The Rain Horse

by

Ted Hughes

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The Suit Symbol Icon

The young man’s suit symbolizes the idea that nature controls people more than people control nature. The man’s new gray suit is a marker of civilization, in that it’s associated with city life and is an impractical choice for the man’s walk through “mud-trap” fields in rainy weather. His choice to wear the suit in a rural environment perhaps represents his belief that he’s impervious and superior to nature. Yet he quickly realizes that this isn’t the case, as his suit and new shoes become soiled—in fact, his anxiety about getting his clothes dirty is one of the reasons he decides to head back to the nearby village. In this way, the man’s dirty suit represents the fact that as much as people try to use civilization’s material comforts to insulate themselves from the elements, they are still vulnerable to the natural world.

Yet even when the titular horse in the story appears and repeatedly charges at the man as he tries to get back to the village, the man is still worried about his suit—he thinks that “he must at all costs keep his suit out of the leaf-mould.” When the horse is safely out of sight, he pauses to brush the dirt and leaves off his suit “as well as he could.” But the man’s primal instincts quickly overpower this imperative: when the horse charges at him again, he falls to the ground “without a thought for [the] suit” that is now “ripped at the seam” and “splashed with the yellow mud of the top field.” Only after he has subdued the horse does he again notice his “sogged clothes.” He is no longer worried about preserving an outfit that has become nothing more than a burden as he tries to escape the “sucking earth.” In this way, the man’s changing attitude toward the suit reflects his realization that the trappings of civilization can’t keep him safe and comfortable, and that he’s powerless to control nature’s whims. The man even strips off his suit at the end of the story, once he’s finally escaped the horse and taken shelter from the rain, which can be read as his symbolic surrender to nature’s power.

The Suit Quotes in The Rain Horse

The The Rain Horse quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Suit. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Civilization and Nature Theme Icon
).
The Rain Horse Quotes

He had come too far. What had set out as a walk along pleasantly-remembered tarmac lanes had turned dreamily by gate and path and hedge-gap into a cross-ploughland trek, his shoes ruined, the dark mud of the lower fields inching up the trouser legs of his grey suit where they rubbed against each other. And now, there was a raw, flapping wetness in the air that would be downpour again at any minute. He shivered, holding himself tense against the cold.

Related Characters: The Man
Related Symbols: The Suit
Page Number: 262
Explanation and Analysis:

Twelve years had changed him. This land no longer recognized him, and he looked back at it coldly, as at a finally visited home-country, known only through the stories of a grandfather; he felt nothing but the dullness of feeling nothing. Then, suddenly, impatience, with a whole exasperated swarm of little anxieties about his shoes, and the spitting rain and his new suit and that sky and the two-mile trudge through the mud to the road.

Related Characters: The Man
Related Symbols: The Suit, The Black Horse
Page Number: 262
Explanation and Analysis:

Gasping for breath now and cursing mechanically, without a thought for his suit he sat down on the ground to rest his shaking legs, letting the rain plaster the hair down over his forehead and watching the dense flashing lines disappear abruptly into the soil all around him as if he were watching through thick plate glass. He took deep breaths in the effort to steady his heart and regain control of himself. His right trouser turn-up was ripped at the seam and his suit jacket was splashed with the yellow mud of the top field.

Related Characters: The Man
Related Symbols: The Suit, The Black Horse
Page Number: 265
Explanation and Analysis:

The ankle-deep clay dragged at him. Every stride was a separate, deliberate effort, forcing him up and out of the sucking earth, burdened as he was by his sogged clothes and load of stones and limbs that seemed themselves to be turning into mud.

Related Characters: The Man
Related Symbols: The Suit, The Black Horse
Page Number: 267
Explanation and Analysis:

Under the long shed where the tractors, plough, binders and the rest were drawn up, waiting for their seasons, he sat on a sack thrown over a petrol drum, trembling, his lungs heaving. The mingled smell of paraffin, creosote, fertilizer, dust—all was exactly as he had left it twelve years ago.

Related Characters: The Man
Related Symbols: The Suit, The Black Horse
Page Number: 267
Explanation and Analysis:

Piece by piece he began to take off his clothes, wringing the grey water out of them, but soon he stopped that and just sat staring at the ground, as if some important part had been cut out of his brain.

Related Characters: The Man
Related Symbols: The Suit, The Black Horse
Page Number: 268
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Rain Horse PDF

The Suit Symbol Timeline in The Rain Horse

The timeline below shows where the symbol The Suit appears in The Rain Horse. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Rain Horse
Civilization and Nature Theme Icon
Fear and Alienation Theme Icon
...he considers walking two miles back to the road, as this will dirty the new suit he’s wearing even more. Although it would be faster to walk past a nearby farm... (full context)
Civilization and Nature Theme Icon
Fear and Alienation Theme Icon
...runs up the slope in a panic but slips falls, worrying again about dirtying his suit before he hits the ground. (full context)
Civilization and Nature Theme Icon
Fear and Alienation Theme Icon
...around and sees that the animal has disappeared again. Brushing dirt and leaves off his suit, the man looks around for a makeshift weapon. He wonders if the horse has something... (full context)
Civilization and Nature Theme Icon
Fear and Alienation Theme Icon
Rain soaks through the man’s suit as he walks, and he feels as though the horse is watching him through the... (full context)
Civilization and Nature Theme Icon
Nostalgia Theme Icon
The man no longer cares about the rain or his suit, and he sits in the mud as he takes deep breaths to calm himself. His... (full context)
Civilization and Nature Theme Icon
Fear and Alienation Theme Icon
Nostalgia Theme Icon
...and wonders if the ordeal strained his heart. The man strips off his soggy, soiled suit and begins to wring the water out of it. But then he suddenly stops and... (full context)