Rachel Goodwyn-Outside Reading #1

In the article, “An Ambivalent Sign,” by Patricia Sanchez, it talks about the use of water as a symbol. It talks about both the positive and negative influence water can have on the earth and on people. Water is powerful and can be very destructive, but it is also essential to the sustaining of life. For example, farmers need a certain amount of rain to fall in order to have a successful harvest. On the other hand, there are deadly tsunamis that go through towns, destroying homes and towns and causing many deaths. The article also talks about the ambivalence of water as a symbol and how it finds its ultimate resolution in God. Water is used as a symbol for death and destruction in the Bible as well as a symbol for blessedness and the presence of God. People would pray against water, because it was seen was the bringer of death. It was viewed this way because of the belief that there were violent gods who lived there and also Leviathan, a creature in the depths of the sea, which struck fear in the hearts of ancient people.