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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
Key Examples in Never Let Me Go
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Vague Language:
Never Let Me Go is a novel almost entirely dependent on foreshadowing. Ishiguro weaves this foreshadowing throughout the plot of the novel, the device less linked to language in one particular scene and more dependent on a general linguistic vagueness. Take the following passage from Chapter 1, for example:
But these days, of course, there are fewer and fewer donors left who I remember, and so in practice, I haven't been choosing that much. As I say, the work gets a lot harder when you don't have that deeper link with the donor, and though I'll miss being a carer, it feels just about right to be finishing at last come the end of the year.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Donation:
Early on in Never Let Me Go, Kathy mentions the "donation" process multiple times, both in her present-day narration and in flashbacks to her time at Hailsham. During one such flashback in Chapter 3, Tommy and Kathy discuss Tommy's conversation with Miss Lucy about creativity. Tommy mentions that Miss Lucy does not think they are being "taught enough" about donation, in a moment of dramatic irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"[Miss Lucy] said we weren't being taught enough, something like that."
"Taught enough? You mean she thinks we should be studying even harder than we are?"
"No, I don't think she meant that. What she was talking about was, you know, about us. What's going to happen to us one day. Donations and all that."
Related Themes:
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Donation:
Early on in Never Let Me Go, Kathy mentions the "donation" process multiple times, both in her present-day narration and in flashbacks to her time at Hailsham. During one such flashback in Chapter 3, Tommy and Kathy discuss Tommy's conversation with Miss Lucy about creativity. Tommy mentions that Miss Lucy does not think they are being "taught enough" about donation, in a moment of dramatic irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"[Miss Lucy] said we weren't being taught enough, something like that."
"Taught enough? You mean she thinks we should be studying even harder than we are?"
"No, I don't think she meant that. What she was talking about was, you know, about us. What's going to happen to us one day. Donations and all that."
Related Themes:
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Imagination and Escapism:
In Chapter 5, Kathy describes a past conversation with Moira. In this conversation, Moira interrogates Kathy, challenging her belief in the rumored plot to kidnap Miss Geraldine. Uncomfortable with questions that upend her escapist fantasy, young Kathy lashes out. In a subsequent passage narrating her youthful feelings, Kathy foreshadows the tragedy of the donation process. She intimates that her childhood discomfort at Moira's challenge stemmed from a fear of the future:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Why was I so hostile to Moira B. that day when she was, really, a natural ally? What it was, I suppose, is that Moira was suggesting she and I cross some line together, and I wasn't prepared for that yet. I think I sensed how beyond that line, there was something harder and darker and I didn't want that. Not for me, not for any of us.
Related Themes:
