The rain is the most significant symbol in the book. The novel portrays rain as something bad or something bad that is going to happen. It is used in many different ways. In the novel rain is represented as good and bad. In the beginning of the novel it was dry, this is the period where Henry meets Catherine and his army is winning the war. This would be considered the good. Once it becomes wet in the novel Henry's army is forced to retreat and Henry eventually looses Catherine in the rain. Another hint that rain is going to mean something bad in the novel is when Catherine says,"I am afraid of the rain because sometimes I see me dead in it." As you progress through the novel you see more about how rain is symbolized as bad.
Rain is also a use of foreshadowing and a representative of death, grief and pain. Amyo's death is foreshadowed when he says," We drink now. To-morrow maybe we drink rainwater." The rain also foreshadowed that something bad was going to happen to Catherine. As soon as Catherine told Henry that she pregnant and going to have a baby the novel states," It turned cold that night and the next day it was raining." After Amyo dies Henry says," He looked very dead. It was raining." The rain is symbolizing Henry's emotion towards the events that he just encountered. You can picture Henry and the way he is feeling at this instant because of the way he stated these two sentences. The novel ends with Henry being with Catherine, which is now dead, in the hospital. The novel ends saying," After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain." The novel ending in rain shows that