IND AFF Short Story

Weldon’s romantic short story IND AFF, begins by telling the reader, “This is a sad story. It has to be. It rained in Sarajevo, and we had expected fine weather.” This first line foreshadows the end of the story and defines the story by using rain as a literary symbol. It uses the rain, to symbolize a deterrent to the expected positive outcome. A young unmarried student, the narrator, goes on vacation with her married professor, Peter Piper, so that he can decide whether he wants to stay with his wife or move on with her. The setting is in Sarajevo, the third of four stops on their way to Montenegro. They had planned to sit in the sun and swim, but the rain has not allowed them to do so. The rain has prevented them from accomplishing what …show more content…
water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere, 2.drops of fresh water that fall as precipitation from the clouds”. Rain is a weather condition, it is going to determine whether an umbrella is needed for the day, or if it would be beneficial to leave a few minutes early because of the wet road conditions. Connotatively, rain means so much more. In our culture, a “rainy” day usually means a melancholy day. Rain implies sadness. Rain darkens the sky and symbolizes depression. The word rain is also used as a verb in the expression, “Don’t rain on my parade,” which means that either bad news or an event is going to ruin a good time. Another expression, “take a rain check” means that one can’t do something now, but perhaps in the future, again implying that rain delays or hinders. “When it rains, it pours”, implies that when one thing goes wrong, many things go wrong. On the other hand, rain can also symbolize to cleanse or to …show more content…
A frustrated Peter says, “Come all this way and you can’t even see the footprints properly, just two undistinguished puddles.” Again, the rain inhibits him from seeing what he came here to see, much like the rain may deter him from making a decision between his wife and his lover. They had visited a mosque in Serbia Belgrade where they had to shelter themselves from the rain, and had to do the same in Croatia in a monastery. They had been unable to accomplish much of what was planned, and it was all thwarted by the rain. The bad weather was not limited to them though, “It was raining on his wife, too, back in Cambridge”, again, rain symbolizing more than just a weather event. “Since it was too wet to do what we loved to do”, the rain forced them to have lunch in a restaurant instead of doing what they really enjoyed, which was go to off buy the food and and make love somewhere outside. After some flirting with a waiter in the restaurant, she realized that she was not in love with the professor. She had confused a “mere passing academic ambition with