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.
No comments:
Post a Comment