Foreshadowing: Quote identification, discovery lesson, and essay prompt analysis

During the course of this lesson, students identify selected quotes from literary works studied in class. After a brief discussion of what all of the quotes have in common, students will determine that each quote foreshadows an important, upcoming plot development. The class will then examine an essay prompt on foreshadowing, vote on the literary work to be used in planning a response to the prompt, and, as a teacher-led, whole-class activity, come up with a thesis and main point outline for the essay.

A lesson plan for grade 10 English Language Arts

By Martha Owens

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Related topics

• Learn more about analysis, compare and contrast, foreshadowing, language arts, literary devices, literature, and world literature.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• correctly identify the literary work, speaker, and context for six quotes from works studied by the class.
• compare quotes and deduce the common element of foreshadowing reflected in each.
• accurately identify and analyze the writing tasks specified in an essay prompt.
• assess the feasibility of each of the literary works represented in the list of quotes and determine which work is most compatible to the prompt.
• apply their understanding of the use of foreshadowing in the listed quotes by creating an essay thesis which effectively addresses each writing task required by the prompt.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

2 Hours

Materials/resources

• A large board for list of quotes, or transparency with quotes listed
• Additional board space for listing of prompt writing tasks, thesis, etc.
• Printed essay prompt (class set)

Pre-activities

Read and discuss at least three pieces of world literature that contain strong examples of foreshadowing. In my class, the three selections used for this activity are Firdawsi’s Rustam and Suhrab, from the Shah-nama, Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, and Guy de Maupassant’s “Two Friends.”

As part of an ongoing routine of defining, discussing, and citing examples of a wide variety of literary terms, familiarize students with the concept of foreshadowing, allowing them to cite examples from literary selections studied in class.

Routinely model for students the process of analyzing essay prompts, and routinely allow them to practice making lists of writing tasks specified by prompts, and turning those lists of tasks into thesis sentences that briefly answer the implied questions.

Activities

1. On either a large board or an overhead projector, display a list of six or more unidentified quotes from pieces of literature with which students are familiar. Post instructions that tell students to begin copying these quotes as soon as the bell rings. Further, specify in these instructions that after copying each quote, students should write the name of the literary work from which the quote is taken, the name of the character to whom the quote should be attributed (or attribute it to the narrator, where appropriate), and the context of the quote. (Why is it said? What is the situation that leads to the quote? etc.):
   • “He drank and bathed, then prayed to God for strength And victory, not knowing what the sunAnd moon decreed, or how the turning sky Would rob him of the crown upon his head.” (Rustam and Suhrab, from the Shah-nama, narrator)
   • “…fate malignantly revolved o’erhead.” (Rustam and Suhrab, from the Shah-nama, narrator)
   • “You live in shame with those you love the most.” (Oedipus the King, Tieresias)
   • “I will get to the bottom of who killed the former king, just as if he were my own father.” (Oedipus the King--speakers are Oedipus)
   • “That’s life for you.”
     “You’d better say ‘That’s death for you.’” (”Two Friends”--speakers Sauvage and Morissot)
   • “Say, suppose we met some of them?”
     “We’ll offer them some fish.” (”Two Friends”--speakers Sauvage and Morissot)
2. After taking attendance, circulate among students to check on their progress and on the accuracy of their work. Tell the class that students who finish this work before others do should consider and make a note of what all the quotes have in common. Warn them not to say anything about this yet. It must remain a secret until all the quotes have been identified. (This heightens interest and participation and initiates the “discovery” process.)
3. When all students have finished copying and identifying the quotes, call on a student (and, sometimes, allow them to call on each other) to name, first, the literary work to which a quote belongs, another student to tell the class which character says these words (or is it the narrator?), and another student to explain the context of the quote.
4. After all the quotes have been identified, ask students to consider and make notes on what all the quotes have in common. Answers may vary, depending on the quotes used, but one or two students will inevitably volunteer that each quote foreshadows an important event in the literary work.
5. Distribute a foreshadowing essay prompt to students:
   
   In many literary works, authors use foreshadowing to hint at upcoming plot developments and to add to the appeal of the work.

   From the novels, short stories, plays, and poems you have read in World Literature, choose a work in which the author, through foreshadowing, suggests or hints at some major aspect of the plot. Using specific references from the work, describe the foreshadowing, the effect of the foreshadowing on the reader, and how the author’s use of foreshadowing contributes to the theme of the work.

6. Discuss with students the criteria that are specified in the prompt. (The work must be from World Literature, and the author’s use of foreshadowing must hint at some major aspect of the plot.)
7. Ask the class to decide whether or not each of the works represented by the posted quotes fulfills these criteria. (The quotes should all meet these requirements.)
8. Allow the class to vote on the literary work to be used in addressing the prompt. (My students typically choose “Two Friends”). After choosing the literary work, ask the class to list, in their notes, the writing tasks specified in the prompt. Then, call on students to name each task, recording the listed items on the board. The list should appear as follows:
   1. Describe the foreshadowing.
   2. Describe the effect of the foreshadowing on the reader.
   3. Describe how the author’s use of foreshadowing contributes to the theme of the work.
9. Ask students to identify the key words from each listed writing task. (foreshadowing, effect, reader, theme, etc.) Then, with input from the class, for each of the items on the list, write a sentence that directly answers the implied question, using wording that reflects the wording of the prompt as closely as possible. Write these on the board or overhead.
10. When all students have recorded these three thesis sentences in their notes, transform these three sentences into three topic sentences for the supporting paragraphs of the essay. These topic sentences should be worded somewhat differently than the original thesis sentences and should contain transitions.
11. This work constitutes a main point outline for the essay. In any remaining time, allow students to work in pairs on an opening comment for the essay, specific details from the work to use in each supporting paragraph, and warrants for each supporting paragraph that clarify the relevance of the details, without repeating the same exact words from the topic sentences.

Thesis Sentences:

• In “Two Friends,” Sauvage and Morissot’s casual comments to each other foreshadow their impending arrest and execution.
• The effect of this foreshadowing on the reader is that it makes him or her anxious.
• Maupassant’s use of foreshadowing contributes to the theme of the story by illustrating that war cruelly destroys the lives of innocent people.

Topic Sentences:

• In this short story, the dialogue between the two main characters contains elements of foreshadowing which hint that Sauvage and Morissot will be caught and killed by the Prussians.
• As a result of these subtle suggestions that foreshadow the two friends’ deaths, the reader experiences a sense of anxious uncertainty about the fate of these French fishermen.
• Once the reader’s suspense has been put to rest by the unfolding of the plot, Maupassant’s use of foreshadowing serves to convey this message: Innocent civilians are often the victims of war’s cruelty.

Assessment

Allow students to use their outlines in class the next day as they write a timed, in-class essy on the foreshadowing prompt. The articulation of the main points in this essay should reflect the previous day’s work and should, therefore, effectively and directly address the prompt.

Supplemental information

Comments

I usually find it necessary to remind students that describing foreshadowing in a literary work always involves not only the foreshadowing itself, but also the element of the work that is foreshadowed.