5.1.2

Foreshadowing

Test yourself

Foreshadowing

Throughout the story, Golding gives us hints that things are going to go badly for the boys on the island.

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Fire

  • Fire becomes dangerous instead of a saviour.
  • The boys run to the top of the mountain and start dragging logs into a pile to light their signal fire.
  • As they do so, the author describes one of the logs as a “grotesque dead thing”.
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Fire cont.

  • This foreshadows (hints at) something bad happening later in the story, as the log is supposed to be lit on fire so the boys can be rescued.
  • However, the log is described in a very negative way, rather than positively as a great fuel source which will help to save them.
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Piggy’s demise

  • Throughout the novel, Piggy is shown to be weak and vulnerable.
  • We are repeatedly reminded that he wears “glasses”, indeed, great emphasis is placed on his poor eyesight.
  • This could foreshadow that something bad is going to happen to him later on, possibly if his glasses (which he relies on so much) are taken or lost.
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Ralph will be rescued

  • Simon tells Ralph that he will “get back all right”.
  • This is a strange prediction to make, especially as Simon does not say this to anyone else (or about himself).
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The beast

  • The suggestion that Ralph will be rescued is reinforced when Simon is proved right about his suspicions around the beast...
    • That it is the evil inside them which is causing the problems, not a physical beast.
  • After we find this to be true, we start to trust Simon’s earlier prediction about Ralph.

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