Previous
Literary Devices
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
Explanation and Analysis—The Yellow Star:
Eliezer’s father tries to maintain an optimistic outlook, but his nonchalance towards Jews being forced to wear a yellow star is a cruel example of foreshadowing:
Three days later, a new decree: every Jew had to wear the yellow star.
[...] My father’s view was that it was not all bleak, or perhaps he just did not want to discourage the others, to throw salt on their wounds: “The yellow star? So what? It’s not lethal …” (Poor Father! Of what then did you die?)
But new edicts were already being issued. We no longer had the right to frequent restaurants or cafés, to travel by rail, to attend synagogue, to be on the streets after six o’clock in the evening. Then came the ghettos.
Eliezer tells the reader how his father tries to maintain an optimistic view of the situation, even as fascism takes over Hungary and soldiers begin to infiltrate the everyday life of Jews in Sighet. When faced with the mandate to wear a yellow star on their clothing, which specifically represented the Star of David, a symbolic tenet of Judaism. Even with this mandate—which the reader knows is just the beginning of the horrors of the Holocaust—cannot quash Chlomo’s hope. Specifically brushing off this infamous symbol with “So what? It’s not lethal…” points to the senselessness of the Holocaust and demonstrates how Jews at the time could not even fathom how these mandates could lead to such atrocity.
No one could foresee the yellow stars leading to a widespread denial of basic rights. No one could foresee the ghettos being a stepping stone to something worse, something as unthinkable as concentration camps. And certainly Chlomo could not foresee that these yellow stars were a predictor of his death.
Related Themes:
