Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
Rain
Rain serves in the novel as a potent symbol of the inevitable
disintegration of happiness in life. Catherine infuses the weather
with meaning as she and Henry lie in bed listening to the storm
outside. As the rain falls on the roof, Catherine admits that the
rain scares her and says that it has a tendency to ruin things for
lovers. Of course, no meteorological phenomenon has such power;
symbolically, however, Catherine’s fear proves to be prophetic,
for doom does eventually come to the lovers. After Catherine’s death,
Henry leaves the hospital and walks home in the rain. Here, the
falling rain validates Catherine’s anxiety and confirms one of the
novel’s main contentions: great love, like anything else in the
world—good or bad, innocent or deserving—cannot last.
Catherine’s Hair
Although it is not a recurring symbol, Catherine’s hair
is an important one. In the early, easy days of their relationship,
as Henry and Catherine lie in bed, Catherine takes down her hair
and lets it cascade around Henry’s head. The tumble of hair reminds
Henry of being enclosed inside a tent or behind a waterfall. This
lovely description stands as a symbol of the couple’s isolation
from the world. With a war raging around them, they manage to secure
a blissful seclusion, believing themselves protected by something
as delicate as hair. Later, however, when they are truly isolated
from the ravages of war and living in peaceful Switzerland, they
learn the harsh lesson that love, in the face of life’s cruel reality,
is as fragile and ephemeral as hair.
