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Dramatic Irony
Part 1: Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—I Was Suddenly Afraid:
The novel’s first instance of foreshadowing happens early in the work, when David is still recounting memories from his childhood. In Part 1: Chapter 1, he reflects on his night spent with Joey:
But above all, I was suddenly afraid. It was borne in on me: But Joey is a boy. I saw suddenly the power in his thighs, in his arms, and in his loosely curled fists. The power and the promise and the mystery of that body made me suddenly afraid. The body suddenly seemed the black opening of a cavern in which I would be tortured till madness came, in which I would lose my manhood. Precisely, I wanted to know that mystery and feel that power and have that promise fulfilled through me.
David traces his first moment of self-discovery to this otherwise ordinary afternoon as an over-lusty teenager. He and Joey have spent an afternoon on Coney Island, wandered the streets, and now exchange playful touches with each other in Joey’s bedroom. As David makes love to Joey, he realizes that “my heart was beating in an awful way.” He also uncovers his shame: David recognizes the “vileness” in the “sweet disorder” of the bedroom and the “black,” rumor-filled cavern from which his desires spring. He comes face to face with the power and transgressiveness of his longings.
The night with Joey is still more notable for what happens afterwards. Hoping to clear his name, David breaks off contact with his friend the next morning and goes so far as to bully him in school. His awareness of shame acquaints him with fear and treachery.
David’s remembrance of dread is unique in that it figures as both an instance of flashback and foreshadowing. The memory of this distant affair shows how the past uncomfortably informs the future. As with Joey, he will fall for Giovanni, repulsed but attracted by his lover’s “artlessness” and youthful charm. And as with Joey, David will cruelly betray the one he loves in a foolhardy attempt to affirm his masculinity. Like the novel itself, this scene looks towards past and future at the same time, trapping its main character somewhere between both: David the narrator is sharing his memories in the present, revisiting the past as he helplessly awaits the morning. David, the work suggests, has no future because he can never overcome the tragic pattern laid down by his past.
Related Themes:
