Water, Water, Water

Chapter 10: It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow

          Rain, well just water in general, is weird to me after reading this chapter. Think about it:

-         Drowning is one of our biggest fears yet we are fascinated by water

-         We watch water dance from fountains, it’s a leisurely activity

-         We drink water to survive, but too much can drown us

-         We use it clean, human body  is made up of 75 % water

-         Water gives life but also can cause death

-         We baptize our children in “holy water”

-         Noah’s arch in the flood; water was the monster and the savior

-         Water boarding as form of torture

-         Hurricanes, storms, tsunamis

-         Give plants water give them life

-         Only element we cannot create

So when I see rain or snow in literature, many things come to mind but it mostly depends on what context it is presented in. For example, let’s say there was a murder in a dark alley behind a CVS, a drug deal gone south. If it had rained before the drug deal, it would be a foreshadowing of the bad events in the near future. If it rained during the drug deal, it would suggest something is suspicious about the transaction and could also be a foreshadowing tool. Now, if it rained after the murder, it could serve as closure, as the rain carried the blood into the street drains, the scene and the body are now “cleansed” and the story can continue.

I read A Wrinkle in Time in fourth grade for an English project and I remember the famous Edward Bulwer-Lytton opening to the book. That’s the only book I’ve read so far that has a distinct rain reference. Anyway, it opens with Meg waking up from a nightmare, going up to the kitchen to talk to her brother, joined by their mom and their new neighbor Mrs. Whatsit, who mentions seeing a tesseract. Meg’s curiosity about the tesseract basically drives the rest of the book so by using rain to set up a mysterious eerie vibe around the situation, the author can foreshadow upcoming events. I mean think about it, they’re in the kitchen, in the middle of the night, during a thunderstorm and their neighbor just popped in to tell them about a strange thing called a tesseract, sounds pretty mysterious to me.

As for snow, it’s a little bit different. Snow, because of its clean white color, we don’t usually associate it with death or bad things, plus we’re not afraid of drowning in snow. Snow could mean peace, quite, a new beginning or a fresh start. If something happens to the snow, like let’s say there is a field covered in a clean blanket of powder white snow and a group of teenagers come and attack it, it could represent the destruction of innocence or purity. I guess snow could be seen as terrifying as well because of its bitterness and strength. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the White Witch was bitter and unforgiving to her enemies, much like the snow is to its surroundings. She turned her enemies to stone and the snow kills its people through frostbite and hypothermia.