Student Question
What is the significance of weather in a specific literary work, beyond its role in the plot?
Quick answer:
In literature, weather often symbolizes characters' emotions and moods, serving as a pathetic fallacy. In The Kite Runner, rain reflects Amir's inner turmoil during pivotal moments, such as Hassan's departure and the eventual hope at the novel's end when the sun emerges. Similarly, in Poe's "The Black Cat," a storm mirrors the narrator's violence, while Frankenstein uses weather to convey Victor's emotional states. These examples highlight weather's role in enhancing thematic depth.
If you have read The Kite Runner, then there are several instances of Khaled Hosseini's relying on pathetic fallacies associated with weather. In literature a pathetic fallacy can be the author's use of weather or an outside environment to reflect a character's emotions or thought process. A specific example of this is when Amir (the main character and narrator) frames Hassan by planting a watch and money under Hassan's mattress. Hassan's father (Ali) decides to leave Baba's household with his son, and as Amir watches his childhood friend and Ali leave, he observes that it is pouring down rain outside. The rain reflects not only Amir's turbulent feelings but also his father's, and Amir even considers how the rain reminds him of an emotional scene from a Hindi movie.
Hosseini uses pathetic fallacy again at the novel's end when Amir goes to fly a kite with a boy he...
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has rescued (Sohrab). As Amir, Soraya, and Sohrab arrive at the park, it is an overcast, rainy day, but as the novel concludes, and Amir notices the hint of a smile on Sohrab, the sun comes out to represent an optimistic future for Amir, his wife, and Sohrab.
If you haven't read The Kite Runner, you could try citing a short story such as Poe's Black Cat in which a storm represents and reveals the violence committed by the narrator.
While an author's connection of weather to a character's thinking or emotions is somewhat illogical and usually just makes for an effective literary mood, there is quite a bit of research to demonstrate that weather--especially a lack of sunlight--can cause negative psychological effects. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is full of examples of the weather reflecting Victor Frankenstein's many moods.