The Tattooist of Auschwitz: Foreshadowing 5 key examples

The description of the “pitch-black” carriage where "clouds block out the moon and stars completely" creates a total visual void for the reader. It’s the imagery of no imagery; Lale is surrounded by nothingness. The details of his world are utterly erased. This absence of light brings on feelings of fear for the reader, because danger often lurks unseen in darkness. Lale knows he’s in danger in the carriage and is heading into more of it, but he has no way to protect himself. The darkness also deepens the readers’ sense of how isolated Lale is, as visual barriers cut him off from everything surrounding him. He already doesn’t know where he’s being taken. He now cannot see where he is. He also cannot see what is happening to the other men around him. This inability to see amplifies his anxiety about the unknown future that he knows lies ahead. 

Lale’s direct question, "Does the dark portend their future?" then transforms the imagery of darkness into a moment of foreshadowing. Here, Lale links the oppressive, all-encompassing blackness to what lies ahead for him and the other prisoners. He knows whatever is coming won’t be good, but he has no way of anticipating the specifics because he’s been given no information. Worrying that the blinding dark “portends” his future also points to the loss and grief that will later define his experiences in the Nazi concentration camps. The darkness of the train carriage does more than give the reader a clear picture of Lale’s uncertain environment. It also signals the bleakness he's imagining in his destination, whatever it may be.

Lale’s immediate fixation on the tattoo hints strongly that the number will continue to shape his experiences. The fact that his thoughts skip immediately to being "defined by this moment, this irregular number" suggests that the tattoo's significance will stretch far beyond the brief act of tattooing itself. Morris also implies the tattoo will have consequences that Lale cannot yet grasp fully, and that the “rest of his life” might be “defined” by this brief atrocity.

Morris’s use of hyperbole also intensifies the depiction of Lale’s shock. She writes that "Lale’s shock makes time stand still." Time, of course, does not literally pause, but the phrase conveys how overwhelming the moment feels to Lale. This exaggeration suggests that the act of being forcibly tattooed has a disorienting effect. It profoundly alters his sense of reality as it happens. Lale’s panicked thought that he might forever be defined solely by "this irregular number" also contains hyperbolic language. Although the tattoo will indeed represent his identity for his Nazi captors, the suggestion that his entire existence can be reduced to this moment is a symptom of his horror and despair. The hyperbole Morris uses here helps readers grasp the depth of how dehumanizing having one’s name replaced by an impersonal number feels.

When Pepan tells Lale that he should become a tattooist because someone “has to do it,” Morris is strongly implying that Lale will indeed become “the tattooist of Auschwitz.” Even though he doesn’t want to, Lale agrees to take on the role because he knows he will tattoo people with compassion and care. It might be worse, Pepan reasons, to leave the job in the hands of someone who doesn't feel compassion for other people. Even though he knows it makes him complicit in the Nazi project, Lale agrees to learn to tattoo to prevent even greater cruelty. 

When Pepan warns Lale that if he doesn’t take the work on, someone with “less soul” might do it, he also foreshadows the many moral and ethical burdens Lale will have to carry in The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Lale does many difficult things because he believes someone has to. This phrase suggests that tattooing, just like surviving in Auschwitz without losing his humanity, will require not just Lale’s skills but also his strong moral compass. It also implies that even at this early stage, Pepan sees in Lale a capacity for empathy that makes him stand out from the other prisoners.

Several elements in this passage foreshadow the potential danger that awaits Cilka. Foreshadowing provides hints about future developments, and the unusualness of Cilka’s "long dark hair cascading down her back" is an immediate warning sign that something bad is coming. Prisoners in Auschwitz (regardless of gender) typically had their heads shaved. This practice was meant to dehumanize them and enforce uniformity. The fact that Cilka has kept her hair is unusual enough to be alarming. It marks her as different. Her striking beauty and graceful demeanor, which Morris describes as "seemingly untouched by the horror," further single her out.

While these attributes might be wonderful assets in a normal context, in Auschwitz they signal that Cilka has been set aside for sexual exploitation. Ivana’s comment suggests that her ability to retain her hair has almost certainly come at a hidden cost. The description Morris uses, that "[s]he moves with the grace of a swan," further points to how striking (and dangerous) Cilka’s beauty is. This comparison suggests that Cilka possesses an unusual poise and elegance that makes her stand out against the grinding greyness of Auschwitz. In a place where prisoners were systematically stripped of their individuality and subjected to brutal conditions, Cilka's swan-like grace makes her distinctly different.

Lale’s sweeping description of Auschwitz as “this hell” is a metaphor. This figure of speech directly compares life in the concentration camp to hell. In the same way most religions describe hell, Auschwitz was a place designed to be inescapable and to enforce suffering and hopelessness. By using this word, Lale conveys the intense and almost unimaginable nature of the cruelties he and Gita have to endure. However, despite the “hell” they are stuck in, Lale is determined to think of better days to come. His declaration about what happened “on the night that [he] arrived here” strongly suggests to the reader that he's determined to endure the horrors of the camp no matter what happens. Further to this, he has a specific vision of a time when he and Gita will “survive and make a life where we are free to kiss when we want to, [and] make love when we want to.” His speech foreshadows more than mere survival. He’s drawing a picture for Gita of a world where peace and dignity are tangible and attainable for them as a couple. This expression of hope and determination is a direct contradiction of Gita’s statement that the pair have “no future.”