Examples Of Foreshadowing In Lamb To The Slaughter

Hello, my name is Michael. And for the past few weeks, I have been analysing the literary elements in short stories. Today I will be analysing foreshadowing from these two amazing authors; Roald Dahl and Ray Bradbury. I will be analysing the short story ‘Lamb to the slaughter’ by Roald Dahl and the story ‘The Veldt’ by Ray Bradbury. Both of these authors are well-known for their effective novel and short story writing. Both of these short stories share an effective literary element of foreshadowing.

“A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it”. This famous quote by Roald Dahl is saying their writing comes from their soul, they

don't have teachers. They put themselves out there for failure because people can either like it or hate it.

Before I get into it. Foreshadowing is a literary element in where the writer gives a hint of what is to come later in the story. This generally appears at the beginning of the story and then helps the reader to develop probabilities about the up and coming events in a story.

Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot.

His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. He is brilliant in using foreshadowing and creating suspense in his books and short stories. I will be analysing his short story - Lamb to the slaughter. Roald Dahl is clever in using foreshadowing in his story creating suspense and wonder, urging readers to continue.The title of the short story-‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ shows that someone will be unaware of their own slaughter, like a lamb. Roald Dahl foreshadows the events creating suspense. He uses foreshadowing when Mary Maloney gets the leg of lamb from the

freezer.

“"I'll get the supper," she managed to whisper, and this time he didn't stop her.
When she walked across the room she couldn't feel her feet touching the floor. She couldn't feel anything at all- except a slight nausea and a desire to vomit. Everything was automatic now-down the steps to the cellar, the light switch, the deep freeze, the hand inside the cabinet taking hold of the first object is met. She lifted it out and looked at it. It was wrapped in paper, so she took off the paper and looked at it again.
A leg of lamb.”

Mary's whisper, "I'll get the supper," can also be seen as foreshadowing the ending.

But also, just like most people know, a leg of lamb looks like a big cub, as you see in cartoons or animated movies, as the bone at the end looks like a handle. The readers might realise at this point of the story that the title “Lamb to the Slaughter” is foreshadowing and can also be shown as irony. The title shows these two devices because it is actually a leg of lamb that has been used to slaughter the helpless victim.

Ray Bradbury was a well known imaginative author who wrote short stories, novels, social criticism, and an awareness of technology. Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt” summed up in a very short version is that the parents use technology to spoil their kids and then the kids use technology to kill their parents. Most of the foreshadowing in “The Veldt” is of predicting the death of the parents. A piece of foreshadowing in the story is shown in two parts. At two parts of the story George and Lydia Hadley, the parents, find some old possessions that belonged to them in the

nursery.

"An old wallet of mine," he said.
He showed it to her. The smell of hot grass was on it and the smell of a lion. There were drops of saliva on it, it had been chewed, and there were blood smears on both sides."

George’s old wallet and Lydia’s old scarf are found in the nursery. And both of these are torn up and bloody when found. This is foreshadowing the death of the parents in the nursery at the end of “The Veldt”. This story, first known as "The World the Children Made" was published 23 September 1950. The title of the story indicates the children have taken over. Ray Bradbury foreshadows the death of the parents as well as indicating the dangers of future technology and how it can affect modern society.

In conclusion, foreshadowing adds dramatic tension to a story by building anticipation about what might happen next. Great examples of this are these two stories that I have analysed- “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahland “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury. Both of these authors use foreshadowing to create suspense and or to give information that helps readers understand what happens later. That is basically what you need to achieve a good foreshadowing effect. But you have to ensure to make it suspenseful so it's more exciting for the audience.