Foreshadowing
The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett

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The Secret Garden: Foreshadowing 1 key example

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 Secret Garden

Chapter 1 
Explanation and Analysis—A Lace-Light Mother:

Burnett consistently describes Mary Lennox's mother using imagery of the ephemeral, the insubstantial, and the delicate. This woman, who is largely absent from Mary's quotidian life and is not caring or maternal, is as "full of lace" and as lacking in substance as her clothes. She cares only "to go to parties and amuse herself with gay people." Every part of her body is light, pretty and floating:

Her hair was like curly silk and she had a delicate little nose which seemed to be disdaining things, and she had large laughing eyes. All her clothes were thin and floating, and Mary said they were “full of lace.” They looked fuller of lace than ever this morning, but her eyes were not laughing at all.