Foreshadowing is a literary device in which an author gives a hint of what will occur later. Lowry foreshadows the main events of the story from the beginning. Though the story begins in a utopian place where life is simple and idyllic, there are hints of unrest and darkness. In Chapter 2, the narrator says that Leader sensed something strange in Forest that “disturbed his consciousness and made him uneasy” (26). The main conflict of the book is foreshadowed when Seer tells Matty that selfishness is creeping into Village. Lowry warns readers that not everything is as it seems—something is chipping away at the goodness of the townspeople.

In the second half of the book, the foreshadowing is more straightforward. From the moment Matty enters Forest, death is present in some form or another. The smell of rot comes from the center of Forest; berries that should be good to eat are dying; even the log that crumbles beneath Matty as he tries to sit suggests the impending death of the protagonist.