You are definitely right to identify the weather at the
close of this tremendous tale as a symbol. It is vitally important to consider what has
just happened. Henry has just experienced a kind of coming-of-age that has allowed him
to integrate both his good and bad exploits. As a result of this he realises that he is
a man as he feels "a quiet manhood" take possession of him. The moral transformation
that has occurred throughout the novel is now complete and now that he has touched "the
great death," he is "a man."
Thus it is highly symbolic
that it is raining as the soldiers march off. Consider Henry's response to the rain,
which is different from the despondency of the rest of his
comrades:
Yet
the youth smiled, for he saw that the world was a world for him, though many discovered
it to be made of oaths and walkign sticks. He had rid himself of the red sickness of
battle. The sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been an animal blistered and
sweating in teh heat and pain of war. He turned now with a lover's thirst to images of
tranquil skies, fresh meadows, cool brooks--an existence of soft and eternal
peace.
Rain is a symbol of
life-giving water, which is necessary for growth and the sustenance of life. This,
combined with the "golden ray of sun" that penetrates the clouds, gives the ending of
this tale an optomistic tone, as Henry marches off with his new-found confidence and
appreciation of life.
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