Previous
Flashbacks
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 Outsiders
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Six-Inch Switchblade:
When Cherry asks about Johnny's past, Ponyboy explains how Johnny was attacked and beaten by a group of Socs a few months earlier. As a precaution, Johnny always carries a switchblade now, which foreshadows Bob's death:
And Johnny, who was the most law-abiding of us, now carried in his back pocket a six-inch switchblade. He’d use it, too, if he ever got jumped again. They had scared him that much. He would kill the next person who jumped him. Nobody was ever going to beat him like that again. Not over his dead body . . .
Related Themes:
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Cigarettes and Fire:
When Ponyboy and Johnny hide out in an abandoned church together, Ponyboy entertains himself by smoking more than usual. With a comment about the danger of an old wooden building catching fire, the novel foreshadows the climactic church fire:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I was smoking a lot more there than I usually did—I guess because it was something to do—although Johnny warned me that I would get sick smoking so much. We were careful with our cigarettes—if that old church ever caught fire there’d be no stopping it.
