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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 The Chosen
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Library Mentor:
In Chapter 4, Danny reveals to Reuven that he spends a large amount of time at the local library reading “whatever I can get my hands on.” Danny is passionate about topics beyond what he can learn from the Jewish Talmud, the only material that his immediate family encourages him to study. In a moment of foreshadowing, Danny tells Reuven that a man at the library provides him with title suggestions, but he is unaware of the man’s true identity:
But I only read what the librarian says is worthwhile. I met a man there, and he keeps suggesting books for me to read. That librarian is funny. She’s a nice person, but she keeps staring at me all the time. She’s probably wondering what a person like me is doing reading all those books.
Related Themes:
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Caught in a Web:
In the end of Chapter 9, Reuven learns that Billy—a former floormate in Reuven’s hospital ward—undergoes a tragically unsuccessful medical operation. Reuven wonders which exact powers in the universe are to blame for his random good luck and Billy’s random bad luck. As Reuven ponders this confusing randomness on his porch in Brooklyn, he observes a fly trapped in a spider’s web. Potok utilizes this observation to foreshadow the tragic nature of seemingly random luck seen throughout World War II and the Holocaust:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I saw its black body arching wildly, and then it managed to get its wings free, and there was the buzzing sound again as the wings struggled to free the body to which they were attached. Then the wings were trapped again by the flimsy, almost invisible strands of the web, and the black legs kicked at the air [...]
Related Themes:
