Foreshadowing In The Secret River

THE SECRET RIVER

“The secret river” is a cruel and tragic story outlining conflict between two civilisations. For a play of this degree, the introduction has to be effective and Andy Bovell really delivers. The prologue introduces the scene and setting of the play with the first sentence. At the same time, characters of both the Dharug tribe and the Thornhills are introduced and characterised, giving us a sense of the way they live. In doing this Bovell clearly adds evidence of foreshadowing with obvious uses of juxtaposition of the contrasting ‘tribes’

The beginning to any story needs a setting and theme both of which are present in “The Secret River”. The cliche description of the stage is pretty ironic when you think of the events that follow. The scene is introduced with “Let us begin with the sound of water as it laps against the riverbank and of birds rising…” bucolic imagery is used here to give the reader/viewer an understanding of

At this time, the indigenous people have just started to feel the presence of others. This is seen in “He knew what it meant someone was coming/Yalamundi felt the pain in his chest”. Foreshadowing is used here to hint the coming of the whites. It also shows that they were unwanted by the Aboriginals and are portrayed as intruders or even aliens. This is extremely helpful to a viewer trying to understand the aboriginals point of view. In the second sentence of the quoted paragraph foreshadowing is also evident and seen in “30 miles down the coast another man sees a chance to be something more than what he is” The technique is used here to hint a grand display of ‘something’ by a man who is later known as William Thornhill. From the sentence, we know that he is trying to make a new life for himself. Foreshadowing in the prologue is a key answer as to how it creates an effective beginning to the