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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 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Part One
Explanation and Analysis—Dam Breaking:
In Part One, McMurphy's arrival begins to incite an attitude of rebellion in the patients, including Bromden, who have long accepted their place at the bottom of the hierarchy on the ward. Bromden lies in bed unmedicated for the first night in years, and he describes the sound of the ward with imagery that foreshadows major changes to come:
Not a sound across the hospital—except for a dull, padded rumbling somewhere deep in the guts of the building, a sound that I never noticed before—a lot like the sound you hear when you’re standing late at night on top of a big hydroelectric dam. Low, relentless, brute power.
Related Themes:
Part Four
Explanation and Analysis—Battlefield Prayer:
In Part Four, during the nighttime party on the ward, Harding brings pills to Sefelt and Sandy after Sefelt has a seizure right next to her. He makes a speech that parodies a prayer on a battlefield and foreshadows a disastrous end to the party:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Most merciful God, accept these two poor sinners into your arms. And keep the doors ajar for the coming of the rest of us, because you are witnessing the end, the absolute, irrevocable, fantastic end. [...] We shall be all of us shot at dawn. One hundred cc’s apiece. Miss Ratched shall line us all against the wall, where we’ll face the terrible maw of a muzzle-loading shotgun which she has loaded with Miltowns! Thorazines! Libriums! Stelazines! And with a wave of her sword, blooie! Tranquilize all of us completely out of existence.”
Related Themes:
