In a short story, conflict is always foreshadowed. Foreshadowing is like planting a bomb that begins to tick and is sure to explode into conflict. It keeps the reader turning the pages.
Consider this situation: Lovers separated by a possible impending war. The reader will keep reading because he wants to know whether the lovers will meet again.
At times the foreshadowing is so subtle that it works in the subconscious of the reader and becomes clear only after the story is completed.
Foreshadowing Through Scenic Atmosphere
From the following opening, the reader knows that he is about to read about a tumultuous situation, or inner tumult:
"Deep in the Amazonian Forest, the Ucayali river boiled beneath the lightning storm. Elohi watched the blinding flashes of lightning tear through the tumultuous clouds and thought, "Tumi has taught the Lightning Eels well." His lips were lined with blue, red streaked across his eyes and forehead. Needle-like splinters stuck out from the flesh above his lips like Jaguar's whiskers."
Foreshadowing Through Prediction
Shakespeare used the obscure prediction of witches to foreshadow the events in his play ‘Macbeth’. The writer can use various tools of prediction such as the tarot cards to create anticipation in the mind of his readers.
Keeping Readers Reading Through the Title
The reader may read an entire story just to discover the meaning of an intriguing title whose meaning is not obvious, or only revealed towards the end. Take for example, the best-selling novel – The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy. The reader has no idea what the title means till he realises that it is used to symbolise the futile love quest of the heroine.
Foreshadowing Through Symbolism
The Japanese writer Mori Ogwai, in his short story, The Pier, uses this curious sentence throughout: "The pier is long ––––– long––––––. The sentence foreshadows the long wait in store for a woman seeing her husband off at the pier.
The Technique of Parallelism
A writer can also create foreshadowing through the technique of parallelism – using a myth. In this instance, the reader expects the story to follow the pattern and resolution of the myth. James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses is an example of this technique.
Beginning with the End
Alternatively, another technique of foreshadowing is to begin the story with the end. The ensuing narrative answers the whys and hows of it all.
Foreshadowing With Dialogue
Dialogue can reflect in a symbolic way the events that follow. For instance, in a film, when a soldier tell his lover – "Till death do us part," he is expected to die in the end.
In the beginning of Leo Tolstoy;s story, The Long Exile, the protagonist's wife says –"Ivan Dimitrich, do not start today. I have had a bad dream about you." The reader expects trouble for Dimitrich.
Foreshadowing Through Nature
Tension is created by this opening sentence of a short story:
"To Jehaan, sitting at the windows of the royal harem, it seemed even the blades of grass wet with the rain could inflict wounds."
Foreshadowing Through Tone of Voice
An author may choose to foreshadow the events of his story through his tone of voice which may be tragic, funny, sentimental or cynical.
"I fear I may end my life like Van Gogh who saw two suns and a night full of stars, yet left behind a suicide note that read: 'Misery will never end'. Or like Nietzsche who believed passionately in man as superman, yet died insane."
The narrator is a robot designed to monitor the mental state of his suicidal owner, on whom his own existence depends. The story is set far into the future, on an earth where God is dead. The robot's fearful thoughts foreshadow coming events.
Foreshadowing Important in the Beginning
The ‘bomb’ of foreshadowing is usually planted right in the beginning of a story. This is because much must be said in a short amount of space.
When a writer uses the technique of foreshadowing correctly, he is sure to retain the interest of his reader till his last sentence by creating a sense of conflict.
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