Context

This line comes right after Zoo, accordion in hand, brings Jesus and Joel to bow their heads in prayer in a pivotal scene of Other Voices, Other Rooms.

Joel reflects that, up until this point, his prayers have been for simple, childish things, but now he suddenly wants something much harder to define and thus much more difficult for him to ask for: he wants to be loved. Does the immediate rain symbolize an answer to his prayer, or is it just another dose of the lonely isolation of his young life?

Shmoop amongst yourselves.

Where you've heard it

When it starts to rain?

… Okay, so maybe this isn't one you'll hear too often. Most people prefer to note the weather in less analogous terms. Still, if someone is feeling particularly literary, you could hear it used to describe a moment following personal reflection or growth.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

The ambiguity of this line doesn't really make it very quotable. (And the obscurity of it doesn't help either.)

It's not even that clear what it means in the novel, so what are you doing applying it to the real world? Just because you've read Capote doesn't mean you need to use his vague symbolisms to describe the moment you realized that asking God for a new box of oil paints might just be a little mundane for the all-mighty creator.