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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
Day Two: Morning
Explanation and Analysis—Moral Duty:
While telling an anecdote about Lord Darlington, his former employer, Stevens slips into the defensive tone he often takes while discussing the deceased nobleman. In Day Two: Morning, when readers still do not know who Darlington is or what role he played on the world stage, Stevens's defensiveness is foreshadowing for what will later be revealed.
It was completely contrary to Lord Darlington’s natural tendencies to take such public stances as he came to do and I can say with conviction that his lordship was persuaded to overcome his more retiring side only through a deep sense of moral duty. Whatever may be said about his lordship these days – and the great majority of it is, as I say, utter nonsense – I can declare that he was a truly good man at heart, a gentleman through and through, and one I am today proud to have given my best years of service to.
Stevens assumes he writes for an audience who knows about Lord Darlington's infamous associations with the Nazi regime, and he attempts to correct the record here and throughout the novel. The reader doesn't yet know what "utter nonsense" Stevens is refuting, but his frustration about these rumors suggests they do not reflect positively on his former employer. And once again, the declaration that Darlington was a "truly good man at heart" implies that some of his actions might not show that goodness. As the reader discovers later, Darlington's mistakes include serious flirtations with anti-Semitism (notably, he asks Stevens to fire Jewish staff members) and eagerness to facilitate meetings between members of the Nazi regime and important figures in the English government.
Related Themes:
Day Three: Evening
Explanation and Analysis—Village Evening:
In Day Three: Evening, Stevens's car runs out of fuel (petrol, as he calls it in his British dialect), and he explores the area on foot. He describes the beautiful but desolate English landscape around him with visual imagery:
On the other side of the gate a field sloped down very steeply so that it fell out of vision only twenty yards or so in front of me. Beyond the crest of the field, some way off in the distance – perhaps a good mile or so as the crow would fly – was a small village. I could make out through the mist a church steeple, and around about it, clusters of dark-slated roofs; here and there, wisps of white smoke were rising from chimneys.
First, it's worth noting that "as the crow flies" is an English-language idiom that has spread to both sides of the Atlantic. It means the speaker indicates the shortest distance between two places on a map, rather than the actual distance a walker or driver would have to take. A crow doesn't need to follow paths or account for terrain, but simply flies from one location to the next in a straight line.
Once again, Stevens describes the subdued but lovely landscape he encounters. The land falls off so steeply that it looks like he's peering off a cliff, and further away the field rises up again. Then he sees a mist-covered village.
It was not a happy feeling to be up there on a lonely hill, looking over a gate at the lights coming on in a distant village, the daylight all but faded, and the mist growing ever thicker.
This time, similar imagery is used to a despondent effect as Stevens contemplates the encroaching night. Note the similarities between this passage and one in Day Six: Evening, when Stevens watches the lights go up on the dock during the evening. During this scene, the sun is also setting, and this sight causes Stevens considerable apprehension. By the time the final chapter rolls around, Stevens has made his peace with the metaphorical end of the day (the final years of his life) and does not feel concern at its approaching. Of course, this scene offers no indication that evenings will later serve a larger symbolic purpose at the end of the novel, but it offers a kind of foreshadowing for that later significance, especially because Stevens has spent the novel thinking about his past and legacy.
