Prompt #5

In How To Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster directs the reader's attention to the importance of analyzing the weather while reading. The weather is much more than just the weather. It can foreshadow events, for example in The Stranger I noticed the Meursault, the narrator, would describe the weather as uncomfortably hot and a conflict would arise. Before he shoots the arab in the spring he describes his surroundings as though the sky had split in two and fire was raining down. Meursault, has ruled by his feelings and acted on them accordingly, because of the mixture of confusion and ungodly heat he fired five rounds into another man. This again happens in the courtroom, but less intense. The appearance of heat, deeply influences the narrator’s discomfort and also brings confusion.

Foster also discusses rain in his chapter as it can symbolize life or death, but it can represent moods as well. An example of this would be in Pride and Prejudice when it is revealed to Elizabeth that Mr. Darcy was responsible for the break-up of her sister, Jane, and Mr. Bingley, as her despair and rage swirl within her, a storm begins to rage. The storm does not subside until after Elizabeth confronts Mr. Darcy with her frustrations, and rejects his proposal, by exclaiming that she wants nothing more to do with him. Another example of weather in literature, I noticed while reading was in the book of Luke in the bible, that for three hours darkness came over the land as Jesus took on the wrath of God and the weight of the worlds sin. The darkness representing all of the darkness and Jesus had to carry before he died, and after his death is when the light returned.