BarbaAlexandra JE#6

Rain God Character List: 10-1

My list begins with the characters that show the most symptoms of cultural schizophrenia.

10. Mama Chona

9. Miguel Grande

8. Felix

7. Angie

6. Miguel Chico

5. Juanita

4. JoEl

3. Lola

2. Nina

1. Lena

Mama Chona is without a doubt #10 because of the many symptoms of cultural schizophrenia she exhibits. The passage that best illustrates her cultural schizophrenia is: “In subtle, persistent ways, family members were taught that only the Spanish side of their heritage was worth honoring and preserving; the Indian them was pagan, servile, instinctive rather than intellectual, and was to be suppressed, its existence denied.” This then explains why Mama Chona is jealous of her sisters lighter skin and shows off her hands to her grandchildren—because they are proof that she has not had to do any harsh labor, not even house work. I thought is ridiculous when she cried while she had to wash her dishes. Mama Chona looks down on the Mexican women across the river and calls them “Indias” in condescending ways. She associates any type of labor to low class Indios, whom she does not ever want to associate herself with. These are signs of her cultural schizophrenia and the fact that she denies her indigenous roots, but embraces her Spanish roots is proof of her historical amnesia. She not only instills this internalized racism in her own children, but in her grandchildren as well. For example, when she advises her grandchildren not to speak English like her and to speak both languages fluently. As well as when she scolds Miguel Chico for sitting in the back of the bus and tells him that the back is for colored people and should not sit there. Her influence and imposing of ideologies on her family perpetuates cultural schizophrenia, linguistic terrorism, colonized mind and internalized racism and sexism.

Number 9 on the scale would be Miguel Grande. He has inherited his mothers internalized racism and hatred towards his own race and he exhibits this by calling the Mexican women who help with the housework, “wetbacks”. In the scene when El Compa tells Miguel Chico that “America is the best goddamned country there is”, Miguel replies with, “you sound just like my father”. Miguel Grande seems to have a greater love for America and no ties with Mexico except in calling himself and his close friends “chicanitos”. Miguel Grande also suffers from internalized sexism. We see his internalized sexism play out in his relationships with Juanita and Lola. When Lolita tells him she is moving to Los Angeles he does not believe that she is capable of beginning a new life without him, I mean, how could she? Also, he thinks that his wife will be helpless without him, which makes him miss her more, but finds that she has completely disregarded him. He also proves to be homophobic by scolding his son for wearing a skirt and calls him the derogatory term for faggot in Spanish, “joto”.    

Felix falls as #8 because of his internalized sexism. While he recognizes that he has a same sex attraction and “admires masculine features” he suppresses his feelings, of course due to his upbringing. He grew up in a very patriarchal home especially while his father was still alive and he seems to extend that relationship with Angie, his wife. He doesn’t suffer from cultural schizophrenia I don’t think because he doesn’t want his children to be ashamed of where they come from and impedes them from attending schools with more Anglo students. Felix also helps the men who work for him gain citizenship and understands their lifestyle as Mexican men just trying to earn a living for their families. 

I believe Angie is #7 because she allows herself to be oppressed by her husband, simply because he is the man of the house. At one point she tells her son JoEl, “Her duty was to suffer from his arbitrary nature…”, Angie does not see the injustices in the role she feels she has to play because she feels it is Felix’s right as her husband.

I believe Miguel Chico comes in as #6 because he attends a prestigious University and leaves his family to live in San Francisco. In some ways I think he believes himself to be better than his family, although he does share that he misses the place of his childhood, just not his family. I think that it is inevitable for Miguel Chico to be too far from internalized racism or sexism because of the values and morals his grandmother, Mama Chona taught him while she lived. However, on pg. 27, Miguel Chico does say that he hated that his grandma held the trait of the Spanish Conquistador whom refused to associate itself with anything Indian or Mexican because it was impure. By recognizing this, I believe Miguel Chico has not internalized racism to the extent of the characters above him on the list.  

I think Juanita would be #5 because she allows her husband to cheat on her and even after trying to separate herself from him, gives in to his lifestyle and allows him to do what he pleases with both women. She allows this sexism to affect her and seems to be indifferent to it. She does not recognize how this behavior might affect her son, Miguel Chico and his future relationships with women. In this story she does not seem to show any signs of cultural schizophrenia or historical amnesia, I don’t think.

I think JoEl is #4 because he beats himself up about his relationship with his father and cannot seem to get out of his depressing state of mind. He thinks no one loves him. He is #4 because he is also influenced by Mama Chona, the #10 of the list. He also suffers from internalized racism because he, like Lena, makes fun of his mother because of her accent. 

I have placed Lola as #3 because she uses her sexuality to get what she wants, so in this way she is empowered. I would say though that she still suffers from cultural schizophrenia because she is in a love affair with Miguel Grande. 


I think Nina falls as # 2 because she wants her sister Juanita to leave her husband, Miguel Grande. She does not agree with his cheating and is not a woman who allows for it to happen. By doing this she defies patriarchy and internalized sexism.  


I think Lena is the least cultural schizophrenic and falls at #1 because she hangs out with pachucos. Lena is also very aware of the corruption in the judicial system and the injustices of the system when her father is murdered. She is still somewhat cultural schizophrenic because she makes fun of her mothers' accent.