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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 2
Explanation and Analysis—The Fate of the Criminal:
As early as Chapter 2, the novel foreshadows that a prominent character will die by hanging:
"That boy will be hung," said the gentleman in the white waistcoat; "I know that boy will be hung."
Nobody controverted the prophetic gentleman’s opinion.
Related Themes:
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Family Reunion:
The novel repeatedly uses the idea of supernatural forces to foreshadow the great revelation at the end, which is that Oliver is the child of a wealthy man. For example, in Chapter 12, Mr. Brownlow is struck by the eerie resemblance between Oliver and the portrait that turns out to be Oliver's mother:
Unlock with LitCharts A+As [Mr. Brownlow] spoke, he pointed hastily to the picture above Oliver’s head, and then to the boy’s face. There was its living copy,—the eyes, the head, the mouth; every feature was the same. The expression was for the instant so precisely alike, that the minutest line seemed copied with an accuracy which was perfectly unearthly.
Related Themes:
Chapter 18
Explanation and Analysis—The Fate of the Criminal:
As early as Chapter 2, the novel foreshadows that a prominent character will die by hanging:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"That boy will be hung," said the gentleman in the white waistcoat; "I know that boy will be hung."
Nobody controverted the prophetic gentleman’s opinion.
Related Themes:
Chapter 30
Explanation and Analysis—Family Reunion:
The novel repeatedly uses the idea of supernatural forces to foreshadow the great revelation at the end, which is that Oliver is the child of a wealthy man. For example, in Chapter 12, Mr. Brownlow is struck by the eerie resemblance between Oliver and the portrait that turns out to be Oliver's mother:
Unlock with LitCharts A+As [Mr. Brownlow] spoke, he pointed hastily to the picture above Oliver’s head, and then to the boy’s face. There was its living copy,—the eyes, the head, the mouth; every feature was the same. The expression was for the instant so precisely alike, that the minutest line seemed copied with an accuracy which was perfectly unearthly.
Related Themes:
Chapter 40
Explanation and Analysis—Nancy's Death:
In Chapter 40, Nancy goes to Rose Maylie to tell her what she has learned about Oliver through eavesdropping on Monks and Fagin's conversation. Nancy and Rose's conversation ends with Nancy foreshadowing her own death:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I must go back. Whether it is God’s wrath for the wrong I have done, I do not know; but I am drawn back to him through every suffering and ill usage, and should be, I believe, if I knew that I was to die by his hand at last.
Related Themes:
