To Kill A Mockingbird: Foreshadowing Analysis

Literary Term #7: Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing: Author hints at what can possibly happen in the story by using the text.
Example: “Josef said, ‘Don’t trust the clown…’ Rudy said, ‘Dad, how do you know about the clown?’ ‘The sixteenth of April,’ said Josef...” (19).
Koontz, Dean. Life Expectancy. New York: Bantam Dell, 2004. Print.
Function: The author used foreshadowing within this passage at an early point in the story because it is significant in helping the reader realize that the story is going to be a bit interesting and to also help the reader see that the clown will do something terrible, since whatever force that was driving Josef to make such predictions had made him mention the clown. The author made Josef Tock, Rudy Tock’s father,

tell his son that the clown should not be trusted, and this made sense to the reader because the author previously described the clown, Beezo, as being stressed out within the hospital’s waiting room. This hint, given through foreshadowing and previous details on the clown’s condition, helps the reader in knowing what to expect or what will possibly happen within the story. The way that this passage, in which the characters are having a conversation, turns out to give a lot of hints as to what will happen within the story is because Josef did not know about the clown, but he still predicted that nothing good would come out of that clown. Rudy Tock’s response shows what appears to be worry, and that also gives the reader hints as to how the clown is going to do something terrible within the hospital. Fast forward a bit later into the novel and the foreshadowing that was included proved to be true because the clown went on a rampage and killed hospital workers that he claimed killed his wife.