As a writer and an avid reader, I've been sort of haunted by a few specific terms that relate to the topic of foreshadowing, but I recently realized that I've never really understood the differences between them and why each one is important in contrast to the other.
So, this is my little survival guide for 3 related terms and their corresponding descriptions. At the end, I will also give examples of each term in the context of a short story to really put our understanding of them to the test.
First, to understand the different ways we can use foreshadowing, we must know what it is.
Foreshadowing, in short, is a literary device with which an author alludes to events that don't actually occur until some later point in the story. It is often used as a way to increase suspense by telling the audience that something will definitely happen- just not how it will happen. There are generally two different distinctions to be made when talking about this device: Direct and Indirect.
Direct vs. Indirect
In Direct foreshadowing, a character or a line of narrative text may tell the audience exactly what's going to happen before it does, keeping them in suspense until they can affirm what exactly triggers this event or how the characters react to it.
For Indirect foreshadowing, the author employs more subtle means of telling the audience what will happen or what will be important. The author might choose to make a character casually mention an aspect of their life or background that will be integral to conquering an obstacle later or even set up certain elements within the setting that very softly tie into major plot points later.
Alfred Hitchcock owns a very famous quote that outlines his affinity for Direct foreshadowing:
"Let us suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, “Boom!” There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it…In these conditions this same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the secret..."
"In the first case, we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed."
With those ideas in mind, let's talk about three interconnected concepts on the subject:
Chekhov's Gun
Red Herring
MacGuffin
Chekov's Gun is a theory made famous by Anton Chekhov, a Russian author and playwright in the 1800's. This principle states the importance that every and all elements of a story are integral to the plot and that everything, once introduced, must be resolved by the end. Almost like a mathematical equation. Everything gets an equals sign. The name of the principle is derived from examples of this thinking in Chekov's letters to friends and colleagues:
"One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn’t going to go off. It’s wrong to make promises you don’t mean to keep."
and
"Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there."
Chekhov's Gun is not actually a foreshadowing device, although quite directly related. While it speaks to present story elements coming to fruition in events of the future, it does not actually deal in promising the audience a great point of suspense as much as it simply promises to make good on a story element the author has drawn attention to. (Also can we talk about how deeply affected Chekhov must've been about the whole gun thing? Was there a play he went to see that had him reeling because they didn't use the gun on the wall?)
A Red Herring is a foreshadowing device that directly violates the promises mentioned in Chekhov's Gun. When an author uses a red herring, they insert a story element or narrative line that is meant to do nothing but make the audience wonder what its importance will be in the grand scheme of the plot. An importance that is never elaborated on. These are the "false promises" Chekhov warns about.
Macguffins are simultaneously the cross between those two concepts and the antithesis of them both. They are objects or goals that drive the plot forward with little or no value beyond the characters wanting for them. They can often be substituted for any other object or goal without disrupting the narrative, because it does not matter what the thing is, only that people are chasing it. Macguffins can be like red herrings if they end up being useless to the plot or entirely forgotten about by the end of the story. In the same way, a macguffin can start out being a vapid "want-monger" of a thing but end up being the one thing the characters needed to stop an event or otherwise fulfill a long-awaited destiny of some sort. The point being, the only way a macguffin can exceed its use as one is if the audience is finally shown what the macguffin can do or why it's relevant to the plot (killing the bad guy who gets to it first doesn't count, because most of the time, that's not what the characters want it for).
The term macguffin was also coined by Alfred Hitchcock, based on a joke told by his friend Angus McPhail. It is attributed to the two of them, but the idea precedes them, being used in (mostly biblical) literature well before the age of film.
A bonus foreshadowing device that's not really its own thing is the "Plot Coupon" or "Plot Coupons" in which characters must journey far and wide in search of many macguffins meant to be combined to become a bigger, more enticing, or more powerful thing. They often exist in sets, scattered purposely so as to keep all from using them, the threat of their power looming over all decisions made within the story.
A Moment of Clarity
As you may have noticed, most of these terms have something to do with film or play- all of them having some sort of ties to great directors or playwrights- but they do have extreme precedents in literature, too. These terms only became more common with use in correlation with film and stage productions. Now on to the magic!
A Brief Story Using all the Aforementioned Concepts
See if you can find all the devices:
Chekhov's Gun
Red Herring
Macguffin
Plot Coupons
Them There Eyes
Santha had never felt whole in her entire life. Every year after fifteen, when she'd heard the lyrics to that old song in her sleep, she'd been holding out for it. Imagining what the intoxicating fullness of falling in love would be like. She'd dreamt about meeting the perfect man and gazing into his perfect eyes as they started the lovely rest of their lives together.
