Foreshadowing In Ray Bradbury's Marionettes

“Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.” That sound is a major piece of foreshadowing in Ray Bradbury’s story “Marionettes, Inc.” Bradbury is able to convey an interesting and entertaining story using only dialogue and actions. His story follows the two men Smith and Braling as they come to find all the deception laid out through both of their lives. Bradbury uses incredible craftsmanship to convey the story in a unique way with little description using dialogue to let you envision the story and character for yourself. Bradbury can also use dialogue as a form of description and craft. Bradbury uses dialogue to foreshadow events in the story by introducing characters to their deceptors, having the characters deceive each other, and making

Bradbury realizes this and makes sure to do it near the beginning of the story. On page 2, we get introduced to Smith’s wife Nettie when he says, “‘you don’t expect a woman to sit on your lap for two hours every evening, call you at work twelve times a day and talk baby talk. And it seems to me that in the last month she’s gotten worse’”(Bradbury 2). Bradbury hits two birds with one stone by introducing Nettie while also hinting at her deception when it is revealed that Nettie has ‘gotten worse’ in the past month. Bradbury foreshadows Nettie’s betrayal again by introducing Smith to the sound of a marionette. When Smith puts his ear up to Braling Two’s chest he hears a strange sound. “Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick”(Bradbury 2). By doing this, Smith is now set up by Bradbury to learn about his wife’s deception because he knows the sound of a marionette. Bradbury then introduces Braling two and foreshadows his betrayal when he says, “‘Your wife is rather nice’” and, “‘I’ve grown rather fond of her’”(Bradbury 3). When Braling Two displays this emotion, it is revealed that Braling Two admires Mrs. Braling and foreshadows the fact that he will fall in love with her. Bradbury uses subtle foreshadowing to introduce the characters to what will deceive them and sets them up for what will come

What they don’t see is that you can infer this through more dialogue that Braling writes. It is on page 6 that Braling Two begins to admit his trickery towards Braling. He proves an earlier piece of foreshadowing when he is talking about Mrs. Braling and says, “‘I’m afraid you don’t understand. I think—I’m in love with her’”(Bradbury 6). Earlier on page 2, he said he was fond of Mrs. Braling, but now he admits that he is in love with her showing his deception as he didn’t reveal the full truth earlier. Braling Two again admits his deception on page 6 when he begins to enact his revenge plan on Braling. Earlier Bradbury put a piece of foreshadowing in the story when Braling Two says that Braling wouldn’t like it in the lockbox. Braling Two proves that piece of Foreshadowing when he says, “‘I’m going to put you in the box, lock it, and lose the key. Then I’ll buy another Rio ticket for your wife’”(Bradbury 6). Braling Two fully shows his deceptiveness after he hinted at it earlier proving Bradbury’s foreshadowing. Though it is not explicitly stated that Braling admits his deception, he outright shows it through his actions, proving it himself that he was tricking Braling all