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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
Second Iteration: Plans
Explanation and Analysis—Baby Raptor Claw:
In Second Iteration: Plans, Grant's excavation team uses their advanced scanning technology to display an image of a baby raptor skeleton that they have only partially excavated. When Grant sees the image, he uses a simile that foreshadows the way Jurassic Park will spin rapidly out of control:
Grant went to look at the computer screen. He saw the complete skeleton, traced in bright yellow. It was indeed a young specimen. The outstanding characteristic of Velociraptor—the single-toed claw, which in a full-grown animal was a curved, six-inch-long weapon capable of ripping open its prey—was in this infant no larger than the thorn on a rosebush.
Related Themes:
Third Iteration: The Tour (I)
Explanation and Analysis—Just Grow It:
In Third Iteration: The Tour (I), Grant asks Wu how he knows what species of dinosaur he is recreating when he works with DNA extracted from amber. Wu's response foreshadows his imminent loss of control over his creations:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“We have two procedures,” Wu said. “The first is phylogenetic mapping. DNA evolves over time, like everything else in an organism—hands or feet or any other physical attribute. So we can take an unknown piece of DNA and determine roughly, by computer, where it fits in the evolutionary sequence. It’s time-consuming, but it can be done.”
“And the other way?”
Wu shrugged. “Just grow it and find out what it is,” he said. “That’s what we usually do. I’ll show you how that’s accomplished.”
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Third Iteration: Control (I)
Explanation and Analysis—Prisoners:
In Third Iteration: Control (I), Dr. Wu reassures Dr. Malcolm that there cannot possibly be escaped dinosaurs biting children on the mainland. His explanation anthropomorphizes the animals in an eerie way that foreshadows the coming disaster, including Wu's death:
Unlock with LitCharts A+These animals are genetically engineered to be unable to survive in the real world. They can only live here in Jurassic Park. They are not free at all. They are essentially our prisoners.
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Fifth Iteration: Aviary
Explanation and Analysis—The Malcolm Effect:
"The Malcolm Effect" is a motif in the novel, repeatedly foreshadowing a total loss of human control on the island. One example occurs in Fifth Iteration: Aviary, when Malcolm tells Ellie to start preparing for worse yet to come:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Go into the rooms on this floor,” Malcolm said, “and fill the bathtubs with water.”
Ellie frowned.
“Also,” Malcolm said, “have we got any walkie-talkies? Flashlights? Matches? Sterno stoves? Things like that?”
“I’ll look around. You planning for an earthquake?”
“Something like that,” Malcolm said. “Malcolm Effect implies catastrophic changes.”
“But Arnold says all the systems are working perfectly.”
“That’s when it happens,” Malcolm said.
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