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April 29, 2006
Foreshadowing at its Finest
Flannery O'Connor is no doubt a master of many, if not all of the elements required to make a great short story. She has time and time again used effective characterization, foreshadowing, and symbolism to further her works not only as good reads, but as ways to convey a message.
As an English major, I know for a fact that short stories are often tougher to write than novels because you are forced to condense so much information into such a small space, and yet O'Connor generally does this quite nicely. One trait in particular that I had not picked out in many of her other stories is the use of foreshadowing, and it is partially because of this that it stood out so much in "A Late Encounter With The Enemy."
Right from the start we are hit with the sentence "Living had got to be such a habit with him that he couldn't concieve of any other condition." This sets us up right from the beggining to expect his death, and yet it does so in such a way that we are still interested regardless of the predictable outcome. O'Connor drops hints throughout the entire story, both subtle and not-so-subtle, and yet still manages to hold the readers interest. In fact, she uses so much foreshadowing the Sash's death is put up on a pedestal, and we read on to find out how, when, and why he is going to die. This is an incredibly effictive technique, and it culminates perfectly with his death on the stage, one which no one even notices at first. This, to me, was a huge shock even though in retrospect I feel that I should have expected it. Perhaps that is what makes O'Connor's use of foreshadowing truly great: we don't expect the end when it comes, and yet, looking back, we feel that we should have. Gosh I love foreshadowing.
Posted by PaulCrossman at April 29, 2006 07:00 AM