Wet sidewalks and bad horror movies by Harrison Epstein

In Chapter 10 of How to Read Literature like a Professor, the author, Foster, discusses the importance of weather in a story. The chapter goes into depth about several weather patterns and their effect and meaning in the story. For example rain can symbolize a cleanse or a healing process, such as restoring a wasteland to fertility. It also can lead to one of the most iconic biblical symbols, the rainbow, which is representative of a new beginning and hope. Rain can be a double edged sword; storms can cause floods and death. Rain can be harsh and unforgiving, and symbolize destruction or decay; not to mention it can make a very sad tone. Whether the symbolic nature of rain is good or bad is dependent on the particular piece of literature. In The Great Gatsby rain has a bit of a mixture of the positive and negative sides. In the reunion between Daisy and Gatsby, there is rain pouring, which creates a sort of melancholy tone for the reader.   

The other major weather trend discussed is snow. Again, snow has good symbolism and bad, depending on the circumstance. It can be good in the sense that it can represent innocence and purity, or even fun, like with kids on a sled or making a snowman. When snow can be negative is when it comes down in a blizzard or hail, then it can symbolize death, inhospitality, or simply nothingness. It also is often something that traps people in stories, and in real life for that matter. In Snow White the young Snow is always picking flowers and loving on animals, and is quite literally the purest person one might ever see. This is one of the more positive representations of snow and while the ‘snow’ is in her name, she still represents the positive aspects of what snow can stand for. On that same note President Snow in The Hunger Games is the exact opposite, he is inhospitable and cruel and causes death at every turn. It is interesting to see how something as simple as snow can be so drastically different depending on the piece of literature.

Perhaps my favorite symbol in weather is fog, which the book briefly discusses. There really is no good connotation for fog, it almost exclusively represents uncertainty or danger as well as causes confusion. I like this one because there is a foggy scene in a bunch of horror movies and horror stories in general. There is actually an entire horror movie based on a deadly fog, it’s rather funny really because it’s a really bad movie called The Mist. Basically there is a sudden fog that is impossible to see through and people go out in it one by one to escape and sort of die unexpectedly. A more literary piece with fog in it is the Percy Jackson series. In short the ‘fog’ is something that keeps ordinary people from seeing the supernatural. Overall there really are so many different weather patterns and so many different ways they can be used in a story. Foster was right when he said, “it’s more than just rain or snow!”

       Look at this happy fellow from singing in the rain!

http://thetouchtypist.hubpages.com/hub/rain-and-literature

Here is a bit more on weather symbolism