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The night young Heathcliff runs off from Wuthering Heights, an unseasonable summer storm erupts, foreshadowing the heartache and animosity to come:
About midnight, while we still sat up, the storm came rattling over the Heights in full fury. There was a violent wind, as well as thunder, and either one or the other split a tree off at the corner of the building; a huge bough fell across the roof, and knocked down a portion of the east chimney-stack, sending a clatter of stones and soot into the kitchen fire.
The storm's "fury" and violence reflect the agitation at Wuthering Heights when Heathcliff doesn't reappear after disappearing into the night. In particular, this use of personification (as if the storm is sentient and angry) reflects Catherine's turmoil, since she now knows Heathcliff ran off because he overheard her say she couldn't marry him. Most of all, though, the storm's "fury" symbolizes Heathcliff's own anger, as he believes Catherine doesn't love him because of the way he's been "degraded" by Hindley's mistreatment of him at Wuthering Heights. It also foreshadows Heathcliff's vengeful fury against the Linton family hereafter (since Catherine marries Edgar Linton). The knocked-down section of the chimney anticipates the self-destructive havoc he'll wreak at Wuthering Heights when he returns one day.












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Common Core-aligned