AP Essay choice 2009.

2009. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarifying meaning or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play, and focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the character themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.  

Shailee Fagan

English 4 AP 5^th Period

Mrs. Rebeske

October 25^th, 2013

When the Rain Comes

            Rain plays an important symbol for love in “A Farewell to Arms”, and also represents itself as motif in the novel. Rain only happens in scenes with Catherine and Henry, who are two hopeless romantics during World War One. The rain symbolizes that all things including love will not last, and Catherine and Henry’s love can only go on for so long.

            Rain gives a gloomy feel, along with somber attitudes. Catherine and Henry lie on their bed in one scene, and listen to the rain. They have mere conversation saying “And you’ll always love me won’t you? Yes. And the rain won’t make a difference? No.” Catherine states that she doesn’t like the rain, that it gives her fear that love doesn’t last; the foreshadowing of their love affairs end. The Anxiety shown in this scene gives the expression that Catherine knows love won’t last through  her previous lover who died before they married, and the feelings that were there diminishes after she falls in love with someone new. Henry doesn’t see the rain as anything, because unlike Catherine, he is experiencing the blindness of a first love, and learning along the way that their relationship will only last so long during the war.  

            In the last scene where Catherine and the baby die, it starts to storm again. Henry leaves the hospital out into the rain, giving the conclusion of the story that their love could only last for so long, and the blindness of love can lead a person’s outlook on life as an unrealistic experience. Henry steps into the rain to show he has touched the state of realization, that even though they said they were married, they were not, and even though the love felt so real, it could only be a dream for a nurse and a retreating solider during a war. The same rules apply to his side of life to the war as it does to love; the war can’t last either, because it is unrealistic for anything to last forever.

            The symbol of rain gives the love story an end, and makes the ending of the book hopeless, but also unknown for Henry’s future. Whether love feels like it will last, there’s no chance of that it will be around for eternity. Everything has its own ending, whether it will be what Catherine and Henry want or not. The realism of the symbol is that anything that comes from life can’t be immortal, and has to have its’ own death.