Foreshadowing In The Perfect Shot By Alphin

“‘Sucking chest wound. The bullet’s taken at least two lobes in the right lung’. That’s a woman’s voice. ‘Pupils dilated. He’s going into shock’” (Alphin 17). To emphasize the emotions that Brian, the main character, experiences after his girlfriend’s death, literary devices such as foreshadowing, repetition and imagery are used. In The Perfect Shot, Elaine Marie Alphin uses several literary devices to elicit a variety of emotions in the reader.

Foreshadowing creates a feeling of suspense/anticipation in multiple parts of the book. The foreshadowing of a gunshot creates anticipation and curiosity. The author uses the phrase “thud-thud” (Alphin 16) to illustrate a gunshot. This is hinting that a character gets shot later in the book, since the

The repetition of the word “rushing” shows the amount of stress Brian is under. This is showed in the passage, “The season’s rushing to it’s end, Julius is rushing in some direction… Dad’s rushing me down some road… Mom’s rushing back and forth between me and Dad” (Alphin 186). This repetition being in one sentence is similar to when someone is stressed/ overwhelmed, and they ramble on and on about the same thing in different ways. In addition, the repetition of the “thud-thud” pattern throughout the book adds suspense/pressure to succeed. This occurs first when the author writes “thud-thud, Bri-an” (Alphin 16) and then again when she writes “good-but not good- enough” (23) and “Per-fect shot. He’s- the best” (53). The original “thud-thud” represents a gunshot, and each repetition shows that Brian feels pressure to do everything perfect for Amanda. Also, the repetition of the idea of the jogger being the killer creates frustration in the reader. He is mentioned throughout the book until, “‘What if the jogger was the killer, not Mr. Daine…what if the gun was hidden in the sweatsuit?’” (Alphin 282) when Brian brings it up in court. The fact that it took Brian 282 pages to finally speak up about the jogger, even though he suspected it the entire book, creates frustration towards Brian for not speaking up sooner. Stress, pressure, and frustration are all created with the use of repetition in the

Alphin describes a messy room which creates sympathy in the reader with visual imagery. This happens when “I look around at my half-made bed with its threadbare pillows exposed... open closet door... notebooks and papers and sports magazines scattered on my desk... loose T-shirts litter the carpet” (Alphin 125). This makes the reader feel bad for Brain since a messy room can be a sign of depression. Similarly, the author uses auditory imagery to create a feeling of being overwhelmed. Alphin writes “I slam the Leo Frank book and my basketball together... doors banging open... neighbours shouting at each other... through his sobs I can make out the words ‘They’re dead! They’re dead!”’ (Alphin 63-64). The author chose to explain the scene of Amanda’s dad finding Amanda and her brother through sounds rather than sights to portray chaos which creates a feeling of being overwhelmed in the reader. Again, the author uses visual imagery, but to intrigue the reader. “Get the ball into play and rush down the court... but Highrise is too fast... slapping the ball away... we answer immediately with a basket… another steal… a behind the back pass… and an open backboard shot” (Alphin 312) makes the reader engaged in the game. Since there is so much happening at a fast pace, the reader is intrigued to see what will happen next. Alphin uses both visual and auditory imagery to provoke