Prompt 5

Weather is a very critical detail in setting the scene for stories. Thomas Foster wrote, “Here’s what I think: weather is never just weather. It’s never just rain.” Weather is not simply a setting in literature but is also used for plot device, atmospheres, the misery factor, and the democratic element. Foster goes on to give many examples about ways weather influences a story. The example I enjoyed most was when Foster wrote, “Once you figure out rainbows, you can do rain and all the rest...Fog, for instance. It almost always signals some sort of confusion...In almost any case I can think of, authors use fog to suggest that people can’t see clearly, that matters under consideration are murky.” I specifically liked that he was able to show the different possibilities fog can mean in literature. Rain can purify a character; however, rain also brings mud which can cause a character to become more tainted than before. A personal example of weather’s impact on literature for me was in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion begins in the middle of a downpour which provokes an awkward and melancholy situation. Their love reawakens just as the sun comes out which provides the reader with a false sense of hope that they might actually make it. Then Gatsby’s climactic confrontation with Tom occurs on the hottest day of the summer. Rain can mean many different things: sadness, mystery, doubt, pain, romance, and also restorative because of spring. Weather is always a signal.