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This web page provides a critical analysis of the Rain saga and how it impacts her audience.
The Rain series consist of Rain, The Lightning Strikes, The Eye of the Storm, and The End of the Rainbow
Hello everyone, I am a 4th year Sociology Major and Business Administration Minor. I was born in Miami, Fl. I aspire to work for a major fashion company marketing team. Thus, I plan to move to New York and join a post graduate internship for Macys while studying for my GMAT. Then I will pursue a business school in New York City.
The novel Rain, by V.C. Andrews, is part of a 4 book series. V.C. Andrews introduces the story line by describing the trials and tribulations Rain faces before she learns the truth about her existence and family background.
As the story begins, Rain and her poor family struggles to make a decent life in the ghetto. Rain is a young teenage girl living in poverty. She has an older brother, younger sister, hardworking mother, and absent father. From gang violence to poverty to death, I could not help but to feel sorry for Rain. When reading her story, it is inevitable that her story will evoke feelings of remorse and pity. Although my upbringing is completely different from Rains, I felt a connection with her experience. Rain and her sister shared the typical bond between two sisters; similar to the bond between me and my sister. Although Beni, Rains sister, was extremely jealous of her older sisters natural beauty and intellect, their love for one another was undeniable. I was deeply saddened when Beni was raped and killed by gang members, after she forced Rain to keep the secret about her going out that night. At that moment, tears drew from my eyes because stories like this is real and goes on everyday in the ghetto. V.C Andrews did a remarkable job writing this book, this fiction is a real experience that affects real people. This element of real life enabled the readers to feel the pain that Rain felt. At this point of Rains life, the only family that Rain knows begins to collapse and she learns of her true identity. What gave this part of the story edge was the fact that everything happened in a domino effect, which is how the real world operates. Once one thing goes wrong in my life, a sequence of negative episodes occurs.
As the story begins to unfold, Rains mother finds out that she is dying. She reveals to Rain that she is not Rains biological mother and that Rains real mother is white and wealthy. Despite the engaging story line, the true life element begins to fade away. The story remains interesting, but I feel disconnected with Rains character. After finding her biological mother, she learns that she has a younger brother and sister who are unaware of her existence. Her mother decides to keep Rain a secret from her new family, and sends Rain to live with Rains biological grandmother. You would think Rain's life would improve ten folds after finding a long lost relative and indulging in heir wealth. Rains moving into that huge estate help me to realize that wealth is not a solution for a dysfunctional life. Though Rain found a stable home and did not have to rummage for food, I still felt pity for Rain. I felt as if she went from one end of a problematic spectrum the other end of that spectrum. If I walked in Rains shoes, I would have preferred to go back to the past, where I have grown to understand the cards I was dealt with. Although her life was rough, it was something she understood. Understanding her new life was like understanding the scandals and corruptions behind politics.
Hence, the writer juxtaposes the dilemmas of the rich and poor, broadening the perspectives of her readers. Reading this novel helped me to see that being poor is not the only dysfunction of life. However, for safety reasons, it was better for Rain to move from the ghetto to her rich grandmothers home. Stay tuned as I reveal my reaction to the next book in the Rain saga.
The second book of the Rain saga is the Lightning Strikes novel.
In this novel, the writer explores the internal issues individuals face within a family. The tone is surprisingly somber, considering the fact that Rain has finally discover her biological affluent family and moved into their ravishing estate. V.C. Andrew subliminally presents the argument that, wealth is not always the solution to problems; wealth may be the underlying factor which perpetuates domestic quandaries. The author uses the emotional detachment, greed, and conniving conduct of Rain’s new family to support her argument.
As the writer leads her readers into the plot of the story, she shines the limelight on the fact that Rain is unwanted by her family. Unlike the cohesive bond Rain shared and felt with her foster family, Rain's new family are conniving back stabbers who seeks to bring each other down for money. The author challenges the idea that wealth equal happiness by presenting a bitter and unhappy rich family. The more money Rain's family obtain, the more manipulative they become. The writer exposes her readers to Rain’s disgust and sadness towards her new family. Rain learns that even though her old family was surrounded by turmoil and poverty, the love that they shared was richer and more valuable than lucrative assets of her new family.
