Monologue of Isabel Watching It Rain in Macondo by Gabriel García Márquez. Short summary

5 seconds

After a long drought, it begins to rain on Sunday. Isabel and her parents rejoice at first, but after a few days, the incessant downpour begins to make everyone despondent and sad.

1 minute

After several sweltering days, it finally rained on Sunday. As the women were leaving the church after Mass, a strong, gusty wind came up. Isabel had no doubt that the long-awaited rain would soon begin.

The heroine spent the rest of the morning with her stepmother in the gallery. They rejoiced at the rain that would bring the flowers in the garden to life. The father was sure that the rain in May indicated that there was no drought in the summer.

It had been raining for the second day. The ground in the garden had turned into a viscous mess from the large amount of moisture. Streams flowed between the boxes of flowers. The flowers had become saturated with moisture, and so had the inhabitants of the house, who were fed up with the incessant rain.

Father assumes the downpour will never end. Isabel recalls the days of the drought and is overcome by unbearable sadness. The next day, a cow was stuck in the mud in the garden. The dampness made it hard to breathe and the air turned into a sticky, damp stench.