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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
Part 1, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Black Cat:
Black cats foreshadow no good, and neither does the one that Ugwu spots one near Odenigbo’s garage in Part 1, Chapter 5. Worried by its promise of evil, he explains to Olanna that the creature is an omen:
Ugwu said, “Sorry, mah,” as if he were somehow responsible for Mama’s behavior. Then he fiddled with his apron pocket and said, “I saw a black cat yesterday night, after Mama and Amala left.”
“A black cat?”
“Yes, mah. Near the garage.” He paused. “A black cat means evil.”
Olanna brushes off Ugwu’s fears, promising him that “your master’s mother can’t use any medicine to divide us.” But while she stays with Odenigbo to the novel’s end, the story leaves enough for Ugwu to get the last laugh. The black cat is premonition and prelude of the various misfortunes to come. Odenigbo sleeps with Amala, aided by his mother’s medicinal schemes. Still worse, a war breaks out that strains the very bonds of their relationship. As food runs thin and homes get bombarded by shelling, tensions grow. Odenigbo turns to the tavern, befriends Alice, and grows distanced. He changes—he looks out at the world with “bleary weary eyes” by the end of the fighting. War makes Ugwu’s master depressed, unfaithful, and alcoholic. If the cat does not foreshadow the destruction of Olanna’s relationship with Odenigbo, it at least previews the loss of a happier past.
Related Themes:
Part 2, Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Coup, Part Two:
For a moment in Part 1, Chapter 9, foreshadowing gives Richard an upper hand. In the wake of Igbo celebrations after Major Nzeogwu’s coup, Madu assures Kainene that there is “nothing to complain about” up in the north. Partly envious of Madu’s romantic sway over Kainene and desperate to prove himself, Richard thinks otherwise:
Richard tightened his hold on her hand. “I went to Zaria last week, and it seemed that all everybody was saying was second coup, second coup. Even Radio Kaduna and the New Nigerian,” he said in Igbo.
Nigerian politics does not wait long to prove Richard right. Fighting breaks out in Kaduna hardly a week later, giving him reason to gloat. But the bet that began partly out of a grudge swells into something far scarier than either Richard or Madu may have imagined. News of Igbo casualties trickle in. Major Udodi dies in a prison cell tied to an iron cross. The violence intensifies, spilling across the country’s streets. During his next visit at Kainene’s, a sobered Madu recounts his tortured, days-long journey involving chicken coops and water trucks. By the time Richard visits the airport himself, he watches soldiers blow up Nnaemeka’s head before his very eyes. Here, his wager hangs as an uneasy harbinger of things to come.
Related Themes:
Part 4, Chapter 31
Explanation and Analysis—Ugwu’s Return:
A landmine explosion leaves Ugwu all but dead. But in a remarkable act of optimism, Olanna foreshadows his unexpected recovery. Speaking with Chiamaka one day in Part 4, Chapter 31, she admits that Ugwu has gone to “heaven” but refuses to rule out his return:
And Olanna said yes. It was not that she wanted to soothe Baby; it was that, day after day, she found herself rejecting the finality of Ugwu’s death. She told herself that he was not dead; he might be close to dead but he was not dead.
Part hunch and hope, Olanna’s belief in Ugwu’s return lays the path for one of the novel’s more improbable surprises. Both the military troop and Madu search for Ugwu, to no avail. But against all reasonable expectation, he survives. In Chapter 32, the reader finds Ugwu recovering in the hospital, no longer “[wanting] to die” but “[fearing] he would.” To the family’s great relief and joy, Ugwu manages to return.
Foresight does not fare as well with Kainene. In this way, the novel seemingly contrasts Ugwu’s fate with that of Olanna’s twin. When Kainene sets out for the Nigerian border in search of supplies, she doesn’t return. The “furtive fear” of her disappearance swells as anxious days turn into months. Where Ugwu’s reappearance had delivered a miracle, Kainene’s disappearance deals a tragedy. The magic of Olanna’s foresight works only once, and this second instance leaves the grief-stricken sister hanging.
Related Themes:
