Foreshadowing

Benét uses foreshadowing to good effect in the story as he drops hints that Rimington is not what he appears to be. When he looks in the mirror as he is lying on the hospital bed, he admits that his face "seemed like the face of an utter stranger." He is in a "shaken point of consciousness" when he first stars at the mirror. As he looks at his reflection, "the lines began to smooth away, the heavy cheeks grew younger . . . as if he gazed at one of those magic tricks of the camera." A magic trick is being performed by his psyche, which has been suppressing his dreams of success in New York City. At the end of the story readers learn that his subconscious has manufactured this version of James through a dream. Another moment of foreshadowing occurs when he notes that his mother's...