Excerpt from "the man to send rain clouds" by leslie marmon silko

before they wrapped the old man, leon took a piece of string out of his pocket and tied a small gray feather in the old man's long white hair. ken gave him the paint. across the brown wrinkled forehead he drew a streak of white and along the high cheekbones he drew a strip of blue paint. he paused and watched ken throw pinches of corn meal and pollen into the wind that fluttered the small gray feather. then leon painted with yellow under the old man's broad nose, and finally, when he had painted green across the chin, he smiled.

"send us rain clouds, grandfather." they laid the bundle in the back of the pickup and covered it with a heavy tarp before they started back to the pueblo.

refer to explorations in literature for a complete version of this story.

how does the word choice in this excerpt affect the meaning?

a the vivid descriptions of paint and the "small gray feather" in this excerpt readers to understand leon’s culture.

b the use of string and paint, along with leon’s smile after completing the preparations, reveal the scorn they feel for the old man.

c the word heavy emphasizes the somber mood of the passage and emphasizes that someone important has just died.

d the words fluttered and smiled illustrate that people in leon’s culture view death as something to be celebrated.