Foreshadowing Events to come
Foreshadowing is when the author provides hints and clues that suggest what
happen later in the story.
In the graphic organizer below, explain how the event foreshadows the future in the novel.
Event
What does it foreshadow?
1. 'That is the true spirit, comrade!' cried
Squealer, but it was noticed he cast a
very ugly look at Boxer with his little
twinkling eyes.
2. Napoleon took them [the puppies] away
from their mothers, saying that he
would make himself responsible for
their education.
3. “I believe that the time will come when
we shall find that Snowball’s part in it
[the Battle of the Cowshed] was much
exaggerated.”
4. Tired out but proud, the animals walked
round and round their masterpiece …
the walls were twice as thick as before.
Nothing short of explosives would lay
them low….
5. “And remember … that in fighting
against Man, we must not come to
resemble him.”
6. A corner of the large pasture was to be
fenced off and turned into a grazingground for superannuated animals.
Boxer's twelfth birthday was due in the
late summer of the following
year.
7. The dogs’ attack on Boxer during
Napoleon’s purges.
FOLLOW-UP: Re-read old Major’s speech. What are two more events or
actions foreshadowed in that passage?
Foreshadowing Events to come
Foreshadowing is when the author provides hints and clues that suggest what
happen later in the story.
In the graphic organizer below, explain how the event foreshadows the future in the novel.
Event
What does it foreshadow?
1.
1. 'That is the true spirit, comrade!' cried 1
Squealer, but it was noticed he cast a
very ugly look at Boxer with his
little twinkling eyes.
This foreshadows that the pigs are out to get
Boxer. He has been the loyalist comrade,
but now even he is starting to question their
tyranny. It foreshadows that they will try to
kill him. When the great purge happens and
after animals like the chicken confess to
bogus crimes and are killed, the dogs attack
boxer. He fights them off, but lets them live
when Napoleon tells him to. They later get
rid of him when he is sick and not useful
anymore to them. They send him to the
knacker.
2. Napoleon took them [the puppies] away
from their mothers, saying that he
would make himself responsible for
their education.
This foreshadows that Napoleon will raise
the puppies and teach them to be loyal to
him. They will become his private army and
serve him only. They will be his police and
his assassins.
3. “I believe that the time will come when
we shall find that Snowball’s part in
it [the Battle of the Cowshed] was
much exaggerated.”
Snowballs reputation will continue to
deteriorate as the propaganda mill churns out
lie after lie. He will be no longer thought iof
as a hero and will in fact be first portrayed as
a coward. Then his star will fall further and
Squealer will say that was in league with
Jones from the start and actually led the
human forces in the Battle of Cowshed
4. Tired out but proud, the animals walked
round and round their masterpiece …
the walls were twice as thick as
before. Nothing short of explosives
would lay them low….
It foreshadows that the windmill will indeed
be laid low by explosives in the Battle of the
5. “And remember … that in fighting
against Man, we must not come to
resemble him.”
The pigs will indeed come to resemble and
man and adopt all of his vices and habits.
They will walk on two legs, live in a house
and sleep in a bed, drink alcohol, and indeed
tyrannize over the other animals. They will
become worse than the human masters.
6. A corner of the large pasture was to be
fenced off and turned into a grazingground for superannuated animals.
Boxer's twelfth birthday was due in
the late summer of the following year.
7. The dogs’ attack on Boxer during
Napoleon’s purges.
6. His twelfth birthday might be drawing near,
but he will never come to enjoy the fruits of
his retirement. In fact the grazing ground
will be set aside to grow barley to brew beer
for the pigs.
7. Boxer will become dog meat later. He fights
them off and lets them survive on the orders
of Napoleon. However, as soon as he is too
weak and sick, he will be hauled away to the
knackers.
FOLLOW-UP: Re-read old Major’s speech. What are two more events or
actions foreshadowed in that passage?
1) “the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered
with hideous cruelty.”
“You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power,
Jones will sell you to the knacker, who will cut your throat and boil you down for
the foxhounds.”
Both of these passages foreshadow Boxers fate. As soon as he is no longer of any use
and is too weak to defend himself, he is sent off to the knackers. His meat and bones
are sold to buy alcohol for the pigs.
2) “He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough,
he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals.”
“And what has happened to that milk which should have been breeding up
sturdy calves? Every drop of it has gone down the throats of our enemies. And
you hens, how many eggs have you laid in this last year, and how many of those
eggs ever hatched into chickens? The rest have all gone to market to bring in
money for Jones and his men.”
“In return for your four confinements and all your labour in the fields, what
have you ever had except your bare rations and a stall?”
All of these passages foreshadow that the pigs will come to resemble human. They
will sell the eggs and milk for profit. In fact the milk and eggs are the first resource to
be exploited by the pigs.
3) While Major was speaking four large rats had crept out of their holes and
were sitting on their hindquarters, listening to him. The dogs had suddenly
caught sight of them, and it was only by a swift dash for their holes that the rats
saved their lives. This might foreshadow that the future generation of dogs will
enforce Napoleon’s will with violence and death.
4) And remember also that in fighting against Man, we must not come to
resemble him. Even when you have conquered him, do not adopt his vices. No
animal must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink
alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade. All the habits of
Man are evil. And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind.
Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. No animal must ever kill
any other animal. All animals are equal.
This passage foreshadow that again the pigs will come to resemble
humans. They will break everyone of these rules and adopt man’s bad
habits. They will walk on two legs, live in a house and sleep in a bed,
wear clothes, drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, and indeed tyrannize over
the other animals. They will become worse than the human masters.
All animals will be equal, but some will become more equal than
others.
5) Rebellion! I do not know when that Rebellion will come, it
might be in a week or in a hundred years, but I know, as surely as
I see this straw beneath my feet, that sooner or later justice will be
done. This passage is repeated almost word for word from in chapter
10 when referring to the dream of the revolution. “The Republic of
the Animals which Major had foretold, when the green fields of
England should be untrodden by human feet, was still believed in.
Some day it was coming: it might not be soon, it might not be within
the lifetime of any animal now living, but still it was coming.” The
animals never gave up hope.