Flash-Forward

Flash-Forward-Definition
Flash-Forward or "prolepsis" is a literary device in which the action is ahead of time. This means a scene that interrupts the narrative from the current point in the story and moves it forward in time. In general, a flash-forward represents expected or imaginary events in the future that are thrown into the main plot and reveal important information for the story so far. It is the opposite of a flashback or "analepsis" that reveals past events.

Difference between flash-forward and Foreshadowing
Flash-Forward is similar to foreshadowing. Instead, events or character dialogues in the current time are used. They can also be included in the titles of stories or chapters, Story in Forward Time. The events presented in a flash forward will inevitably happen in the story. Foresight predicts future events, but the events do not necessarily take place in the future e.

Examples of flash-forward in the literature
Flash-forward is essentially a postmodern narrative device, but there are some examples of flash-forward in the early literature. Let's look at some famous examples of flash-forward in the literature below:

Example # 1: A Christmas Carol (By Charles Dickens)
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol depicts the character Scrooge in a flash-forward scene. Scrooge, the stingy and moody, receives a visit from the "Ghost of Christmas to Come", who shows him his future. He sees himself dead, and people find comfort and happiness in his death. No one mourns his death, and the people he ruined in his life steal his wealth. Scrooge sees Mrs. Dilber, his housekeeper, selling her property to scrap dealers and friends. The only ones affected by his death are a poor young couple. His only legacy is a cheap headstone in a cemetery. He cries over his own grave and asks the third ghost of Christmas to give him a chance to change himself. He wakes up to find that he is back on Christmas morning from the present. Scrooge repents and becomes kind and generous.

Example # 2: Isabella (by John Keats)
“So the two brothers and their murdered man
passed through beautiful Florence…”

These lines show a future event as if it had already happened. Lorenzo, who is called the murdered man, takes the character back to a time in the future when both brothers of his beloved Isabella will murder him.

Example # 3: The Dead Zone (by Stephen King)
In Stephen King's novel The Dead Zone, the hero receives a special power to predict the future after a car accident. Through physical contact, he sees a person's future. After a while, he feels cursed with Como when he shakes hands with a politician and moves into the future, seeing a nuclear war. He says:

“If you knew that Hitler was going to do what he did to the Jews, would you kill him before you got the chance? ”

At this time, the hero suffered from a moral conflict between what he knows about the future and what he could do to save people.

Example # 4: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (by Muriel Spark)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark, makes extensive use of the flash-forward narrative technique. The story takes place in the Marcia Blaine school, where six girls At the beginning of the novel, Spark tells us that Miss Brodie has been betrayed, then gradually reveals the traitor, and finally reveals all the details related to the event. Similarly, he introduces Joyce Emily: as the rejected girl from "Brodie's set," and then tells readers the reasons.

Flash-Forward Function
Flash-forward allows the writer to give logical explanations for the actions of the characters in a narrative. The actions of the character make more sense to the readers after they have developed a greater understanding of the character and his personality.

In addition, the flash-forward captures readers' interest in current events in the narrative, to see how the story unfolds. history. flee into the future that has already been shown to you.
Figurative Language Flashback