Rain (Motif)
The port of Pago Pago, where "Rain" is set, receives an unusual amount of rainfall because of the shape of the mountains above it. For the characters in the story, the persistent rain creates an ominous, "maddening" atmosphere. At one point, Dr. Macphail thinks of the rain as possessing its own "fury" that it is unleashing on the stranded travelers. The inhospitable weather forces the characters to stay inside most of the time, where interpersonal tensions intensify with the rain pounding all day on the corrugated metal roof.
Gramophone (Symbol)
The gramophone in Miss Thompson's room is a symbol of shamelessness. When Miss Thompson first turns it on, the Davidsons and Macphails wonder who she could be entertaining. Soon Mr. Davidson realizes that she is playing music while having sex for money. Horrified by her shamelessness, he goes to her room and removes the record from the turntable. After kicking him out, Miss Thompson puts the record on again in a show of shameless defiance. However, once Davidson breaks her spirit and instills a sense of shame and sin in her, Miss Thompson no longer plays music. It is only once Davidson kills himself that she puts her gramophone to use again. Insulted by her callous disregard for the somber atmosphere, Dr. Macphail angrily stops the record. He then realizes she has returned to her former shameless ways because even Davidson couldn't live by his strict moral code.
Lavalava (Symbol)
The lavalava garment the Samoans wear is a symbol of traditional cultural practices that come under threat with the arrival of white missionaries. While Dr. Macphail thinks of the loin-cloth-like, gender-neutral skirt as being suited to the hot climate of Samoa, Mrs. Davidson denounces the lavalava as immoral and sinful. She boasts of how she and her husband have practically eradicated the garment in their district of remote islands, saying that men and women now dress in Christian-approved "mother Hubbards" and trousers. She says the Samoans will not be truly Christianized until every boy is wearing trousers. While the garment is functional and traditional among the Samoans, to a white Christian foreigner like Mrs. Davidson, it speaks of a savage immodesty.
