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Definition of Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition
Volume 1, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Magawisca's Arm:
Several moments in Volume 1, Chapter 5 foreshadow the pivotal scene when Magawisca thrusts her arm under her father's hatchet to save Everell's life. Noticing that Magawisca seems sad and lonely, Mrs. Fletcher tries to tell her that she is part of the Fletcher family:
“Magawisca, you are neither a stranger, nor a servant, will you not share our joy? Do you not love us?”
“Love you!” she exclaimed, clasping her hands, “love you! I would give my life for you.”
Magawisca is sad not just because she misses her own family, but also because she knows that the Fletchers are about to be attacked. Mrs. Fletcher doesn't want Magawisca to give her life for the family; she only wants her to cheer up and help prepare for Mr. Fletcher's arrival home. Magawisca's solemnity is a harbinger of what's to come. Although she fails to save Mrs. Fletcher, she eventually makes good on her promise by sacrificing part of her body to save Everell.
Magawisca goes on, during the raid, to beg her father to spare Mrs. Fletcher and the children. Her plea involves a metaphor that further foreshadows what will happen to her arm:
[T]he mother—the children—oh they are all good—take vengeance on your enemies—but spare—spare our friends—our benefactors—I bleed when they are struck—oh command them to stop!
Magawisca's claim that "I bleed when they are struck" is a metaphor in this instance. She feels emotionally wounded when the Fletchers are struck. However, the metaphor also foreshadows the fact that when Mononotto goes to execute Everell, the strike of his hatchet will literally make Magawisca bleed. In fact, her metaphor turns out to be all too true: Magawisca's disability comes to represent the lasting pain of the conflict between these two families. Her body takes the damage Mononotto means to inflict on his enemies.
When Mononotto refuses to stop the raid on his daughter's behalf, she uses her body to shield Mrs. Fletcher from an attacking warrior. Her body is not enough to stop another warrior from attacking Mrs. Fletcher, but Everell intercedes by shooting this second warrior in the arm, stopping his hatchet before it strikes. This mutilation of an arm to stay an execution even more specifically foreshadows the way Magawisca loses her arm. Significantly, although Everell and Magawisca both watch their mother and siblings die because of interracial violence, Everell never has to sacrifice part of his own body to call a ceasefire. Magawisca's claim that "I bleed when they are struck" calls attention to the way violence goes both ways but always seems to fall more heavily on American Indians than European settlers.
Related Themes:
Volume 1, Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Sir Philip's Duplicity:
Although Sir Philip's duplicity is not revealed until Magawisca's trial in Volume 2, Chapter 9, the novel foreshadows it as soon as his character is introduced. In Volume 1, Chapter 10, Jennet wonders how Everell came to know such a "godly appearing man:"
Jennet [...] came into the room [...] to inform them that Sir Philip Gardiner was to dine with them “and a godly appearing man he is,” said Jennet, “as ever I laid my eyes on; and it is a wonder to me, that our Mr. Everell should have fallen into such profitable company, for, I am sorry to see it, and loath to say it, he looks as gay as [...] when it was next to an impossibility to keep you and him, Miss Hope, from talking and laughing even on a Sabbath day.
Jennet is focused on the fact that Gardiner appears "godly," or devout. She "laid [her] eyes on" him and could immediately tell that she approved of him. Looking at Everell, on the other hand, only reminds her of how boisterous he is inside and out, which bothers her. If Jennet's disapproval of Hope and Everell's good-spirited talking and laughing weren't enough to let the reader know not to trust her opinion, the narrator goes on to criticize her at length for being much more interested in rules and the appearance of being a good Puritan than in actually being a good person.
The fact that Sir Philip's outward appearance of "godliness" is a lie is foreshadowed soon after, in Volume 1, Chapter 11, when Hope teases him for refusing turkey and venison at dinner:
“But,” said Miss Leslie, “you will not dine on fish alone, and on Friday too—why we shall suspect you of being a Romanist.”
If there was any thing in the unwonted blush that deepened the knight’s complexion, which might lead an observer to suspect that an aimless dart had touched a vulnerable point, he adroitly averted suspicion by saying, “that he trusted temperance and self-denial were not confined to a corrupt and superstitious church, and that for himself, he found much use in voluntary mortifications of appetite.”
"Romanist" is a derogatory term for Catholic. Puritans, as an especially strict Protestant sect, did not look favorably on Catholicism. Traditionally, observant Catholics do not eat any meat except for fish on Fridays during Lent, so Hope is teasing Sir Philip that people are going to think he's Catholic if he doesn't take any of the meat on offer. This would not be a good reputation for him to have. The narrator raises but does not confirm the possibility that Hope has hit a sore spot. Sir Philip's awkward dodge, and the way he is almost exposed by a young woman as a Catholic and a liar, foreshadows the way Magawisca will unmask him at her trial by pulling out a crucifix.
Related Themes:
Volume 1, Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Sir Philip's Duplicity:
Although Sir Philip's duplicity is not revealed until Magawisca's trial in Volume 2, Chapter 9, the novel foreshadows it as soon as his character is introduced. In Volume 1, Chapter 10, Jennet wonders how Everell came to know such a "godly appearing man:"
Jennet [...] came into the room [...] to inform them that Sir Philip Gardiner was to dine with them “and a godly appearing man he is,” said Jennet, “as ever I laid my eyes on; and it is a wonder to me, that our Mr. Everell should have fallen into such profitable company, for, I am sorry to see it, and loath to say it, he looks as gay as [...] when it was next to an impossibility to keep you and him, Miss Hope, from talking and laughing even on a Sabbath day.
Jennet is focused on the fact that Gardiner appears "godly," or devout. She "laid [her] eyes on" him and could immediately tell that she approved of him. Looking at Everell, on the other hand, only reminds her of how boisterous he is inside and out, which bothers her. If Jennet's disapproval of Hope and Everell's good-spirited talking and laughing weren't enough to let the reader know not to trust her opinion, the narrator goes on to criticize her at length for being much more interested in rules and the appearance of being a good Puritan than in actually being a good person.
The fact that Sir Philip's outward appearance of "godliness" is a lie is foreshadowed soon after, in Volume 1, Chapter 11, when Hope teases him for refusing turkey and venison at dinner:
“But,” said Miss Leslie, “you will not dine on fish alone, and on Friday too—why we shall suspect you of being a Romanist.”
If there was any thing in the unwonted blush that deepened the knight’s complexion, which might lead an observer to suspect that an aimless dart had touched a vulnerable point, he adroitly averted suspicion by saying, “that he trusted temperance and self-denial were not confined to a corrupt and superstitious church, and that for himself, he found much use in voluntary mortifications of appetite.”
"Romanist" is a derogatory term for Catholic. Puritans, as an especially strict Protestant sect, did not look favorably on Catholicism. Traditionally, observant Catholics do not eat any meat except for fish on Fridays during Lent, so Hope is teasing Sir Philip that people are going to think he's Catholic if he doesn't take any of the meat on offer. This would not be a good reputation for him to have. The narrator raises but does not confirm the possibility that Hope has hit a sore spot. Sir Philip's awkward dodge, and the way he is almost exposed by a young woman as a Catholic and a liar, foreshadows the way Magawisca will unmask him at her trial by pulling out a crucifix.
Related Themes:
