The Weather

With the number of times the characters in this novel talk about the weather, you'd think that they were obsessed. Seriously, what's the big deal?

• Well it's not the weather, but what it represents. Did you notice that everyone has totally different recollections of what the weather was like on the day Santiago was killed? 
• According to the narrator's sister, Margot: It was Christmas weather. (1.18)
• Victoria Guzmán said: "On the contrary," she told me when I came to see her, a short time before her death. "The sun warms things up earlier than in August." (1.11) Wait…was it cold or was it warm?
• Colonel Lázaro Aponte said: "I can remember with certainty that it was almost five o'clock and it was beginning to rain." (3.26)
• Pablo says: "It wasn't raining. [...] There was a sea wind and you could still count the stars with your finger." (3.41) Was it raining or not? Who was right?

You probably already guessed that this is about more than just the weather. This is about the whole mystery surrounding Santiago's death. There are so many different and conflicting versions of the story of his murder, which mirror these conflicting interpretations of the weather. Some people would remember it raining and other people would remember a clear and sunny day. It's frustrating because it doesn't make a lot of sense, just the same way that it's frustrating that some people remember Santiago going home, while it's clear that he was killed on his doorstep.

This conundrum with the weather is also a good reminder. The weather is a pretty simple thing isn't it? Something you take for granted, something no one would have any reason to lie about. But that's where you'd be wrong. Everyone lies about everything in this novel, even the tiniest things. So you better be on your guard, or else the truth will slip right under your nose.