A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Foreshadowing 5 key examples

In Chapter 3, the narrator discusses Johnny Nolan's past and family history, characterizing him for readers. In many ways, Johnny represents an American ideal of manhood. Attractive, funny, and ostensibly talented, he should be the perfect father and husband—except he isn't. The narrator foreshadows this revelation in the following passage: 

Yes, everyone loved Johnny Nolan. He was a sweet singer of sweet songs. Since the beginning of time, everyone, especially the Irish, had loved and cared for the singer in their midst. His brother waiters really loved him. The men he worked for loved him. His wife and children loved him. He was still gay and young and handsome. His wife had not turned bitter against him and his children did not know that they were supposed to be ashamed of him.

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In the following excerpt from Chapter 7, the narrator extemporizes about Katie and Johnny's young relationship—their hopes, dreams, mistakes, and vices. During this musing, the narrator foreshadows Katie's future marital disillusionments, which she suffers into Book 3 and beyond:

She'd ask nothing more than to look at him and to listen to him for the rest of her life. Then and there, she decided that those privileges were worth slaving for all her life. Maybe that decision was her great mistake. She should have waited until some man came along who felt that way about her. Then her children would not have gone hungry; she would not have had to scrub floors for their living and her memory of him would have remained a tender shining thing.

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In an example of incredibly blunt foreshadowing, the narrator directly alludes to Johnny's future death in the following passage from Chapter 8:

They were the pride of Shantytown, the tall, blond, good-looking Nolan lads. They had quick feet in shoes that were kept highly polished. Their trousers hung just so and their hats set jauntily on their head. But they were all dead before they were thirty-five—all dead, and of the four, only Johnny left children.

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In Chapter 14, Francie recalls a discussion she had with her father as a young girl. During this discussion, Johnny foreshadows his own demise, stating that the family's current house will be his "last home":

"Your mama and I have been married seven years already."
"Was I here when you got married?"
"No."
"I was here, though, when Neeley came."
"That's right." Johnny went back to thinking aloud. "Married seven years and we've had three homes. This will be my last home." Francie didn't notice that he said my last home instead of our last home.

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In the following excerpt from Chapter 15, Francie endures an upsetting torment at the hands of another girl. Transfixed by chalkboard erasers, Francie attempts to approach the other girl as she cleans them. The girl taunts Francie with the erasers, spitting in her face. In a moment of foreshadowing, the narrator refers to this encounter as the "first of many" disillusionments Francie must experience:

The girl brought an eraser close to the mesh. Francie poked a finger through to touch the vari-colored felt layers blended together by a film of powdered chalk. As she was about to touch this soft beautifulness, the little girl snatched it away and spat full in Francie's face. [...] Francie turned and went down into the cellar and sat in the dark a long time waiting until the waves of hurt stopped breaking over her. It was the first of many disillusionments that were to come as her capacity to feel things grew. She never liked blackboard erasers after that.

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