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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
Chapter 1 - The Alaska Interior
Explanation and Analysis—Watch, Comb, Change:
In Chapter 1, Chris—going by his pseudonym Alex—hitchhikes from Fairbanks on his way to Denali National Park. He tries to give away his personal effects, due to his single-minded desire to live purely off the land. Here, he tries to give his watch to Jim Gallien, an Alaskan man who took pity on Chris, shivering out in the cold. Chris's watch serves as foreshadowing for the poor decisions he will make in the wild:
Alex insisted on giving Gallien his watch, his comb, and what he said was all his money: eighty-five cents in loose change. “I don’t want your money,” Gallien protested, “and I already have a watch.”
“If you don’t take it, I’m going to throw it away,” Alex cheerfully retorted. “I don’t want to know what time it is. I don’t want to know what day it is or where I am. None of that matters.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 11 - Chesapeake Bay
Explanation and Analysis:
In Chapter 11, Chris canvasses for a contractor in Annandale to earn money to buy his Datsun. Chris is so talented as a door-to-door salesman that the contractor offers to pay for him to stay in Annandale rather than leave for college. As the passage below describes, Chris shirks both college and the job to drive across the country. In this moment, Krakauer dramatically foreshadows what is to come in Chris's "adventures":
Unlock with LitCharts A+As soon as high school was over, Chris declared, he was going to get behind the wheel of his new car and spend the summer driving across the country. Nobody anticipated that the journey would be the first in a series of extended transcontinental adventures. Nor could anyone in his family have foreseen that a chance discovery during this initial journey would ultimately turn him inward and away, drawing Chris and those who loved him into a morass of anger, misunderstanding, and sorrow.
