Weather In A Thousand Splendid Suns

Chapter ten of How to Read Literature Like a Professor explains the important role weather plays on literature. For instance, snow is not just snow in a novel. It symbolizes so much more in both positive and negative ways; it is stark, filthy, playful, and clean, and you can do just about anything with it. In “The Dead,” Joyce breaks his main character down until he can look out at the snow, which is “general all over Ireland,” and then the reader realizes snow is like death. It paints the image that “upon all the living are the dead.”

In Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, numerous references are made to different conditions of weather. Even the title of the novel suggests the storminess present in nearly the entire book. The often-changing weather serves to signify the characters’ personalities, as well as the changes that they go through during the course of their lives.

For many years, women have been oppressed and treated as property. The opinion of a woman did not matter, being obedient to her husband was all that is required. Even if they were obedient to their husbands, women were property and only for the pleaser and likening to the husband. Mariam did all the her husband required of her, however there was one thing should could not. Which was give her husband, Rasheed, a son or any child. In the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Hosseini reveals the social issue of physical abuse and mental abuse by his use of imagery, diction, and dialogue.

Foster’s insights about seasons and weather in literature change the story’s interpretation by clarifying their purposes. Foster’s main idea in the chapter It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow is weather always has a purpose; for example, rain, which has an “association with Spring,” can allow a “character to be cleansed symbolically” and “can bring the world back to life.” This insight is clear in the short story as outside Mrs.Mallard’s room the “trees were all aquiver with the new spring life” and “the delicious breath of rain was in the air.” The rain and spring weather may be dismissed as merely setting, but Foster’s insights allow the deeper meaning behind the inclusion of rain and spring to be clarified. The rain and spring show how Mrs.Mallard was cleansed

When it comes to literature, weather can be used in many different ways. It can symbolize theme, set the mood of the story, and even affect the plot. In Tangerine by Edward Bloor, the weather acts as a plot device and as a symbol.

One of the first items the author states is that all symbolism is intentional, there are no accidents when it comes to analyzing famous literature. He describes certain authors like James Joyce and T.S. Elliot as “intentionalists” or writers who purposely try to control every part of the story through symbolism. The author Thomas Foster teaches us never to overlook anything in a novel even if it be little things like the color shirt they are wearing or what the weather is like outside. Building more off the last statement, precipitation, whilst being a little detail added into a story, holds a lot of important roles in moving the story along and even providing hardships for characters to overcome. Even more than that though, he says “It’s never just rain”, rain provides as a symbol in the story so that if someone is in the rain it’s almost as if they are being cleansed.

Weather can influence many things in literature. It can influence the mood, plot, characters, & setting. Foster makes it very clear to us that an author will never put weather into a story with no reasoning behind it. Weather is not just simply a setting in literature.

In the natural world, weather is unpredictable and can strike at any moment. However, in literature the author has the power to decide when a storm will hit. As explained in Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, the author always has a purpose behind a weather occurrence. Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger has instances of snow and rain that undoubtedly serve a deeper meaning than just drenching the protagonist. The instances of snow and rain in Catcher in the Rye bear symbolic representation of struggle, which ultimately leads to a cleanse.

Weather is used in every piece of literature to give the writing a since of tone. Rain typically represents a drowsy, sad and mellow atmosphere, while heat brings out the frustration between characters. In The Great Gatsby weather is used in these general terms, but has two very important details that the average reader often overlooks. The two types of weather, heat and rain, are brought to life and acts as a mask to hide the true feeling of the characters. In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald uses weather as a symbol of the revelation of truth that Daisy and Gatsby come to on their own.

In conjunction with the symbolic representation of Elisa’s life, the dramatic description of the environment can also be seen as a unique representation of the relationship conflict between husband and wife. Steinbeck’s foggy description demonstrates conflict through the following statement, "a time of quiet and waiting." This description is interesting because the fields are personified as waiting for rain, however, “rain and fog do not go together” therein lies the conflict just as Elisa waits for a positive change in how her husband treats her (Palmerino, Gregory J). Gregory P. further points out that, “The natural elements of the foothills ranch seem as unwilling to confront each other as the characters that inhabit its environs. Hence, fog and rain can be seen as the female and male equivalents to Elisa and Henry.” This only further solidifies the deep rooted troubles within Elisa and her relationship with her husband. The setting of the story is personified to act as a symbolic representation of the couple’s relationship (Steinbeck, John 337-338).

For example, during the novel the characters experience abnormal amounts of rain and snow in April. That weather pattern is definitely something that I experienced this spring and last spring as well. This provided further explanation to me as to why the spring season in the mountains has become so damp. Furthermore, the effect on agriculture from this weather pattern was also explained which as someone that wants to go into sustainable agriculture left an impact on me. The heavy rains are harmful to crops and cause them to rot; therefore, producing no or little food.

The weather does more than fit the scene’s energy; often, the weather mirrors the protagonist’s attitudes and feelings, helping readers sympathize and connect with the characters. The first several chapters, set at Gateshead, are rainy, cold, and dreary, paralleling Eyre’s hopeless outlook. According to Thomas Foster, one of rain’s several potential purposes in a novel is to add an air of mystery, isolation, and misery. For example, when Jane is locked in the red-room, “the beclouded afternoon was tending to drear twilight...the rain

It bores me and makes me want to not finish the rest of the novel. I did, despite my lack of love for lengthy setting descriptions and repetitiveness, finish the book, and continued to complete the rest of my summer homework. While reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor, by Thomas C Foster, I made quite a few discoveries. In chapter ten: It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow, Foster emphasizes that weather is never just weather. Because of Thomas C Foster, I had learned that Russell Banks talks about the weather so much for a reason.

In literature, weather is a mechanism used to enhance and create mood. In the novel Life of Pi, it is used successfully in this way. However, Yann Martel’s use of weather in the story also portrays the overwhelming commotion in Pi’s subconscious as he undergoes 227 days at sea. The parallels between the weather and Pi’s journey of transcending his safety net, his normalcy, and his childhood are evident throughout the novel. Weather is a representation of the wholehearted connection Pi has with nature, as it often accurately represents his thoughts and emotions. Yann Martel uses weather as a medium to encapsulate the reader and put them in the novel, but also to convey the dire circumstances of Pi’s mind.

Gurraj Purewal Mrs. Sanchez AP English Lit and Comp 5 July 2017 Importance of Weather Chapter 10 You may say that every story need a setting and that weather is part of the setting. That is true, by the way, but it isn’t the whole deal (75). In chapter 10 Foster discusses how weather plays a more important role than just being a part of the setting in literature. Weather helps us visualize the setting but it also usually has a symbolic meaning. Authors also use weather as a device to put characters in literature into certain situations that might not have been possible without the weather that the author is telling us about.