Every book has one thing in common, symbols. This book seems to use nature as its symbols. The rain is one of the most significant symbols in the book. The rain can mean many different things, but all serving as bad effects. The rain is an important part of this book because it tells the reader more about the things going on throughout the novel.
The rain is the most significant symbol in the book. The novel portrays rain as something bad or something bad that is going to happen. It is used in many different ways. In the novel rain is represented as good and bad. In the beginning of the novel it was dry, this is the period where Henry meets Catherine and his army is winning the war. This would be considered the good. Once it becomes wet in the novel Henry's army is forced to retreat and Henry eventually looses Catherine in the rain.
Rain barrels for collection of rainwater.
It's Raining
English: Flowers of Apricot at the rain ( , Dushet...Another hint that rain is going to mean something bad in the novel is when Catherine says,"I am afraid of the rain because sometimes I see me dead in it." As you progress through the novel you see more about how rain is symbolized as bad.
Rain is also a use of foreshadowing and a representative of death, grief and pain. Amyo's death is foreshadowed when he says," We drink now. To-morrow maybe we drink rainwater." The rain also foreshadowed that something bad was going to happen to Catherine. As soon as Catherine told Henry that she pregnant and going to have a baby the novel states," It turned cold that night and the next day it was raining." After Amyo dies Henry says," He looked very dead. It was raining." The rain is symbolizing Henry's emotion towards the events that he just encountered. You can picture Henry and the way he is feeling at this instant because of the way he stated these two sentences. The novel ends with Henry being with Catherine, which is now dead, in the hospital. The novel ends saying," After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain." The novel ending in rain shows that all he has cherished in life are gone. He was truly in love with his wife, Catherine, and was waiting to have a family together with her. When in actuality has lost his baby before it was even born and has lost his wife while trying to give birth to their baby.
The rain is an extremely appropriate part of this novel. This novel could not have been as good if the rain was not in it. It puts an emphasize on everything when it is raining in the novel. He uses rain in a very obvious way, but Hemingway makes it very powerful in doing so. He gives the reader hints on what is going to happen later on in the book, like when refers water to Amyo before his death. After hearing him say that as the reader you automatically anticipate that something bad is going to happen to him very soon.
This book is very effective when it comes to symbolism. The rain is one of the most important roles in this novel for many reasons. The rain changes its meaning throughout the book, but every time it rains you know something bad is going to happen. Rain is what represents bad things, physically and emotionally. The rain eventually took him away from everything he had: the army, his soon to be baby, and his wife.
English: Nylex rain gauge 1000 which hold 250mm of...
Grave markers of Ernest Hemingway & wife.JPG
Ernest Hemingway in Milan, 1918