Question

Refer to Explorations in Literature for a complete version of this story.

In “The Man to Send Rain Clouds," how do the clanspeople want the priest, Father Paul, to participate in Teofilo’s funeral?

They want the priest to give the old man last rites so they will have a bountiful growing season.

They want Father Paul to bless Teofilo so he will always be happy in the afterlife.

They have Father Paul wrap Teofilo in a blanket so he will always be warm.

They ask the priest to sprinkle holy water on the grave so the old man’s spirit will make it rain.

Answer 1

D . I just read this 

Answer 2

They ask the priest to sprinkle holy water on the grave so the old man’s spirit will make it rain.

When the priest is asked to home to the burial with the holy water, the priest initially refuses since the family did not ask him to say the funeral rites or have Mass. Leon, who comes to get the priest says, "we just want him to have plenty of water." Then the last line of the story says, "he was happy about the sprinkling of the holy water; now the old man could send them big thunderclouds for sure." From this we can infer that the people expect Teofilo to make it rain now that he has died. This also connects with the title of the story.