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fandomhigh2012-02-01 02:31 pm
steel-not-glass.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2012-02-01 02:31 pm
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Is A Cigar Just A Cigar, Wednesday, Period 3
The Danger Shop was set up to look like a classroom today, and on the blackboard, the students would see a quote written on the blackboard:
Weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella. ~Terri Guillemets
"Terri got it in one," Cindy said from her perch on her desk as soon as the bell rang. "Weather, in novels anyway, are almost always a metaphor for something. "
"If we discount clear days that simply get no weather mention at all, rain is probably the most common type of weather we see in novels. Even the most cliched opening ever, 'It was a dark and stormy night,' references the idea of rain. Why? First of all, water plays a significant part in our symbolic understanding. We have been dependent on rain and water since our ancestors settled down and began cultivating fields. Too much rain can kill us. Too little rain can kill us. The amount of rain we get at certain times can mean the difference between a year of feasting or of famine. In Egypt, along the Nile, flooding is a start to the growing season and welcomed. In London, however, flooding is feared, for should the Thames rise up over its banks again, the damage to life and property would be enormous."
"With this kind of history, it's no wonder that rain is used in so many novels. For one thing, it's atmospheric. Slate-gray clouds, falling rain, a chilly breeze; with just a few short phrases, authors can call up all the gray, miserable days of your life and you'll understand exactly what the protagonist is thinking and feeling as he or she looks out the window at the falling rain. It's useful for plot, too, as it's a very natural and convenient way to throw people together, finding shelter from a sudden rainstorm. Need someone to get sick and die? Send them out in the rain for a little while and then let them swoon into their best with fever."
"But, more than just narratively convenient, rain is symbolic. The first association people usually have with rain is cleansing. By walking through the rain, problems, cares, concerns, lies, and troubled can all be washed away. There's the idea that, after walking through the rain, whatever is left at the end is truth, which is why if you have a character who is very conscious of fashion and appearances and seems shallow, they'll probably get caught in some kind of rain before the end of the novel. Why? So all that surface nonsense can be washed away: makeup runs, clothing is ruined, hair is a disaster. Once that armor is stripped away from them, the other characters can get a better idea of who that person really is."
"Rain also means restoration, again, because of our agrarian past. Rain is associated with spring, with youth and new growth, and hope. It's associated with green, growing things and life. After rain falls, we can expect to see flowers poking up through the ground and plants in the field and all signs that the world is renewing itself and the cycle of life continues. We're going to talk a little more about this when we discuss seasons, but rain makes a useful shorthand to show that, no matter what has happened in the past, life will go on and things will get better. It speaks to us of a new, fresh, clean beginnings, of change and transformation, of life and fertility. There was a reason that rain on one's wedding day used to be a lucky omen--so long as the bride wasn't caught in it."
"Rain is also useful because how easily it can be subverted. Rain is cleansing, yet try walking in it without getting muddy and gross. It symbolizes life and fertility, but it can lead to sickness and death. Rain, especially in modern works, can be filled with pestilence and corruption, because of the pollution mankind has pumped into the air, the earth, and the seas. Sometimes it washes away the surface nonsense and reveals the good person beneath only to have that character sicken and die. Sometimes the rain comes and flattens the budding plants beneath its onslaught, right before it floods. But the reason this subversion works so well is because of the ideas of cleansing, renewal, and life are so ingrained in our subconscious."
Cindy stood up and opened the classroom door. Outside was a lovely summer day, golden and warm. She closed it, reopened it, and suddenly there was a dense fog, the kind where you could only see a few feet ahead of you. "But rain is only one of the types of weather that we'll read about in novels. Together, we can talk about some of the others. Meet me in the Perk--" What, she loved coffee, okay? "--and we'll talk about the others."
And then Cindy vanished from the room.
Weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella. ~Terri Guillemets
"Terri got it in one," Cindy said from her perch on her desk as soon as the bell rang. "Weather, in novels anyway, are almost always a metaphor for something. "
"If we discount clear days that simply get no weather mention at all, rain is probably the most common type of weather we see in novels. Even the most cliched opening ever, 'It was a dark and stormy night,' references the idea of rain. Why? First of all, water plays a significant part in our symbolic understanding. We have been dependent on rain and water since our ancestors settled down and began cultivating fields. Too much rain can kill us. Too little rain can kill us. The amount of rain we get at certain times can mean the difference between a year of feasting or of famine. In Egypt, along the Nile, flooding is a start to the growing season and welcomed. In London, however, flooding is feared, for should the Thames rise up over its banks again, the damage to life and property would be enormous."
"With this kind of history, it's no wonder that rain is used in so many novels. For one thing, it's atmospheric. Slate-gray clouds, falling rain, a chilly breeze; with just a few short phrases, authors can call up all the gray, miserable days of your life and you'll understand exactly what the protagonist is thinking and feeling as he or she looks out the window at the falling rain. It's useful for plot, too, as it's a very natural and convenient way to throw people together, finding shelter from a sudden rainstorm. Need someone to get sick and die? Send them out in the rain for a little while and then let them swoon into their best with fever."
"But, more than just narratively convenient, rain is symbolic. The first association people usually have with rain is cleansing. By walking through the rain, problems, cares, concerns, lies, and troubled can all be washed away. There's the idea that, after walking through the rain, whatever is left at the end is truth, which is why if you have a character who is very conscious of fashion and appearances and seems shallow, they'll probably get caught in some kind of rain before the end of the novel. Why? So all that surface nonsense can be washed away: makeup runs, clothing is ruined, hair is a disaster. Once that armor is stripped away from them, the other characters can get a better idea of who that person really is."
"Rain also means restoration, again, because of our agrarian past. Rain is associated with spring, with youth and new growth, and hope. It's associated with green, growing things and life. After rain falls, we can expect to see flowers poking up through the ground and plants in the field and all signs that the world is renewing itself and the cycle of life continues. We're going to talk a little more about this when we discuss seasons, but rain makes a useful shorthand to show that, no matter what has happened in the past, life will go on and things will get better. It speaks to us of a new, fresh, clean beginnings, of change and transformation, of life and fertility. There was a reason that rain on one's wedding day used to be a lucky omen--so long as the bride wasn't caught in it."
"Rain is also useful because how easily it can be subverted. Rain is cleansing, yet try walking in it without getting muddy and gross. It symbolizes life and fertility, but it can lead to sickness and death. Rain, especially in modern works, can be filled with pestilence and corruption, because of the pollution mankind has pumped into the air, the earth, and the seas. Sometimes it washes away the surface nonsense and reveals the good person beneath only to have that character sicken and die. Sometimes the rain comes and flattens the budding plants beneath its onslaught, right before it floods. But the reason this subversion works so well is because of the ideas of cleansing, renewal, and life are so ingrained in our subconscious."
Cindy stood up and opened the classroom door. Outside was a lovely summer day, golden and warm. She closed it, reopened it, and suddenly there was a dense fog, the kind where you could only see a few feet ahead of you. "But rain is only one of the types of weather that we'll read about in novels. Together, we can talk about some of the others. Meet me in the Perk--" What, she loved coffee, okay? "--and we'll talk about the others."
And then Cindy vanished from the room.
Sign In (Week 5)
Re: Sign In (Week 5)
Re: Sign In (Week 5)
Listen to the Lecture
Head to the Perk
Choose your weather and mod your trip down; the weather will start fairly mild but will increase in intensity as you get close to the Perk.
(The sun will start off pleasant, end up sweltering, wind will start breezy and end up like a gale, etc.)
At the Perk
Talk to the TA
Re: Talk to the TA
Apparently she was supposed to be in the play. That had her pretty thoughtful.
Talk to Cindy
OOC