Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is used heavily in the novel, albeit in a subtle manner, which only retrospectively begins to emerge. It is a common narrative device in many novels but is employed to a great extent in this one. From the very beginning, Pino has the unshakable idea that he is "going to fall in mad, tragic love” (8), although clearly he does not realize at the time how mad or tragic that love will be. Even in the midst of a war-torn nation, he maintains the optimism that is typical of a teenager who has thus far led a relatively sheltered life, at least in the beginning. Therefore it makes all the more sense that the foreshadowing would be completely invisible to Pino, if it even occurred to him to look for signs of bad things to come in the first place. It is inevitable, however, considering Pino's...