Key Passage from Woman in the Dunes

Authors prefer to show their expertise by keeping the readers wondering what is going on because of a few sentences that mean more than just words. Foreshadowing has always been a key part of literature and gives out clues to readers about the development of the plot. Kobo Abe’s Woman in the Dunes opens with chapters that leave the readers thinking about what those ironic tones and sentences are actually trying to convey. One such passage in the few opening pages is that when sand has been described in two different ways. The passage then goes on to questioning how sand, the desert and life share in common the fact that they are victims of competition as well as means of escape. This passage holds a lot of foreshadowing as the author cleverly, but subtly drops hints as the passage progresses. Abe uses tone, diction and mood as his key tools, throughout this passage, to make sure the reader picks up the hints of the foreshadowing.

Tone and diction affect each other and have a constant potential tension, where one reacts to the change of the other. These two devices have always been an important part of literature, especially while foreshadowing. It states the obvious and in a way highlights that there is much more to the words than what is said. The passage starts off with a very serious tone, as the scientific definition of sand has been given. As the text progresses and discusses the phenomena of the formation of sand, the tone becomes very intense. On a normal basis, the same text would look rather boring and monotonous, but Abe manages to keep the reader confused about why the sand has been discussed to such depths. Scientific words have been used initially to give the reader a sense of rationalizing. The author mentions the s...

... middle of paper ...

... get “sucked up easily by air” is major foreshadowing of what happens to the protagonist’s life, while he gets sucked into the sand dune(death) without disturbing the rocks and clay which could be the people around him. The passage ends with a final description of sand being a particle of “crushed rock” which can be moved “easily”, which is the final state of the protagonist at the end of the book, where he is figuratively crushed.

The author has made sure to keep the reader informed, while still confused throughout the book. However, despite the ambiguity in the book, nothing has been left unexplained and the reader can wander off to interpret the entire story in several ways. The author has used foreshadowing strikingly, and it has been done so skilfully, that the reader finds himself awestruck with the connections that can be made once the book has been read.