This Is Happiness

Rain and weather take on a deep symbolic significance, acting as a mirror to the narrative and a measure of Faha’s changing character. Faha is painted as a place where it always rains—until it doesn’t. The ceaseless rain is thus an embodiment of the town’s stasis: an eternal rhythm of life that encapsulates the steady but stagnant existence of its inhabitants. Within this context, the rain symbolizes the comfort and charm of tradition and the inertia of the old ways.

However, the arrival of Christy and the promise of electricity coincide with an uncharacteristic dry spell, symbolizing an impending change and disruption to the established order of things. This shift in weather signals the transformative power of progress and the inevitable transition from the old to the new, embodied in the electrification project that eventually alters Faha’s way of life forever. The contrasting weather patterns in the novel also underscore the tension between tradition and progress, nostalgia and hope, and old age and youth, mirroring the characters’ internal struggles, especially those of Noe and Christy. Through this persistent environmental metaphor, Williams explores time, change, and the dual nature of progress—its power to invigorate and its potential to disrupt and destroy.