The man across from her didn't seem perfect. But she didn't know anything about perfect yet. She'd only been on twenty-seven dates since she realized that Lady Day would deliver her from loneliness forever. Only seventeen of them had turned into more than two dates, and only a handful of those had even listened to Them There Eyes before she casually mentioned it was her Soul Song.
"I'm more of a Rage Against the Machine guy, myself." The man said, still picking at his teeth using the spoon as a makeshift mirror. She simply nodded. She didn't know who that was or what they sounded like. While averting her eyes to find something else to say, she caught the gaze of another gentleman sitting at the bar. He looked like he might know who Lady Day was. He might even enjoy her music, occasionally, sipping on his cocktail with a few cherries floating at the sides of the glass.
"So what'd you say your Soul Song was, again?" Her date had finally put down the spoon but was now stealing ice cubes out of her drink with the tips of his fingers.
"I didn't. I just said I like Billie Holiday."
"Hm." He still seemed just as unimpressed as she was. When she casually lifted her gaze to the bar, she caught his gaze again. This time, he was fully facing her, his arm lazily draped over the back of his stool. Green eyes wholly more intriguing than this entire dinner had been. Like the very opposite of a romantic movie, the pianist took his hands off of the piano and went to prepare his sheet music for another song. With the loss of toe-tapping material, she thought her brain had begun to imagine music. She kept hearing this humming.
"What song is that?" The pianist had heard the humming too and turned to ask the man at the bar. His fingers found the keys almost instantly, carrying the same tune. With a small, surprised smile, the man at the bar answered in a voice Santha would've believed was fake. Made up in some lab or on a soundboard. It was too perfect.
"Lady Day. Them There Eyes."
"Oh, right on!" The melody, which had lacked some elements before- gaps in the line and no harmony- became the fully fleshed composition Santha had heard in her dream. "Mind if I steal your tune?" The man at the bar shrugged and made a face as if to say 'Fine by me'. Too fine. Under the pianist's fingers, the song became like a plush waterbed she couldn't help but fall into. A bed she had waited through endless queues and suffered through awful dates to enjoy. This man was the one. He was her SoulCompeer. He knew her Soul Song.
"You alright?" Her date inquired as she stood so quickly, her glass fell off the table and the silverware clattered on her plate. But by the time she had her eyes back on the bar, the man was gone. She spun around to see if he'd gone out the front door or to the bathroom, he reappeared with a handbag on his shoulder and a woman's evening coat. He was speaking to a woman who was a step away from donning both items. Before Santha's eyes, the two kissed and left. Her heart, once coddled and comforted by the waterbed of a SoulCompeer now drowned in the unenviable void of solitude.
"Yeah, sorry. Are you ready for the bill?" She sat and picked up the cup from the floor. She could do this again. One more date wouldn't hurt. Or a thousand. Her SoulCompeer was out there somewhere. They just had to be.
Did you catch all of them?
In order;
The major Checkov's Gun in this passage was the idea of a Soul Song, Santha's being "Them There Eyes" by Billie Holiday. Santha mentions that it's her Soul Song in the beginning, and then the man at the bar hums it and causes the pianist to play it. There's no overwhelming consequence for either reoccurrence of the song, but what is mentioned in the first act pays off in the second.
The major Red Herring in the passage is the man at the bar. He appears to be the perfect solution to her problem; a SoulCompeer! But then he leaves with another woman and Santha is left just as unsatisfied with no possible way to reconcile. It would be different if she chased after him to pursue what could've been or if he came back to her table and asked her on a date- whisked her away from the man that brought her there, but in the short arc we are presented with, his presence was just a distraction. It didn't really mean anything that he was there. She still presumably left with the other guy, same number of dates and all.
The major Macguffin in this passage is the idea of a SoulCompeer. We know it by name, sure, and we know that Santha covets it- but why is it so important? Does it actually do anything? She might as well have been going on dates to fulfill some sort of quota. That is, of course, not to say that the idea of the SoulCompeer is worthless. Just that the sum of its value is that people aspire for it- until proven otherwise. As ascribed earlier, it would transcend macguffin status if Santha found her SoulCompeer and her whole life changed drastically- either for better or for worse.
The bonus mention of Plot Coupons exists within the twenty-seven dates Santha has been on in order to find her SoulCompeer. The idea that Santha believes she must go on a certain number of dates to find the perfect man models the concept of a certain number of plot coupons that she can cash in to be content forever. In this same way, each individual date is a macguffin that can be swapped and the consequences changed and the way they inform the story would be virtually the same.
I hope this article has been helpful and given you a better understanding of foreshadowing and its corresponding devices. Thanks for reading!
-Laani
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with the island."
-Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park