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Dramatic Irony
Definition of Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Pino's Task:
When Pino moves to Switzerland and meets Father Re, Father Re insists upon increasing Pino’s physical strength through various excursions into the mountainous wilderness. Confused over his sudden presence in a land far from his home in Milan, Pino does not understand Father Re’s goal. However, Father Re hints at Pino’s oncoming tasks, a conversation Sullivan imbues with foreshadowing:
“Good,” Father Re said. “Very good.” “Father, why am I doing this?” The priest studied him, and then said, "I’m trying to make you strong. You may need to be in the months ahead.” Pino wanted to ask him why, but Father Re had already turned away.
In the passage above, Sullivan utilizes foreshadowing to hint at Pino’s oncoming task of transporting Jewish refugees to safety in Switzerland’s neutral zones, away from the hands of murderous Nazi soldiers. Pino does not yet understand why Father Re has tasked him with navigating such dangerous routes, but Father Re’s admission that “You may need to be [strong] in the months ahead” foreshadows Pino’s future resistance efforts. Father Re does not initially divulge Pino’s task, likely due to its inherent danger and Pino’s young age. However, just pages later Father Re reveals that he wants Pino to become an active member in Allied resistance efforts, thus foreshadowing his comments from earlier in Chapter 7:
“Will you help them?” “Of course. Yes.” The priest put his hand on Pino’s shoulder. “I want you to understand that you will be risking your life. Under the new German rules, helping a Jew is an act of treason, and punishable by death. If you are caught, they will likely execute you.”
Father Re does not sugarcoat the immense danger of Pino’s task, for Pino’s efforts are illegal under German rule, and he could face the death penalty if discovered. However, from the earlier foreshadowing conversation with Father Re, Pino understands that his strength is crucial to ensure the success of the transportation missions.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Binario 21:
Sullivan repeatedly references and details Binario 21, an infamous train platform in Milan where Nazi powers forcibly boarded thousands of Jewish people and other victims onto cattle trains headed for concentration camps such as Auschwitz. The platform stands today as a Holocaust memorial, and Sullivan utilizes it throughout the novel as a crucial point of entry for Pino’s discovery of the Nazi atrocities to which he bears witness. In Chapter 10 particularly, Sullivan introduces Binario 21 to Pino and Mimo, foreshadowing its importance later in the novel:
“He made the Germans chase him while we escaped our apartment. They…they took him to Binario Twenty-One.” “What’s that?” Mimo asked. “It’s where they take every Jew they catch in Milan. Platform Twenty-One in the central station. They put them into cattle cars, and they disappear, bound for…no one knows. They don’t come back.” Tears rolled down her cheek, and her lips quivered with raw emotion.
When Mimo and Pino learn about Binaro 21 from a terrified Elena Napolitano, Pino is horrified to discover the allegations of kidnapping. Pino does not discover the truth until later in the novel, when he works directly alongside the architects of such barbarity:
The sound seemed to freeze the general. Leyers stood there, staring at the cracked and splintering walls of the cattle car and the many desperate eyes staring back through the cracks at him and at Pino, who now remembered Mrs. Napolitano saying that Platform 21 was where Jews disappeared on trains heading north.
The passage above shows that Mrs. Napolitano's confession from Chapter 10 foreshadows Pino's eventual and direct encounter with Binario 21. Pino recalls his conversation with Mrs. Napolitano, understanding that she told the honest and horrific truth.
Related Themes:
Chapter 21
Explanation and Analysis—Binario 21:
Sullivan repeatedly references and details Binario 21, an infamous train platform in Milan where Nazi powers forcibly boarded thousands of Jewish people and other victims onto cattle trains headed for concentration camps such as Auschwitz. The platform stands today as a Holocaust memorial, and Sullivan utilizes it throughout the novel as a crucial point of entry for Pino’s discovery of the Nazi atrocities to which he bears witness. In Chapter 10 particularly, Sullivan introduces Binario 21 to Pino and Mimo, foreshadowing its importance later in the novel:
“He made the Germans chase him while we escaped our apartment. They…they took him to Binario Twenty-One.” “What’s that?” Mimo asked. “It’s where they take every Jew they catch in Milan. Platform Twenty-One in the central station. They put them into cattle cars, and they disappear, bound for…no one knows. They don’t come back.” Tears rolled down her cheek, and her lips quivered with raw emotion.
