原文选摘 《How to Read Literature like A Professor》 Chapter 9
《How to Read Literature like A Professor》
Thomas C. Foster
Chapter 9 It’s More than Just Rain or Snow (P69-P75)
书封
在本节，作者主要讨论了文学作品中关于“雨”的设定和象征意义。似乎全天下的语文老师都非常痴迷于讨论如下这些问题：这场雨烘托了什么氛围？体现了作者什么心理活动？作为小学语文阅读理解必考题目，至今我也没有学会完美解读，总感觉在生拉硬扯，无病呻吟。对于这个问题，作者明确说“It’s Never Just Rain…Rain, though, can do a lot more”，对于各种文学元素的象征意义，在本书第12章“Is That a Symbol？”也给出了很好的解释，也算是让我跟各位辛苦的语文老师和解了。关于各种天气气象作者这样说：
- First of all, as a plot device. The rain forces men together in very uncomfortable circumstances.
- Second, atmospherics. Rain can be more mysterious, murkier, more isolating than most other weather conditions.
- Rain is clean. One of the paradoxes of rain is how clean it is coming down and how much mud it can make when it lands. So if you want a character to be cleansed, symbolically, let him walk through the rain to get somewhere. He can be quite transformed when he gets there.
- Rain is also restorative. This is chiefly because of its association with spring. Rain can bring the world back to life, to new growth, to the return of the green world. ... Spring is the season not only of renewal but of hope, of new awakening.
- Rain mixes with sun to creat rainbows. The main function of the image of the rainbow is to symbolize divine promise, peace between heaven and earth. … Rainbows are sufficiently uncommon and gaudy that they’re pretty hard to miss, and their meaning runs as deep in our culture as anything you care to name.
- Fog 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.
- Snow can mean as much as rain. Different things, though. Snow is clean, stark, severe, warm, inhospitable, inviting, playful, suffocating, filthy. You can do just about anything you want with snow.
来自Thomas C. Foster教授的温馨提示：
“For now, though, one does well to remember, as one starts reading a poem or story, to check the weather. ”
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