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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 1
Explanation and Analysis—Huck's Morality:
Near the beginning of the novel, Huck is struggling to abide by Miss Watson’s restrictive rules and glibly states that he wouldn’t mind going to hell:
Miss Watson would say, ‘‘Don’t put your feet up there, Huckleberry’’; and ‘‘Don’t scrunch up like that, Huckleberry—set up straight’’ […] Then she told me all about the bad place, and I said I wished I was there.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Nature Sounds:
Before escaping on the raft with Jim and spending time away from civilization on the Mississippi River, Huck demonstrates an attunement to nature. While sitting in his room in Miss Watson’s house he looks out the window and describes nature using several instances of personification:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The stars were shining, and the leaves rustled in the woods ever so mournful; and I heard an owl, away off, who-whooing about somebody that was dead, and a whippo-will and a dog crying about somebody that was going to die; and the wind was trying to whisper something to me, and I couldn’t make out what it was, and so it made the cold shivers run over me.
Related Themes:
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Pap's Death:
Though Huck worries throughout the novel that his abusive father, Pap, is chasing after him, Jim reveals that the man whose body they saw floating in the river (at the beginning of the book) was actually Pap. This is a surprise to Huck, but Twain actually foreshadowed Pap’s death early on when Huck describes how the judge lied to him about his father being dead:
Unlock with LitCharts A+They said he was floating on his back in the water. They took him and buried him on the bank. But I warn’t comfortable long, because I happened to think of something. I knowed mighty well that a drownded man don’t float on his back, but on his face.
Related Themes:
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Abolitionism:
Near the beginning of his time on the Mississippi River with Jim, Huck learns that Jim is running away because he doesn’t want to be sold and end up separated from his wife and kids. After sharing this with Huck, Jim asks Huck not to tell anyone, and Huck's response contains both an allusion and foreshadowing:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum—but that don’t make no difference. I ain’t agoing to tell, and I ain’t agoing back there anyways.”
Related Themes:
