Saturday, May 14, 2016

What are foreshadowing examples in Stave Four of The Christmas Carol?

The fearful tidings of the Ghost of Christmas Future are foreshadowed by his black garments and by Scrooge's reaction to him. Though he had gotten comfortable with the idea of ghosts at this point, Scrooge nevertheless

feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him

This foreshadows that what the ghost will show Scrooge will be frightening.
Scrooge's revelation of his own death is foreshadowed when he overhears people talking indifferently about someone who died. He wonders why the ghost is having him overhear so "trivial" a conversation. He does not yet know they are talking about him.
The ghost then whisks Scrooge to another scene, where again the revelation of his own death is foreshadowed. Scrooge still doesn't know, though the reader must strongly suspect, that the goods the laundress, the charwoman, and the undertaker's assistant are selling at a foul junk shop have been stolen from him, including the very shirt he was meant to be buried in. Scrooge says to the ghost:

The case of this unhappy man might be my own.

Not long after, he will find out that it is his own case. He will also see Tiny Tim's death foreshadowed.

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