Leslie Marmon Silko's The Man To Send Rain Clouds
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“The Man to Send Rain Clouds” by Leslie Marmon Silko, though short, exhibits the conflict between Christianity and Native American beliefs surrounding death. The presumed descendant of the old man requests that the local priest sprinkle his dead body in holy water so he will not be thirsty in death and will send big rainclouds. Despite this use of holy water not being the first choice of either man, this unusual rite creates an important relationship based on each group’s mutual respect for the dead. It is clear that Leon, the man that went to go see the priest for the holy water, did not plan on doing so. The addition of this to the funeral was an afterthought suggested by someone else, and when the priest initially refuses to take part in