The Cider House Rules

This novel takes place largely in Maine, and the Maine weather is a prominent presence in it. An atmospheric commentary on the events in the novel, the weather influences the characters’ moods and actions. An unusually windy night at St. Cloud’s, for example, sets the scene for general upheaval and change at the orphanage. The local stationmaster dies of a heart attack, disturbed by the loudness of the wind and frightened by the sight of Homer Wells and Dr. Larch’s long flickering shadows; Candy Kendall and Wally Worthington arrive at the orphanage, appearing like visions to many of the children there and setting in motion Homer’s departure from the orphanage. 

The name of the orphanage is an allusion to the weather, referring to the constant clouds and fog that hang around the inland valley town. The oppressive, moody atmosphere adds to the town’s isolation. The fog makes it hard to see far and to gain perspective. The constancy of the fog also gives a sense of the town’s economic and psychological stasis, along with its difficulty in reinventing itself after having once been a logging town. The gloominess and vagueness of the foggy weather also evoke Dr. Larch’s ether reveries, which represent his own sort of stasis. Although he is trying to change the town and society at large for the better, he is also stuck in his attitudes and behavioral patterns.   

The Maine weather is famously cold, and the icy weather also plays a role in this novel. Even when the Maine landscape is easy to see, it is not always easy to interpret, and the “skeletal” winter trees at Ocean’s View orchard instill a sense of foreboding (340). The trees seem to know something that they will not reveal: “Perhaps the trees knew that a war was coming […] The coastal winds gave the brittle orchard such a shaking that the clashing trees resembled frozen soldiers in all postures of saber-rattling” (340). The “brittle” appearance of the landscape echoes the lonely brittle moods of Olive Worthington and Homer Wells, who are both separately studying the orchard. The stark landscape makes Olive Worthington think of her recently deceased husband, and it makes Homer worry about the future: “Homer Wells, at Wally’s window, searched the skeletal orchard for the future – his own, mainly, but Candy’s too, and Wally’s. Dr. Larch’s future was certainly out there, in those winter branches – even Melony’s future” (340).