Skip to main content

What are some examples of foreshadowing in the story, "Everything that Rises Must Converge"?

The very first details in the story foreshadow the end.  In the first line, we learn that Mrs. Chestny suffers from high blood pressure and has been going to a class at the local YMCA to lose some weight.  Her face gets redder and redder throughout the story, as Julian does things to purposely upset her, and this serves as more foreshadowing.  At one point, her face is an "angry red," and soon after, it becomes "unnaturally red, as if her blood pressure had risen."  All of this detail prepares us for her eventual stroke at the story's end.


Further, Mrs. Chestny first says that at least she "'won't meet [herself] coming and going,'" and then a short while later, she quotes the saleslady as having said precisely the same thing in the store.  The repetition of the idea that Mrs. Chestny expects to be the only person she meets who has the financial resources to purchase this unique and costly hat seems to foreshadow the fact that she's about to meet someone else wearing the hat, someone she wouldn't expect to have the money for it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.