Foreshadowing
The presentation of information given by the laying out of hints or clues in a story, movie, or play to prepare the reader for later events. Foreshadowing can result from the establishment of a mood or atmosphere, as in the opening of Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” (Harmon 219). It can result in a tragedy, just as it did in the beginning of Greene’s “Across the Bridge”: the story states that Mr. Calloway’s story is a tragedy, which foreshadows the end of the story. Also foreshadowing can be in the revelations of character that appear in expositions of Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (Carey 51).
Works Cited
- Gary Carey and Mary Ellen Snodgrass. A Multi-Cultural Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McFarland and Company, Inc., 1999.
- Harmon, William and C. Hugh Holmon. A Handbook to Literature. 8th ed. New York: Times New Roman A&A Publishing Services Inc, 1999.