When Mimo and Pino learn about Binaro 21 from a terrified Elena Napolitano, Pino is horrified to discover the allegations of kidnapping. Pino does not discover the truth until later in the novel, when he works directly alongside the architects of such barbarity:
The sound seemed to freeze the general. Leyers stood there, staring at the cracked and splintering walls of the cattle car and the many desperate eyes staring back through the cracks at him and at Pino, who now remembered Mrs. Napolitano saying that Platform 21 was where Jews disappeared on trains heading north.
The passage above shows that Mrs. Napolitano's confession from Chapter 10 foreshadows Pino's eventual and direct encounter with Binario 21. Pino recalls his conversation with Mrs. Napolitano, understanding that she told the honest and horrific truth.
Related Themes:
Chapter 26
Explanation and Analysis—Anna's Fate:
Before the novel's tragic and horrific climax, in which Italian partisans murder Anna Marta over false accusations of sympathizing with the Nazi Party, Pino receives news that the war may end with Americans' arrival in Europe. He feels elated at the idea of a life without violence and stress and wishes to move to the United States with Anna to start a family. At the end of Chapter 26, Pino longs to inform Anna of his plans—a bittersweet scene the author uses to foreshadow Anna's sudden death:
Pino felt a thrill go up his spine at that idea, and he caught a glimpse of a future unimaginable to him just a few moments before. The entire drive back he did not think of the biblical-scale destruction he’d just witnessed. He thought about doing something good and profitable with his life, something con smania, and he couldn’t wait to tell Anna all about it.
In the passage above, Pino's future dreams provide him a brief respite from war, overwhelming him to the point of naïveté. Readers may infer that Pino's dreams are unrealistic given the state of the war, and indeed Sullivan foreshadows the eventual tragedy of Anna’s death in this passage. Although subtle, the line “he couldn’t wait to tell Anna all about it” hints at Pino's desperate search for a missing Anna immediately following this passage—a search resulting in Anna's horrific death:
Anna-Marta took a bullet to her heart. She bucked up at the impact, looking surprised before seeming to gaze toward Pino, as if her spirit had sensed him there and called out for him in that last moment before she crumpled back against the wall, and died in the dust. Watching Anna’s body twitch while a bloom of blood unfolded across her bosom, Pino felt his heart breach and flush out all love, all joy, all music.
Pino never gets the opportunity to tell Anna of his plans for their future, as he hoped to do in Chapter 26. Their time together freezes during the moment of Anna's death, a moment that permanently alters Pino's life. Sullivan's use of foreshadowing thus hints at the unpredictable nature of war and the risk one takes in daring to imagine a different world.
Related Themes:
Chapter 29
Explanation and Analysis—Anna's Fate:
Before the novel's tragic and horrific climax, in which Italian partisans murder Anna Marta over false accusations of sympathizing with the Nazi Party, Pino receives news that the war may end with Americans' arrival in Europe. He feels elated at the idea of a life without violence and stress and wishes to move to the United States with Anna to start a family. At the end of Chapter 26, Pino longs to inform Anna of his plans—a bittersweet scene the author uses to foreshadow Anna's sudden death:
Pino felt a thrill go up his spine at that idea, and he caught a glimpse of a future unimaginable to him just a few moments before. The entire drive back he did not think of the biblical-scale destruction he’d just witnessed. He thought about doing something good and profitable with his life, something con smania, and he couldn’t wait to tell Anna all about it.
In the passage above, Pino's future dreams provide him a brief respite from war, overwhelming him to the point of naïveté. Readers may infer that Pino's dreams are unrealistic given the state of the war, and indeed Sullivan foreshadows the eventual tragedy of Anna’s death in this passage. Although subtle, the line “he couldn’t wait to tell Anna all about it” hints at Pino's desperate search for a missing Anna immediately following this passage—a search resulting in Anna's horrific death:
Anna-Marta took a bullet to her heart. She bucked up at the impact, looking surprised before seeming to gaze toward Pino, as if her spirit had sensed him there and called out for him in that last moment before she crumpled back against the wall, and died in the dust. Watching Anna’s body twitch while a bloom of blood unfolded across her bosom, Pino felt his heart breach and flush out all love, all joy, all music.
Pino never gets the opportunity to tell Anna of his plans for their future, as he hoped to do in Chapter 26. Their time together freezes during the moment of Anna's death, a moment that permanently alters Pino's life. Sullivan's use of foreshadowing thus hints at the unpredictable nature of war and the risk one takes in daring to imagine a different world.
Related Themes:
