Hope Leslie

by Catharine Sedgwick

Hope Leslie: Flashbacks 1 key example

Flashbacks
Explanation and Analysis—Flashbacks:

As the plot grows more complicated in Volume 2, the narrator uses flashbacks as a motif, every so often filling in the reader on events that happened prior to or during the previous chapter. Each time a flashback occurs, it resolves some suspense while also creating more intrigue. For instance, in Volume 2, Chapter 1, Hope is missing long enough to worry everyone before showing up wet and bedraggled to Governor Winthrop's house. She won't say much and is extremely vague even with Esther about why she seems upset. Volume 2, Chapter 2, makes everything clear to the reader: through a flashback, it reveals that Hope met with Magawisca at the cemetery and found out that Faith is still alive. This helps Hope's strange behavior in the previous chapter make sense, and it creates satisfying dramatic irony because the reader is now in on Hope's secret from the other characters. However, it also introduces new conflict to the novel. Faith is now married to Oneco and is happy with her life. Even coming face to face with her will require clandestine operations Hope must coordinate with Magawisca. The reader now sits in suspense over whether Hope will pull off a meeting.