Week 5- Enoch and the Gorilla

Throughout this story, the reader gets the sense that Enoch has had a troubled past, and carries a negative aura with him. I noticed that O'Connor used the presence of rain quite often in this story, and I began to see it as a symbol of Enoch's outlook on life. The story starts out with a downpour where Enoch needs to borrow a broken umbrella. This directs the scene into a wearisome, defeated set of images. Continuing on, the presence of rain is mentioned in every page up to page five. It is almost as if it is a way of showing how Enoch feels that his life is sinking into the dreary rain, or is being washed away by it. For example, on page two, the narrator describes the music of the "Tarara Boom Die Aye" to be "almost drowned out by the rain" and how the Gonga truck's record was, "barely a mumble in the rain." On page five, however, the presence of rain seems to disappear. Coincidentally, this is the page where Enoch undergoes his transformation where he finally claims, "I know what I want." As a result, I thought that O'connor's utilization of rain as a symbol in Enoch's life throughout the story helped compliment the scenes as well as the changes that Enoch underwent in the story.