ShmoopTube

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Here’s an unshmoopy question you’ll find on the exam…

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We know, we know… this passage haunts your nightmares. But feel free to pause and review

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if you’d like…

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In the third paragraph, how does the author foreshadow a coming tone shift?  

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I. The author juxtaposes the speaker's excitement with the curious absence of struldbrugs from

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court.  II. The author shows extreme enthusiasm on

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the part of the speaker but noticeably excludes any reaction from others involved in the conversation. 

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III. The speaker admits in hindsight that his reaction was "perhaps a little too extravagant."

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And here are the potential answers… Foreshadowing. If we recall, that’s the

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deal where one thing happens or is mentioned, and it gives us a clue about something else

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that’s coming down the pike…

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…it’s like a movie trailer that gives away far too much of the plot. In other words…

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every movie trailer. Okay, so now we’re given three possibilities.

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Could be just one of ‘em; could be a couple.

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Any time we get the roman numeral set-up here, we have to remember not to fill in any bubbles

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until we’ve checked ‘em all out…

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We always have to try I<<aye>>, then II <<aye-aye>>, then… III <<ay-ay-ay>>.

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The first one suggests that “The author juxtaposes the speaker's excitement with the

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curious absence of struldbrugs from court.”

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Well, sure. We go straight from the author’s enthusiasm about struldbrugs… to his mention

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that they are notably absent from court.

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Hey, maybe they had a good excuse to get out of jury duty.

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Oh, okay, wrong court. So if One is true, then we can eliminate choice

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D.

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Roman numeral Two says that “The author shows extreme enthusiasm on the part of the

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speaker but noticeably excludes any reaction from others involved in the conversation.”

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Enthusiasm? Check.

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Lack of reaction from anyone else? Check.

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Why nothing from the peanut gallery? Hm… mystery, intrigue…

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We’re on board with Number Two. So with One and Two both true, our answer

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must be either B or E…

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Let’s take a look at Number Three: “The speaker admits in hindsight that his reaction

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was "perhaps a little too extravagant."

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We’ve got a direct quote here, so should be pretty easy to fact-check.

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Do we see this phrase somewhere in the passage? Sure do – line 22. And because he is admitting

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he was over-the-top… it could certainly be foreshadowing that he was wrong about something.

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So all three options work… and our answer is E.

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Man… the things some people will do to get out of court…

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