Tag Archives: Carmen Naranjo

09/23/21

Symbolism and Allegory in “And We Sold The Rain”

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.

09/21/21

The Perpetual Cycle of Underdevelopment

The Global South lives in a perpetual state of being promised development. Western nations have laid out paths that resemble pyramid schemes, claiming that if we follow a number of simple steps, we too can achieve our own developed nation! Yet, there is a cyclical nature to our development or lack thereof. We go through peaks and troughs, booms and recessions, never achieving the riches and freedom Western states enjoy. With more than 70 years into the official beginning of development projects, it is clear we have been set up to be in a perpetual cycle of underdevelopment.

“And We Sold the Rain” by Carmen Naranjo clearly depicts this condition the Global South is confined in. The country in her piece, which we assume is Costa Rica, does not enjoy economic, social, or political freedoms. To the extent which when they find temporary wealth in selling the rain, the president believes they “will regain our [their] independence” (154). Yet, this is not true. Despite colonialism being technically over, neo-imperialism is thriving. Through it, ideas of development and economic dependencies are instilled to serve Western interests while the Global South lives in a fragile state of uncertainty, where they have no idea whether the products they have built their economy around will continue to be marketable. The Global South is in a constant limbo, where they depend on outside economies to eat and access primary resources like water, as shown in pages 149-150. Despite Costa Rica being a resource-abundant nation, with the perfect climate for all types of crops, they can not even eat beans, and abundant precolonial food, because of their need for imports they can not afford due to bankruptcy. The development project forged dependency, as nations were encouraged to specialize in selling a resource, while Western nations returned it manufactured at double or triple the price. Through this extractive method, cycles of underdevelopment are enforced, leading the Global South to blindly fight for a seat at a table that was never built for their inclusion.