The short story, “And We Sold The Rain” by Carmen Naranjo is a work of Contemporary fiction which contains the literary conventions, Allegory and Symbolism.
An allegory is a symbolic narrative in Contemporary Fiction that implies a second meaning. The whole idea of selling rain to other countries is an allegory. This story is a critique of the modern, industrialized society.
While the country in this short story is made-up, the author, Carmen Naranjo, takes inspiration from her home country of Costa Rica. The book was originally published in 1988, but Carmen Naranjo seems to be referencing ISI (Import Substitution Industrialization) and the agro-export expansion from the early 1970’s as well as the debt crisis which took place in 1981. The fictional, nameless country in this book is implied to be a rather poor country with the government selling one of the country’s most basic and important natural resources, rain.
Symbolism is the use of items, events or signs to signify ideas. In the case of this short story, rain is thought by many to be symbolic of change. It means good things such as new life and renewal. The government selling the rain in the nameless, fictional country for the good of the country is quite ironic as it symbolizes that they are basically selling away something that can bring the country new life. With the government of the nameless country selling away their rain, they end up making the country uninhabitable, causing its citizens to flee to other countries.
Hi Vanessa, thanks for sharing your thoughts! It made me consider the way that this story can be applied to our world today. The way that this country suffered in the story after they ran out of a vital natural resource is an important warning for what is to come for us if we continue down our path of deforestation, fossil fuel usage, and the overall degradation of environment for profit. The line “it now stopped raining forever” on page 155 is a sad reality that I hope we do not have to face one day, but it does appear that money and continuing capitalist ventures has and will continue to be the priority over nature. Nature is viewed as a commodity to be taken advantage of for financial gain. In this way I would argue that this short story therefore also acts as a reminder that we must respect nature and that the rain may also be symbolic our unsustainable behaviours, what do you think?
Hi Vanessa! I enjoyed your reflection, especially the fact you provided the symbolic definition of rain. With that in mind, I believe Naranjo was trying to communicate the cyclical nature of Third World countries giving up their last ‘hopes’ or resources to survive in a global system predatory of their existence. A country is primarily defined by its environment, resources, and historical context. In Naranjo’s story, the rain was a defining factor in the nation’s everyday life. This is why when the rain is sold, the nation’s integrity is lost, and the country begins to fall apart. We see this through the people who leave through the aqueduct, as their nation is no longer what it was before, selling what seemed to be the last resource they could monetize. Thus, placing the nation in the same circumstance they were in at the story’s beginning. And through a cycle, we understand, despite the rich resources the country has or used to have, their efforts will not be enough as the nation’s existence has been predetermined to supply the world with abundant materials while they lack access to them. And once the nation can no longer supply foreign interests, it ceases to exist.
By the end, the Emirate nation undergoes a similar process, which again ties with the notion of cyclical time and how Third World countries, despite their efforts to mobilize their economies in global contexts, are unable to successfully break from the unequal conditions they find themselves in.
Hi Vanessa,
I thought your point about rain being a symbol for the capacity to bring the country new life was very interesting. I agree with Andrea about rain also symbolizing the country’s “last hopes.” To me, the rain (and subsequent loss of it) seemed to emphasize the significance of ownership. In the second-to-last paragraph of the story, the author states that “… we knew about coffee, sugar cane, cotton, fruit trees, and truck gardens” and “…we were happy and felt as if these things too were ours, or at the very least, that the rain still belonged to us” (pg. 156), When rain and other natural resources are experienced as communal resources, this allows people to feel as if those resources are their own and are available for their own benefit. When these resources are commodified and sold to someone else until they are depleted/unavailable/inaccessible, then despite the temporary economic benefits, ownership is lost and, like Andrea said, “the nation’s integrity is lost.” Without ownership, the ability to advance is potentially hindered.