Carlos, but Don Carlos refuses. He quickly realizes, however, that Espirito’s rocks are gold, and he agrees to trade him some food and supplies for the gold.

For a while Espirito and Don Carlos continue this exchange with no issues, but eventually Don Carlos wants access to the source of the gold rather than the gold itself. He convinces Espirito to tell him where the spring is located by agreeing to never dig up the gold. He keeps his promise until the readily available gold is gone and then proposes to dig up the site. Don Carlos’s son, affectionately called Ojos Puros by the tribe, tries to stop his father but only drives him to sell the location to someone even greedier than himself, Bernardo García. Bernardo García digs the spring for his own benefit, destroying the main source of life for Espirito’s tribe. The area is further destroyed in 1903, when an American mining company buys the area and builds a “power plant” among other nature-destroying mechanisms (13). The mine they build earns the name “Rain of Gold” and attracts droves of desperate Mexican workers (13).

One night a meteor hits the box canyon. After that earth-shaking event, the Mexican workers do not want to go down into the mine anymore. Despite physical abuse from the American company, the workers hold their ground until Bernardo García returns and forces them back to work. Bernardo García then attends the month-long birthday celebration of Mexican President Don Porfirio (historically known as Porfirio Díaz). During this celebration, the president and Bernardo García try to pass as white men and refuse to allow anyone who is not white and rich in the sight of the president’s visitors. Following this final blow, the Mexican workers rise up in a bloody revolution. Forced to face the outcome of his bad decision, Espirito dies “of grief” as the fighting ensues (14).

Doña Guadalupe sits on the edge of her bed surrounded by her four daughters, all of whom want to be close to her. Her son, Victoriano, enters the room, but since he has been “trying very hard to act like the man of the house” since his father left for work, he does not join his family on the bed (16). Upon his entrance, Doña Guadalupe announces they all need to get to work. The youngest daughter, six-year-old Lupe, heads off to milk the goats. After a friendly interaction with the family goats, Lupe eats a homemade tortilla and listens to her sisters’ gossip. She then joins her family in preparing to run their business, feeding the miners.

One of the first men to arrive makes her feel uncomfortable so she serves the miners dutifully but silently. Then Old Man Benito shows up. He is “the oldest man in the village” and a family friend (19). He is the only independent miner, and the American miners often make fun of him. Lupe offers him coffee and they share a good-natured debate about what it means to be rich. He sets off for the mines after giving her a parrot feather. Lupe then joins her family for breakfast only to be interrupted by the sound of soldiers storming the valley. The family rushes to hide, fearing rape, torture, and death. They hide themselves in a pile of straw and manure. While they are hidden, the goats start going crazy with fear, and the mother goat ends up gutting herself on a fence post, dying slowly and torturously in front of Lupe and her family. Bullets fly mere feet from where the family is hiding, and their home is set on fire. Finally, the soldiers move on, and the family rushes to put out the fire and save what they can of their home.

Hours later, Doña Guadalupe tells Lupe to fetch water at the creek. Despite being cautious, she’s approached by a soldier who happens to be “the most beautiful man she had ever seen” (23). When she finds out he has a wife, she starts to fall, but he comes to her assistance. He puts her on his horse and says he wants his wife to stay in the village. They ride into the village where many villagers are lined up against a wall. Lupe sees some family friends and points them out to the soldier. He has them release the family friends and insists the other villagers will not be harmed. Lupe leads him to their home, where she says she must talk to her mother before she can let him in. She explains that her mother does not allow soldiers inside, and the man seems delighted at this comment. He gives her a card with his name, Colonel Manuel Maytorena, and tells her that he wishes to have “a daughter half as beautiful as you” (26).

Lupe convinces her mother to let the colonel enter their home because he was able to release the family friends. Doña Guadalupe then agrees to let his beautiful wife, Socorro, stay with them. The sisters all enjoy Socorro and like listening to her talk about how she fell in love with the colonel, but Lupe is rather upset by this revelation. She prays to God not to “hate Socorro” (27). When they are feeding the miners dinner, all the miners are happy about the new colonel and the way he treats the workers. The colonel arrives and insists on eating with Lupe and her family. He asks Lupe to sit on his lap, and she does so happily. He tries to engage Victoriano in conversation, but Victoriano declines and leaves. At night, the whole family sleeps outside so the colonel and his wife can have the bed. Doña Guadalupe tries to stem the emotional attachment Lupe is forming with the colonel. Lupe insists he is her “prince,” but her mother reminds her that he has a wife and that Lupe is much too young for him (29).

The presence of the colonel and his wife has everyone around them “thinking of love” (30). There isn’t much time to dwell on romantic possibilities, however, because the box canyon they live in receives two weeks of nonstop rain and starts to flood. A few foolish soldiers are killed in the aftermath, but otherwise the weather issues subside as the school year starts. Lupe is frightened of going to school, but the colonel assures her that all of the children feel the same way she does. He tells Lupe he was also scared of school as a child and that she should approach the teacher on the first day of school and ask her how to read his name off the card he had given her. He thinks this will exhibit bravery and make the other students feel inspired by her.

On the first day of school Lupe’s mom gives her some flowers and advice and sends her down the path by herself. When she joins the other schoolchildren, Lupe thinks the mayor’s daughter, Rose-Mary, gives her a “nasty look” but otherwise enjoys taking part in their games (32). Later on, Rose-Mary lashes out against Lupe again, confirming Lupe’s suspicions. When they arrive at the small school, their teacher is talking to Señora Jones, the wife of the American mine owner, and her daughter, Katie. Manuelita, the oldest daughter of Doña Guadalupe’s best friend, tries to introduce Lupe to the women, but Rose-Mary interrupts to brag about her tailored dress. The bell rings and they enter the classroom.

Cuca, the youngest daughter of Doña Guadalupe’s best friend, and Lupe sit together, holding hands out of fear. Lupe makes note of the ease and richness that seems to accompany Rose-Mary and Katie as they move through the world. The teacher introduces herself, and Lupe is relieved that the teacher appears kind and welcoming. The teacher then has everyone in the room introduce themselves. When it’s Lupe’s turn, she is frozen with fear. Before she can find the words, Rose-Mary jumps in and tells the class that Lupe is “so poor” and has no “real home” or father (35). Lupe strikes back and defends her father and her lifestyle. She leaves the classroom crying, only to be chased down by a sympathetic Manuelita. Manuelita explains that Rose-Mary and her family are jealous that the colonel is residing with Lupe instead of with them. Lupe is comforted by this and Manuelita’s kindness.

A short while after school begins, the colonel leaves for a month and asks Lupe to care of Socorro, who is about to have their baby. As he is leaving, he comes back over the hill to wave goodbye, so Lupe and Socorro whip a white sheet in the wind so he can see them. He acknowledges them and then rides off with several mules weighed down by gold, ready to be shipped to America. Socorro can tell Lupe is depressed, so she shares several pictures of herself and the colonel when they first met. Lupe feels better after seeing the pictures of the colonel and Socorro and hopes that one day she will have her own collection of memories with him. After two weeks, Lupe asks her mother for permission to look for the colonel. Her mom says yes but warns that she needs to be cautious of jaguars. Despite her earnest search, Lupe does not see the returning colonel anywhere. What she does see is her mother, Victoriano, and Old Man Benito tending to their secret plot of gold. When they realize Lupe has discovered them, they urge her not to reveal this find to the colonel. Lupe is very upset that the colonel is the object of their derision, but her mother insists that she needs to learn to be loyal to her family, not to any man.