SOURCE: Vallejos, Tomás. “Estela Portillo Trambley's Fictive Search for Paradise.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies 5, no. 2 (summer 1980): 54-8.

In the following essay, Vallejos contends that the quest for paradise is a central thematic concern of Rain of Scorpions.

Much Chicano fiction can be seen as a search for values in a world that is hostile to those values. In the case of the Chicana artist, the hostility is twofold. She is the target of both racism and sexism. It is no wonder, then, when a Chicana's literary expression is rooted in dissatisfaction. One outstanding case in point is Estela Portillo Trambley's collection of short fiction and drama, Rain of Scorpions and Other Writings.

One aspect of Portillo Trambley's writing which distinguishes her from many male Chicano writers is her criticism, not only of American society, but of some Chicano traditions and social structures as well. Dissatisfied...