It's Raining. It's Pouring.

            Humans, though sometimes think differently, are slaves to nature.  DNA, fatal illness, natural disasters, natural selection, and even something as simple as the weather, have a way of dictating our lives, and changing original plans.  Especially rain, which Thomas C. Foster focuses on in his chapter titled “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow” from How to Read Literature Like a Professor, has a paradoxical effect on mankind.

            Drowning is one of man’s worst fears.  Ironically enough, we also need water to live. The Earth is 71% water and our own bodies are 60% water and a human can only survive roughly 3 to 5 days without drinking water.  Rain is a terrible inconvenience to us, yet the absence of it results in drought and lack of vegetation.  At the same time, too much causes flooding and with high wind speeds, could produce deadly hurricanes.  Everyday, humans shower themselves in water to cleanse their bodies either before they start their day or before they end it.  However, when it’s raining, we use umbrellas to shield our hair and clothes and face from the same substance.  Looking at all the contradictions that society has about water, it can be understandable as to why authors use rain and other weather conditions such as fog, snow, or even the lack of bad weather to symbolize, foreshadow, create a mood, or even to add irony to a scene.

            In movies it is common, and sometimes seen as clique, to have ran falling down in the graveyard during a funeral.  It’s the icing on the cake of the mournful, sorrowful mood.  It is also common to see couples kissing in the rain after perhaps a fight, repairing and starting over their relationship.  Both the “misery factor”, as Foster calls it and the “April showers bring May flowers” approaches of rain are used in literature, and it is the job of the reader to decipher which one, or both in some case, the author is using.  In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the rain is coming down on Gatsby and Daisy during their reunion, but as the situation becomes more comfortable for both characters, and their love redevelops itself, the rain lets up and the sun appears yet again from the dark clouds.  The emotions of this scene are obliviously being mirrored by the weather.

            Weather is a great tool for foreshadowing.  In real life situations, we check the weather of the day to alter our plans around it.  If there are dark clouds approaching, we will most likely rain check our day at the beach and maybe head to a museum instead.  The all too famous “It was a dark and stormy night” usually lets the reader know something bad is about to happen.  “It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man was snoring.” Right? We all know what happens next.  The old man’s accident could have been predicted by the weather stated in the beginning of the nursery rhyme.  As mentioned many times before, rain is a two-sided sword.  The rain could be foreshadowing change and new beginnings, and alluding to the bible story of Noah’s ark, where God flooded the earth to start over.  Once again, it is up to the reader to discover the author’s intent behind the weather.

            Foster uses The Dead by James Joyce as an example for snow used in literature.  In the book, the main character realizes that snow is “the great unifier” (page 81).  Snow is usually more graceful and cleaner and beautiful than rain.  The look of the “winter wonderland” and the holiday season it usually comes during help to create an ironically warm, cuddly, and peaceful mood.  Unless, of course, you are stuck outside in it, in which case it is cold as death and stifling.  In Let it Snow, a collection of holiday romance short stories by Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle, the snow is the reason for the story.  Without the snow, there would have been no conflict.  A blizzard on Christmas Eve stops a train in front of an all night diner and introduces, and reintroduces, characters to each other that would have never meet had the skies been clear that night.  I was reminded of this cheerful holiday story at Foster’s mention of The Three Strangers by Thomas Hardy, where three strangers are forced into meeting after taking shelter from the rain.

            Weather can foreshadow, set the mood, or drive the conflict.  The weather, or even lack of weather should be seriously considered when analyzing a book.  As the title of the chapter suggest, it’s more than just rain or snow, and Foster’s short chapter on the weather in literature opens a rather large can of worms that can be furthered explored in both one’s reading and writing.