Foreshadowing, Conflict, and Suspense

Foreshadowing

Definition:

Foreshadowing is a literary device that authors use to give the reader hints or clues about future plot events.

Foreshadowing can be as subtle (not obvious) as a simple change in weather in a scene or a passing mention to something happening in the background of a scene.

OR foreshadowing can be as direct (obvious) as the author actually telling you what is about to happen.

In this example from The Time Machine, H.G. Wells essentially directly tells his readers to expect something bad to happen.

**Calamity means DANGER or DISASTER!

In this example of subtle foreshadowing, the character, Buster, is referring to the hand-shaped chair in the foreground of the image.

However, this is later shown to be foreshadowing, as Buster loses his hand in a tragic seal accident.

Conflict• Conflict in the context of literature is the struggle between 2

opposing forces. This conflict can be one of 2 things:• Internal conflict• External conflict

• In order for conflict to exist, there must be a situation in the story that needs to be solved or addressed.

• If conflict didn’t’ exist, literature would be pretty boring!

Internal Conflict

Internal conflict=person vs. self• When someone deals with internal conflict, they deal with

struggling forces within themselves. • “head vs. heart”• “devil vs. angel on shoulder”

Someone trying to live a healthy lifestyle might run into internal conflict when tempted by a delicious burger and fries

External Conflict

External conflict: person vs. person• Person vs. person is a type of external conflict in which 2 or

more people have opposing beliefs/feelings/ideas.

Two people having an argument is the perfect example of person vs. person conflict.

The severity of person vs. person conflict can vary; 2 people could simply disagree on something, could have an argument about something, or could even get into a physical fight.

External Conflict

External conflict: person vs. nature/society/supernatural

• Person vs. nature/society/supernatural conflict occurs when a person is in some way put in opposition of the world at large.

Person vs. nature Person vs. supernatural Person vs. society

• In order for conflict to work in a story, there must be uncertainty.• That is: we must believe that there’s a chance

that the situation that needs to be solved might not be solved!• We need to believe that our protagonist might

fail.

The conflict works in this scene of Toy Story 3 because we don’t know whether Andy’s toys will make it back to him or whether they’ll end up at Sunnyside. If we knew how it ended, the conflict wouldn’t add anything to the film!

Suspense

Definition: The intense feeling that you experience as you wait to learn the outcome of an event or conflict in a work of literature (or a film!)

A key aspect of suspense is conflict and uncertainty. The audience has to believe that things might not turn out well. The audience has to want to know what is going to happen next.

Suspense can also be affected by our expectations. If we expect something to happen, we could feel suspense as we wait for that thing to happen.

In this case, the villain has tied Taylor Swift to the train tracks. The suspense comes from our uncertainty as to whether or not the hero will save her in time before the train arrives.

Foreshadowing, Conflict, and Suspense• All three of these things are closely related to one another.• The strongest relationship between these concepts is between

conflict and suspense. • Generally, suspense is caused by some sort of conflict!• We feel suspense because we’re concerned about how (and

whether) the conflict will be solved.

Foreshadowing, Conflict, and Suspense• Foreshadowing can also be related to suspense• By leaving clues or hints about future events, an author can

create an expectation in the reader that something will happen – this can lead to suspense as they wait for that thing to happen.

It was a dark and stormy night…