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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
Book 1: Matchmaking
Explanation and Analysis—Fire:
In the following example of foreshadowing from Chapter 2, Cal/lie alludes to the fire in Smyrna that tormented their grandparents:
And in the middle of this, before anything had been said outright or any decisions made (before fire would make those decisions for them), right then, mid-waltz, they heard explosions in the distance, and looked down to see, in firelight, the Greek Army in full retreat.
Cal/lie refers to the fire in Smyrna before the readers learn of it in Middlesex. The tone here is dire, suggesting that the "fire" will keep Lefty and Desdemona apart, rather than encourage their coming together. One would not typically think of a fire as driving people to marry one another; in fact, the principle insinuation behind the phrase "the fire would make those decisions for them" is that either Lefty or Desdemona is destined to die. Clearly, given that the two are Cal/lie's grandparents, they cannot die at this juncture in the story. Even still, this bit of misleading foreshadowing implies death and destruction.
Eugenides includes small moments of misleading foreshadowing to maintain tension within the story. Cal/lie is a first-person omniscient narrator. They know every detail of their family history. It would be easy, given this, for Middlesex to lack climactic content. Eugenides thus relies on small moments of misleading foreshadowing like the one represented in this passage to restore tension to the narrative.
Related Themes:
Book 1: An Immodest Proposal
Explanation and Analysis—Diaspora:
In the following example of foreshadowing from Chapter 3, Cal/lie alludes to a destructive fire in Smyrna that has not yet occurred:
Over a single week, the hundred or so remaining citizens of Bithynios packed their belongings and set out for mainland Greece, most en route to America. (A diaspora which should have prevented my existence, but didn’t.)
Lefty and Desdemona should have died in Smyrna but didn't; the diaspora should have ended Cal/lie's life before it even began, but didn't. Readers might have assumed Lefty and Desdemona's survival, given their prominence in the story. Even so, nothing is guaranteed. This passage is the first to foreshadow the fact that the couple survives, set to arrive in America.
The above passage plays with the central theme of fate in Middlesex, contending with the destinies of Cal/lie and their grandparents. The diaspora "should" have prevented Cal/lie from being born, but through a series of random chances and circumstantial choice, it did not. And while it was not fate that made Cal/lie intersex, but rather two copies of a recessive gene, it was fate (or something similarly vague and inexplicable) that drove Cal/lie's grandparents to marry. In choosing to marry as siblings (for mysterious reasons), Lefty and Desdemona do effectively seal Cal/lie's fate.
Related Themes:
