The family is one of the most important institutions in society. Family influences different aspects of a person's life, such as their religion, values, morals and behavior. Unfortunately, problems can arise when an individual's belief system or behavior does not coincide with that of family norms. As a result, individuals may be forced to suppress their emotions or avoid acting in a way that is not acceptable to the family. In the novel The Rain God, written by Arturo Islas, we are presented with the story of a matriarchal family struggling with various conflicts. One of the major internal conflicts is repression. Throughout the novel, characters act in strange ways and many family members have internal "monsters" that represent the past they are repressing. In his article “The Historical Imagination in Arturo Islas's The Rain God and the Migrant Souls,” Antonio C. Marquez implicitly asserts a true idea that The Rain God is a story about repression. Marquez's idea can be supported by an analysis of secondary sources and a reading of the main text. In his article, Marques implicitly argues that The Rain God is a story of repression. His idea is expressed through historical imagination, which Marquez describes as the recreation of the “burden of history,” which represents the past of the characters that caused their repression. Their past has become a burden as the Angel family cannot escape the repression their history creates. In his article, the idea of ​​historical imagination can be seen in the following: “The role of the commentator is entrusted to Miguel Chico, an inner historian who recalls, recasts, evaluates and seeks to understand the events of his family history ". This quote...... middle of article ......vel The Rain God is a story about repression. Works Cited Gonzales-Berry, Erlinda. “Sensuality, repression and death in The Rain God by Arturo Islas. » Bilingual Review 12 (1984): 258-261. Islas, Arturo. The God of Rain. New York: Harper Collins, 1984. Marquez C, Antonio. “The historical imagination in The Rain God and the Migrant Souls of Arturo Islas.” Melus 19 Theory, Culture and Criticism (1994): 3-16. JSTOR. Internet. December 2, 2004 Stable Article URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/467722 Rice, David. “Sinners Among Angels, or Family History and the Ethnic Narrator in The Rain God and Migrant Souls by Arturo Islas.” Harwood Academic 11 (2000): 169-197. Sanchez E, Marta. “The Rain God of Arturo Islas: an alternative tradition.” American Literature 62 (1990): 284-304. JSTOR. Internet. December 12, 2004. Article stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2926917