Furthermore, V.C. Andrew incorporates compromising schemes in the Lightning Strikes storyline to show that conservative wealthy families have their own set of problems that they are constantly exposed to. Audience cannot help but to feel remorseful for Rain, because she went from one dysfunctional life to another. Usually, society view wealth as a solution to solve all problems. However, the Hudson family proved that this belief is a myth. In closing, V.C. Andrews provides a different perspective to wealthy family, I allows readers to understand that there is no reason to envy these families. The writer uses the "the grass is always greener on the other side" approach, and allows us to see the weeds growing from the soil of the other side.
The third book of the Rain series is The Eye of the Storm.
In this novel, the writer introduces the readers to a bitter sweet time in Rain's life. This novel differs from the other two novels in a sense that the readers are left in suspense about the fate of Rain and her physical disability. A critical element that sets this novel apart from the others is the fact that the story revolves around her disability and how society reacts to physically disable people. The writer presents disability affects individuals from a sociological and psychological standpoint.
Moreover, V.C. Andrews evokes "ignorant sympathy" from her audience. The way Rain's friends and family reacts to her disability is a direct reflection of how society treats handicap individuals. Mentally, the writer portrayed Rain to be the same character she was in both novels prior to The Eye of the Storm. However, the writer expounds on the idea that her relative thinks and treats her differently throughout the entire novel. The point that the author is trying to convey is the idea that Rain is clearly the same individual she was prior to her accident and she's fully capable of almost everything she was capable beforehand. Ignorant sympathy stems from the idea that everyone marvels at her phenomenal past and treats her as if her life is over. A physical disability does not dictate whether you will be successful or not. Sympathy is not needed because people like Rain are as proficient, talented, and dexterous as they were before.
Furthermore, the author critiques the other side of being disabled; how disabled individuals react internally. Even though Rain was still as gifted, innovative, talented, and so forth; she failed to understand the idea that she was physically inept to do certain things that could do before. She resisted and opposed any assistance. Rain refused to use any device that made things physically accessible to her. The writer opens readers to the life of disability and how it affects the way you view yourself and secure you are with yourself. In a sense, Rain had to relearn the fundamentals components of life and had to find herself again. V.C. Andrew did a excellent job conveying Rain's frustration and how much of an impact her disability had on her life.
In closing, V.S. Andrew's prolific story line dissects how disability affects people from a micro and macro level. Society and human psych are both affected by disability. The writer provided a reality check to readers, so that they could understand what it means to be physically disabled and how our "sympathetic" actions can be perceived as condescending and belittling.
The fourth novel of the Rain series is the End of the Rainbow novel. This novel, like its four predecessors, sets a disheartening tone as the story moves into a devastating climax. In each of the Rain series novels, V.C. Andrews presents a life changing element that impels her readers to open their eyes to the cruelties of society and life. Those elements include poverty and violence in the first novel, dysfunctions of families in the second novel, hardships of being physically handicapped in the third novel, and now the writer brings us to understand how a rape offense impacts a woman's life.
In the End of the Rainbow, V.C. Andrew ventures two decades away from her last novel to the future, introducing Rain's daughter, Summer. Summer, as described by the writer, embodies the fundamental characteristics of the innocent, young, and premature Rain. The promising qualities that life stole from Rain after the death of her sister, death of her foster mother, absence and negligence of her biological mother, and so on and so forth. Unlike her mother, Summer was not exposed prematurely to horrific conditions and heartbreaking tragedies while growing up. Summer's character allows readers to view the alternate reality of Rain's adolescence; Rain without poverty, Rain without a dysfunctional family, Rain absolved from gang related activities, and so forth. However, just as the writer slapped Rain with the ugly side of life, Summer soon found out that her affluence could not save her from the hardships of reality.
V.C. Andrews renders her readers speechless as she moves to the climax of the story and the demolition of Summer's life. Rape, is viewed as taboo in society; so when the audience learned that the innocent, kind-hearted, and loving Summer was raped by a rich Caucasian jock at her school, our hearts dropped. The writer open her readers to understand how rape does more mental/emotional harm than physical harm. The writer used explicit and illustrative words to describe the rape to help readers picture the vicious act and feel the way Summer felt as her life changed forever. From this point on in the story, the tone became somber and regretful. I truly admire the fact that the writer descriptively conveyed the ambivalent emotions that Summer experience before, during, and after the rape assault. Readers can place themselves in the scene of the crime and experience what Summer experienced. The writer ingeniously create a dimension where we, her readers, live the tormented and confused life of a rape victim through her descriptive and animated dialog.
Hence, V.C. Andrew dramatic series closes with a life changing experience and demonstrates the powerful detriments of what we call "life." Rape can alter someone's life eternally and V.C. Andrew helps her audience to understand its depths.