The Catholic themes of Death Comes for the Archbishop are no more prevalent than in this chapter. The Catholic Church believes that humanity is fallen from God's grace, as represented by Buck Scales, a degenerate killer of babies and travelers. Magdalena has been defiled by her association with Scales, but, like her New Testament namesake, Mary Magdalene, she has found redemption by abandoning her past and adopting a life of devotion with the Sisters of Loretto. As Cather writes: "After the blight of her horrible youth was over, she seemed to bloom again in the household of God."
Cather establishes a foreboding mood as the priests approach the house of Buck Scales. The raindrops are in the shape of tadpoles, and they are hollow and full of air. The ridges of the mountains are horned backbones. The white mules have turned to a slate color and the faces of the priests have turned purple. The rain turns to sleet; the priests hear the "rattle of icy flakes." All these reptilian images prepare the reader for the malignant Buck Scales with his "repellent head . . . thick ridges" of his skull and his "rudimentary ears." He has a "malignant look" and Scales's "head plays from side to side exactly like a snake's."
