MODELLING FROM WELL-KNOWN

LOCAL AND FOREIGN SHORT

STORY WRITERS IN A RANGE OF
MODES
Great Expectations (By Charles Dickens)
Charles Dickens in Great Expectations uses a description of weather in Chapter 39
to foreshadow the momentous changes in the life of a character named Pip:

 
“Stormy and wet, stormy and wet; and mud, mud, mud, deep in all the streets.
Day after day, a vast heavy veil had been driving over London from the East,
and it drove still, as if in the East there were an Eternity of cloud and wind. So
furious had been the gusts, that high buildings in town had had the lead
stripped off their roofs; and in the country, trees had been torn up, and sails of
windmills carried away; and gloomy accounts had come in from the coast, of
shipwreck and death. Violent blasts of rain had accompanied these rages of
wind, and the day just closed as I sat down to read had been the worst of all.”
 
Great Expectations (By Charles
Dickens)
The lines are Pip’s observation on the weather
before Magwitch’s arrival. It is a foreshadowing
as well as a representation of Pip’s inner chaos.
Just as the angry winds leave a trail of destruction
in London, Magwitch’s disclosure opens a path of
destruction in Pip’s life.
Da Vinci Code (By Dan Brown)
Examples of foreshadowing are also found in mystery and
detective stories. The kind of foreshadowing usually found in
mystery or detective novels is referred to as “Red-Herring” –
this is a misleading clue that distracts readers by giving them
wrong hints about future events. For example, the character of
Bishop Aringarosa in Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, is shown
to act in such a suspicious way that the readers are bound to
suspect him to be the mastermind of the whole conspiracy in
the church. His mysterious actions seemingly foreshadow the
exposure of his crime in a later part of the narrative, but it is
later revealed that he was innocent and not involved in any
secret action. Characters like Bishop Aringarosa contribute to
the mystery and suspense of the novel.
Of Mice and Men (By John Steinbeck)
In John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, George
killing Candy’s dog foreshadows George killing Lennie,
because Lennie is identical to the dog. Even the nature
of the death of the dog was the same as Lennie’s, as
both were shot in the back of the head. He chooses to
kill Lennie himself in order to save him from being
killed by a stranger.
The Highwayman (By Alfred Noyes)

“The wind was a torrent of darkness

among the gusty trees… Riding—
riding— The highwayman came
riding, up to the old inn-door.”
The Highwayman (By Alfred Noyes)

The lines are entirely filled with melancholic

tone and foreshadowing. The very first line
calls wind “a torrent of darkness,” where
darkness is a foreshadowing danger. The
depiction of night and weather as ‘darkness’
foretells the coming of a dark tale.
Sa Pula, Sa Puti (By Francisco Soc
Rodrigo)
This play tells about how he learns and realizes his foolishness of
gambling. The colors red and white indicates the bets of each player.
This practical approach to Francisco Rodrigo's "comedy of the cockpit"
illustrates a freer way of "bending English" and delivers a more vivid
impression of "native" speech. Also,the playwright aimed to extract the
general theme of gambling with a hint of comedy which will be
presented into two (2) division.
 B. Examples of Symbolism in Literature
• As you Like It (By William Shakespeare)

“All the world’s a stage, And all the men

and women merely players; they have
their exits and their entrances; And one
man in his time plays many parts,”

These lines are symbolic of the fact that men and women, in the course of their lives,
perform different roles. “A stage” here symbolizes the world, and “players” is a
symbol for human beings.
Wuthering Heights (By Emily Bronte)
“My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods.
Time will change it; I’m well aware, as winter changes
the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal
rocks beneath a source of little visible delight, but
necessary.”

The phrase “foliage of leaves” for is a symbol for Linton’s fertile and
civilized nature. On the contrary, Heathcliff is likened to an “eternal rock,”
which symbolizes his crude and unbendable nature
 C. Examples of Tone in Literature
• Catcher in the Rye (By J. D. Salinger)

“All morons hate it when you call them a moron.” “If a

girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn
if she’s late? Nobody.” “Goddamn money. It always
ends up making you blue as hell.” “Catholics are
always trying to find out if you’re Catholic.”

Holden Caulfield, in J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, unfolds his personality through the tone
he adopts throughout the novel. Let us have a look at some of his remarks: Holden’s tone is bitter
sarcastic as he criticizes the nature of things in real life. His character may reveal the attitude of th
writer towards life, as it is common for writers to use their characters as their mouthpieces.
The School (By Donald Barthelme)
“And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don’t
know why they died, they just died. Something wrong
with the soil possibly or maybe the stuff we got from
the nursery wasn’t the best. We complained about it. So
we’ve got thirty kids there, each kid had his or her own
little tree to plant and we’ve got these thirty dead trees.
All these kids looking at these little brown sticks, it was
depressing.”
The School (By Donald Barthelme)
The use of the adjectives “dead” and “depressing” sets a
gloomy tone in the passage. As trees signify life here,
their unexpected “death” from an unknown cause gives
the above passage an unhappy and pessimistic tone.
Sources:
https://literarydevices.net
https://www.slideshare.net/oneofthosegyrls/sa-pula-sa-puti-by-
francisco-rodrigo-colloquiumpresentation