Throughout Victor Villasenor's book Rain of Gold, there are many examples of social inequalities among ethnic groups, social classes, and men and women. These inequalities lead to prejudice among the different groups. The examples in Rain of Gold show how prejudice in their society either leads to discrimination or helps maintain social inequality.
             One example of how ethnic prejudice works in society is when Juan goes to eat breakfast at a little café. While he is there, the cook comes up to him and explains that they cannot serve to Mexicans and tells Juan he has to leave. The cook, you can tell, is very sorry for making Juan leave but to keep his business afloat, he cannot serve to Mexicans. This part of the story is an example of discrimination without prejudice on the cook's part. The cook has no problem with Mexicans dining at his restaurant; but because of the other people who dine there who do not want Mexicans dining at the same place, he has forced kick the Mexicans out to stay in business. After Juan is asked to leave the café, he comes to realize why Mexican men had stared at him with hate and why his nephews had so much doubt. He realizes, "Mexicans were nothing but dog shit down here, along with the border, and he'd forgotten" (232). This discrimination leads to a separation between Mexicans and others which, in turn, creates big social inequality.
             Another example of how ethnic prejudice pervades throughout Rain of Gold is when Juan and his partner Julio rent a house. They rent their house in the middle of a bunch of gringo houses so that they can make their whiskey. Julio's family lives inside the house and wants to go back home to the barrio to visit people. The reason Julio says they must visit the barrio is that his family is tired of having no one to visit since the gringos around them hate them. This is the exact reason Juan chose to start his business there so that no one would visit. Juan continues to get ...