28 pages • 56 minutes read
Leo TolstoyA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Foreshadowing is used throughout the story to hint at Michael’s true nature. Michael’s oddness is immediately apparent, and his oddities foreshadow his eventual reveal as a holy figure. After Simon finds him lying against the shrine (a holy place) and asks him how he got there, Michael replies that “God has punished [him]” (Part 2, paragraph 5). While Simon interprets this to be metaphorical, Michael means it literally, as God personally banished him from heaven and is responsible for his current condition. Michael is often described as looking upward, foreshadowing the reveal of his heavenly origins. His knowledge of the gentleman’s forthcoming death and the recognition in his eyes upon seeing the twin girls also imply a connection between Michael and forces of power and knowledge beyond human ability. The light that surrounds Michael when he smiles is similarly extraordinary and foreshadows the light he is bathed in at the end of the story upon his reascension to heaven.
By Leo Tolstoy
A Confession
Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
God Sees the Truth, but Waits
Leo Tolstoy
Hadji Murat
Leo Tolstoy
How Much Land Does a Man Need
Leo Tolstoy
Master and Man
Leo Tolstoy
The Cossacks
Leo Tolstoy
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Leo Tolstoy
The Kreutzer Sonata
Leo Tolstoy
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy