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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
Book 1: Mercurochrome
Explanation and Analysis—Meta-Narrative:
In Midnight's Children, foreshadowing is a critical meta-narrative tool: Saleem, the narrator, frequently alludes to the outcome of events that occur much later in the novel or even as soon as the same page or chapter. This gives readers the impression that the narrator is all-knowing and has the ability to play with time—even if he is not and cannot.
By stylizing all of Saleem's interjections in this way, the book effectively elevates his family's personal history to the same level as the political history of India, making the events that befall the family seem all the more important and even mythical or legendary.
In the following excerpt from the beginning of Book 1, Section 5—A Public Announcement, Saleem discusses the build-up to Indian independence and the Partition of India, foreshadowing his advance knowledge of events:
There followed an illusionist January, a time so still on its surface that 1947 seemed not to have begun at all. (While, of course, in fact…..) In which the Cabinet Mission—old Pethick-Lawrence, clever Cripps, military A. V. Alexander—saw their scheme for the transfer of power fail. (But of course, in fact it would only be six months until …)
Parentheses serve an important role in Saleem's frequent foreshadowing. Readers come to expect the narrator's interjections to occur via parenthetical asides. Much of his interjections that do occur in this manner foreshadow one of two categories of event: an important event in Saleem's family history or an important event in India's history. Saleem uses parentheses to foreshadow Indian independence in the passage above. In the passage below, from Book 1, Section 2—Mercurochrome, he uses the same technique to vaguely foreshadow Aadam Aziz's future:
Mountains crowded round and stared as my grandfather left his home for the last time. (He would return, once, but not to leave.)
Related Themes:
Book 1: A Public Announcement
Explanation and Analysis—Meta-Narrative:
In Midnight's Children, foreshadowing is a critical meta-narrative tool: Saleem, the narrator, frequently alludes to the outcome of events that occur much later in the novel or even as soon as the same page or chapter. This gives readers the impression that the narrator is all-knowing and has the ability to play with time—even if he is not and cannot.
By stylizing all of Saleem's interjections in this way, the book effectively elevates his family's personal history to the same level as the political history of India, making the events that befall the family seem all the more important and even mythical or legendary.
In the following excerpt from the beginning of Book 1, Section 5—A Public Announcement, Saleem discusses the build-up to Indian independence and the Partition of India, foreshadowing his advance knowledge of events:
There followed an illusionist January, a time so still on its surface that 1947 seemed not to have begun at all. (While, of course, in fact…..) In which the Cabinet Mission—old Pethick-Lawrence, clever Cripps, military A. V. Alexander—saw their scheme for the transfer of power fail. (But of course, in fact it would only be six months until …)
Parentheses serve an important role in Saleem's frequent foreshadowing. Readers come to expect the narrator's interjections to occur via parenthetical asides. Much of his interjections that do occur in this manner foreshadow one of two categories of event: an important event in Saleem's family history or an important event in India's history. Saleem uses parentheses to foreshadow Indian independence in the passage above. In the passage below, from Book 1, Section 2—Mercurochrome, he uses the same technique to vaguely foreshadow Aadam Aziz's future:
Mountains crowded round and stared as my grandfather left his home for the last time. (He would return, once, but not to leave.)
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Public Announcement:
Saleem uses metaphor to describe his presence as the narrator in the story, flying high above the events taking place and foreshadowing those to come:
It’s almost time for the public announcement. I won’t deny I’m excited: I’ve been hanging around in the background of my own story for too long, and although it’s still a little while before I can take over, it’s nice to get a look in. So, with a sense of high expectation, I follow the pointing finger in the sky and look down upon my parents’ neighborhood [. . .] all of it foreshortened by my high-in-the-sky point of view.
Saleem positions himself above the story being told, both on a figurative level in this passage ("all of it foreshortened by my high-in-the-sky point of view"), as well as on a broader level as the narrator of the book. He uses flight as a metaphor to demonstrate the former and the device of foreshadowing to demonstrate the latter. By alluding to the future announcement of his birth, Saleem demonstrates that he is above and outside of his own story, able to showcase his foreknowledge of events at will.
Related Themes:
