How does the author use foreshadowing in What Jamie Saw?

There are several instances in which flashback episodes are employed to provide crucial back-story. For example, when Jamie recalls the first time he and his mother were with Van together. It remained in Jamie's mind because Van, who wound up being abusive, was the person who bought him his favorite book. That recollection is a foreshadowing of later events and helps to explain the conflicted emotions that Jamie experienced over his mother's split with Van.

The author also uses the foreshadowing technique in several other instances. Jamie had recollections about the first time his legs kicked uncontrollably in anger. He was riding in the back of his mother's car and his actions broke the car window handle and upset his mother. This first experience with that degree of anger was encountered while he still lived with Van which indicates that Van probably had been abusive before and that the incident when Van through Nin across the room was not the first instance of that behavior.