Previous
Foil
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
2. The Coming of the Iguanas
Explanation and Analysis—New Eden:
In Chapter 2, Kerans personifies the "genealogical tree of mankind" as a kind of God-like force trying to recreate a "new Eden" under the conditions of the climate apocalypse. This passage foreshadows both the imminent introduction of Beatrice Dahl and also Kerans's understanding of himself at the end of the novel as "a second Adam, searching for the forgotten paradises of the reborn sun":
The birth of a child had become a comparative rarity, and only one marriage in ten yielded any offspring. As Kerans sometimes reminded himself, the genealogical tree of mankind was systematically pruning itself, apparently moving backwards in time, and a point might ultimately be reached where a second Adam and Eve found themselves alone in a new Eden.
Kerans and Eve have had a years-long sexual relationship, and they do not seem to be among the one in 10 couples who are able to have children. This passage demonstrates that to Kerans, their lack of offspring makes it more likely, not less likely, that they are the couple destined to save humankind. If God initially created humanity and urged them to "be fruitful and multiply," the barely-habitable climate created by the solar flares seems to indicate that this God has died or abandoned His creations. In God's stead, the "genealogical tree of mankind" is left to manage itself, adapting to the chaos of the unruly universe and optimizing the form it will take at the moment when it finally dies. Kerans and Beatrice have been selected by the tree to live in this moment, on the brink of humanity's extinction. Kerans becomes almost eager for Riggs and the rest of the men to abandon him and Beatrice. Side by side, they will let the rising temperature and water levels swallow them, thus marking humanity's natural ending place in the geologic record. Their final surrender to the destructive climate will be its own version of Paradise to bookend the human history begun by the first Adam and Eve.
Soon, however, it becomes clear that Kerans does not think much of Beatrice. He reminds her that she is the only woman around, and that their relationship is one of convenience. She spends her days drinking to numb the discomfort of her situation. She does not want to flee to Camp Byrd, but her refusal comes from a mindset of denial rather than the acceptance and resolve Kerans begins to feel about the end of the world. When Strangman comes on the scene, Beatrice allows him to flatter her and adorn her with jewels he has scavenged from other drowned cities. Disgusted by Strangman's pilfering of dead and dying cultures, Kerans decides to destroy London and go south on his own, to his certain death. He makes a halfhearted attempt to bring Beatrice, but she chooses to stay with Strangman and set Kerans free. In the end, the novel suggests that Kerans does not even need an Eve to become a "second Adam," that symbol of the last man on Earth. In fact, Beatrice's feminized investment in riches and creature comforts might be read as a misogynistic statement about women's role in the moral corruption of humanity. She lasts for much of the novel, but the "genealogical tree of mankind" ultimately prunes her, the only woman in the book.
Related Themes:
