Lord of the Flies: Foreshadowing 5 key examples

Note the personification of the rock, which makes it seem as if it decides to fall: it "loitered, poised on one toe, decided not to return," and then "leapt" off the cliff. In the first chapter, nature often seems to work with the boys, and that's the impression this rock personification gives.

This playful moment is much darker in retrospect, though: it functions as foreshadowing for Piggy's death. In chapter 11, Piggy dies when Roger uses a branch to launch a rock toward him.

High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever. Ralph heard the great rock before he saw it. He was aware of a jolt in the earth that came to him through the soles of his feet, and the breaking sound of stones at the top of the cliff. Then the monstrous red thing bounded across the neck and he flung himself flat while the tribe shrieked. The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.

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Notice that Roger has a sense of "delirious abandonment" when he launches the rock. This connection between the childlike playing of earlier chapters and the cruelty of later chapters suggests they are related. Destruction is often fun, especially for children, but it has consequences. In Chapter 1, those consequences are as minimal as the destruction of some forest (and perhaps the death of any animals below), but in Chapter 11, Piggy dies and the conch, that symbol of the boys' attempts to create civilization, is totally destroyed.

Although it is a small moment, notice that the coconuts are described as "skull-like." This is an excellent bit of foreshadowing and mood-setting. Readers will see more skulls later in the novel: the pig skull and the parachutist's corpse. The description of the coconuts as skull-like foreshadows the violent events of the novel. Even the natural wildlife of the island is similar to death, and this imagery makes the island creepy even before the reader understands the plot. This is a great example of how Golding sets a pessimistic, dreadful tone throughout the novel.

Note as well that the personified forest is "sliding over" Ralph's skin, as if the woods are alive and trying to touch or absorb him. The boys' savagery can be understood as their absorption into a primitive lifestyle ruled by nature. Golding personifies natural elements such as the forest to emphasize the power of nature, and to make the island seem strange, wild, and autonomous—almost as if it has a mind of its own.

First the fire is like a squirrel (simile), then it simply is one (metaphor). The flames are all sorts of "wild life": not only squirrels, but also jaguars. These metaphors indicate the fire's speed and ease of spreading. They also provide visceral imagery of the out-of-control fire. For much the same purposes, the fire is personified: the flames "leapt nimbly" and then "went swinging and flaring." Fire "began to gnaw" at the forest. This personification attributes hunger and excited destruction to fire. Just as the boys later become excited to cause destruction, seemingly without pausing to think about the consequences of their actions, so too does the fire here playfully and happily ruin a patch of jungle.

This early forest fire foreshadows the final events of the novel. In chapter 12, Jack's tribe sets fire to part of the forest to try to flush out Ralph.

Now the fire was nearer; those volleying shots were great limbs, trunks even, bursting. The fools! The fools! The fire must be almost at the fruit trees—what would they eat tomorrow?

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Ralph hears a sound like "volleying shots," as if the fire is shooting at him, but it's instead the sound of wood splintering because of the fast-burning fire. Remember the playful yet destructive personification of the fire earlier? Now we see the consequences of that kind of "savage" behavior—the fire may kill Ralph today, but Jack and his tribe will have nothing to eat tomorrow. Again, savagery and hotheadedness work against civilization and life.

Piggy repudiates the existence of the beast with his usual confident assertions: he trusts science and other products of the adult world, which have taught him, essentially, that the only thing to fear is fear. Piggy reluctantly adds one more thing they might fear: other people. This is foreshadowing for both the revelation that the "beast" on the mountain is the tangled-up parachuter's corpse, and for the climax of the book, when some of the boys themselves kill Piggy. In retrospect, this scene is highly ironic, especially because the other boys laugh and jeer at Piggy for his prediction. Although his warning turns out to be accurate, he is once again ignored and made the butt of the joke.

"Unless we get frightened of people" is also a remarkably clear statement of the moral of the story. As it turns out, the boys didn't need to fear a literal beast or a corpse. They didn't even need to fear never being rescued, as at least two ships pass by them over the course of the novel. Instead, what they should have feared was themselves—the ecstasy, terror, and innate cruelty that causes them to hunt, torture, and kill each other, as well as ignore their responsibilities in favor of play and instant gratification.

Ralph becomes angry with Simon for, as Ralph sees it, offering hope without any proof behind it. But Simon's prediction is foreshadowing: not only does Ralph eventually "get back all right," but Simon does not. By saying "you'll get back" instead of "we'll get back," Simon predicts only Ralph's safe return. Nor does Simon say "you all" or "you and Piggy," since Piggy too dies before he can be rescued.

This is another moment in which Simon seems Christlike. Like Christ (and like powerful figures from other religions), Simon is able to prophesy, even though he will not live to see his prophecy fulfilled. When he hears Simon's prediction, Ralph's bitterness is understandable; but his unwillingness to believe also means that, in this scene, Ralph is not unlike one of Jesus's disciples who doubts or repudiates Jesus during the most difficult moments in the Gospel narratives.

Note the personification of the rock, which makes it seem as if it decides to fall: it "loitered, poised on one toe, decided not to return," and then "leapt" off the cliff. In the first chapter, nature often seems to work with the boys, and that's the impression this rock personification gives.

This playful moment is much darker in retrospect, though: it functions as foreshadowing for Piggy's death. In chapter 11, Piggy dies when Roger uses a branch to launch a rock toward him.

High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever. Ralph heard the great rock before he saw it. He was aware of a jolt in the earth that came to him through the soles of his feet, and the breaking sound of stones at the top of the cliff. Then the monstrous red thing bounded across the neck and he flung himself flat while the tribe shrieked. The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.

Cite this Quote

Notice that Roger has a sense of "delirious abandonment" when he launches the rock. This connection between the childlike playing of earlier chapters and the cruelty of later chapters suggests they are related. Destruction is often fun, especially for children, but it has consequences. In Chapter 1, those consequences are as minimal as the destruction of some forest (and perhaps the death of any animals below), but in Chapter 11, Piggy dies and the conch, that symbol of the boys' attempts to create civilization, is totally destroyed.

First the fire is like a squirrel (simile), then it simply is one (metaphor). The flames are all sorts of "wild life": not only squirrels, but also jaguars. These metaphors indicate the fire's speed and ease of spreading. They also provide visceral imagery of the out-of-control fire. For much the same purposes, the fire is personified: the flames "leapt nimbly" and then "went swinging and flaring." Fire "began to gnaw" at the forest. This personification attributes hunger and excited destruction to fire. Just as the boys later become excited to cause destruction, seemingly without pausing to think about the consequences of their actions, so too does the fire here playfully and happily ruin a patch of jungle.

This early forest fire foreshadows the final events of the novel. In chapter 12, Jack's tribe sets fire to part of the forest to try to flush out Ralph.

Now the fire was nearer; those volleying shots were great limbs, trunks even, bursting. The fools! The fools! The fire must be almost at the fruit trees—what would they eat tomorrow?

Cite this Quote

Ralph hears a sound like "volleying shots," as if the fire is shooting at him, but it's instead the sound of wood splintering because of the fast-burning fire. Remember the playful yet destructive personification of the fire earlier? Now we see the consequences of that kind of "savage" behavior—the fire may kill Ralph today, but Jack and his tribe will have nothing to eat tomorrow. Again, savagery and hotheadedness work against civilization and life.