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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
Volume 1, Book 1: A Just Man
Explanation and Analysis—Never Fear Robbers:
The first page of the novel introduces the reader to Monsieur Myriel, the Bishop of D—. Before meeting Jean Valjean, the Bishop foreshadows the stolen silver and the grace that he shows such thievery with personification and situational irony:
That evening, before he went to bed, he said again, “Let us never fear robbers nor murderers. Those are dangers from without, petty dangers. Let us fear ourselves. Prejudices are the real robbers; vices are the real murderers. The great dangers lie within ourselves. What matters is what threatens our head or our purse! Let us think only of that which threatens our soul.”
The Bishop tells his sister to never fear robbers, only chapters before Jean Valjean comes into the Bishop's home and takes advantage of his kindness. The irony lies not only in the fact that Jean Valjean robs the Bishop of his riches, but also in the fact that the Bishop's lack of prejudice allows Jean Valjean to keep the stolen riches. However, the Bishop's unending forgiveness also allows Jean Valjean to understand his wrong and atone for his sin.
The Bishop also uses personification to compare prejudices to robbers and vices to murderers, explaining that the greatest sins and evils lie within ourselves. The most precious treasures are people's minds, so tainting them with prejudices and vices is a form of treachery against ourselves. Holding prejudices against certain people robs oneself of a fulfilled life. Giving into vices is akin to murdering one's most fulfilled self. This outlook demonstrates the Bishop's selflessness, as well as his devotion to people over riches.
Related Themes:
Volume 3, Book 8: The Wicked Poor Man
Explanation and Analysis—A Plague of Butterflies:
In Volume 3, Book 8, Chapter 15, Bossuet shares a metaphorical comment about the snowfall, all while foreshadowing the tragic events at the barricades:
A few moments later, about three o’clock, Courfeyrac chanced to be passing along the Rue Mouffetard in company with Bossuet. The snow had redoubled in violence, and filled the air. Bossuet was just saying to Courfeyrac, “One would say, to see all these snowflakes fall, that there was a plague of white butterflies in heaven.” All at once, Bossuet caught sight of Marius coming up the street toward the barrier with a peculiar air.
Bossuet compares the heavily falling snow to a “plague of white butterflies in heaven,” which is a metaphor of conflicting beauty. While "butterflies in heaven" inspire light and freedom, in reality, this metaphor serves to foreshadow the untimely deaths of the Friends of the ABC at the barricades. There, they too will become butterflies in heaven, having fought and died for their ideals of freedom. The word "plague" is also very grotesque, illustrating something inescapable and unwanted.
In Volume 5, Book 1, Chapter 21, the narrative compares the aftermath at the barricades to a snowstorm, demonstrating how Bossuet's foretelling metaphor came to fruition:
The interior of the barricade was so strewn with torn cartridges that one would have said that there had been a snowstorm.
Snow is not a beautiful phenomenon in the novel. It is a symbol of death, an obstacle on the path of progress.
Related Themes:
Volume 4, Book 13: Marius Enters the Shadow
Explanation and Analysis—Peace of the Sepulcher:
Hopeless without Cosette, Marius wanders the streets of Paris amid the rebellion. The narrator's description of the Halles incorporates a metaphor which foreshadows the coming tragedy at the barricades:
Marius had reached the Halles. There everything was still calmer, more obscure and more motionless than in the neighboring streets. One would have said that the glacial peace of the sepulchre had sprung forth from the earth and had spread over the heavens.
As Marius nears the barricades, readying himself to fight for liberty and meet his maker, he remarks on the absolute stillness of Les Halles, a typically bustling food and dry goods market of the time. The narrator compares the calm in the streets to the peacefulness of a “sepulchre,” a monument in which one buries a deceased person. This metaphor is an eerie foreshadowing of what is to come for Marius and the Friends of the ABC. In this moment, it is as if the entire world is already a graveyard, and everybody will be buried in the sepulcher of Paris. "Glacial peace" is also an image of calm and meditation; however, when the entire city becomes a graveyard, peace takes on an entirely different meaning.
Related Themes:
Volume 5, Book 1: The War Between Four Walls
Explanation and Analysis—A Plague of Butterflies:
In Volume 3, Book 8, Chapter 15, Bossuet shares a metaphorical comment about the snowfall, all while foreshadowing the tragic events at the barricades:
A few moments later, about three o’clock, Courfeyrac chanced to be passing along the Rue Mouffetard in company with Bossuet. The snow had redoubled in violence, and filled the air. Bossuet was just saying to Courfeyrac, “One would say, to see all these snowflakes fall, that there was a plague of white butterflies in heaven.” All at once, Bossuet caught sight of Marius coming up the street toward the barrier with a peculiar air.
Bossuet compares the heavily falling snow to a “plague of white butterflies in heaven,” which is a metaphor of conflicting beauty. While "butterflies in heaven" inspire light and freedom, in reality, this metaphor serves to foreshadow the untimely deaths of the Friends of the ABC at the barricades. There, they too will become butterflies in heaven, having fought and died for their ideals of freedom. The word "plague" is also very grotesque, illustrating something inescapable and unwanted.
In Volume 5, Book 1, Chapter 21, the narrative compares the aftermath at the barricades to a snowstorm, demonstrating how Bossuet's foretelling metaphor came to fruition:
The interior of the barricade was so strewn with torn cartridges that one would have said that there had been a snowstorm.
Snow is not a beautiful phenomenon in the novel. It is a symbol of death, an obstacle on the path of progress.
Related Themes:
