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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
Foreshadowing
Explanation and Analysis—Miss Moore’s Lesson:
Before Sylvia and her neighborhood friends arrive at FAO Schwarz for their field trip and learn an important lesson about wealth inequality, Bambara foreshadows this lesson, as seen in the following passage:
So we heading down the street and [Miss Moore’s] boring us silly about what things cost and what our parents make and how much goes for rent and how money ain’t divided up right in this country. And then she gets to the part about we all poor and live in the slums, which I don’t feature. And I’m ready to speak on that, but she steps out in the street and hails two cabs just like that.
Here Bambara foreshadows what Miss Moore’s field trip will be about by having Sylvia note that, while on their way to FAO Schwarz, Miss Moore is “boring” her and her friends “about what things cost” as well as “how much goes for rent and how money ain’t divided up right in this country.” Miss Moore even goes as far as to tell the children directly that they are “all poor and live in the slums,” which Sylvia—who has never seen other parts of New York—takes issue with.
Significantly, Sylvia does end up learning a lot about “how money ain’t divided up right in this country” over the course of the field trip. After arriving at FAO Schwarz and noticing how much the toys there cost (some upwards of $1000), she experiences both shame and anger, internally lamenting the fact that her family does not have access to the sort of wealth that the White people in the store do.
Related Themes:
