Category A Prompt C: Graceling

         I think that one literary device that Kristin Cashore uses in Graceling is foreshadowing.  Early on in the book, we learn about Katsa's dislike towards Gracelings with the ability to read minds.  Katsa's attitude towards the child that can read minds is very judgmental and she does not even give the child a chance.  Katsa says "Then she'll know I'll want to knock her senseless if she so much as looks at me" in regards to the mind reading Graceling (Cashore 28).  I think that Katsa's strong dislike towards this child who has the Grace to read minds foreshadows the dislike she will have for Po once she learns the truth about his Grace, which is the ability to sense Katsa’s thoughts and intentions towards him.  Katsa is appalled by the idea of anyone having the ability to read minds and does not understand “why anyone would want to keep them close” (Cashore 28). 

         Also, I think Cashore foreshadows Po’s fear of people learning the truth about his Grace.  In this scene, it is disclosed, “mind readers were valuable tools for a king to wield” (Cashore 28).  This foreshadows Po’s predicament with telling his father and brother’s the truth about his power.  Po keeps his Grace a secret because he does not want to be used by his father or brother’s to gain political ground.  This truth about mind readers being used by royalty to gain ground over their opponents and enemies is emphasized in this book early on, and this is one thing that Po, and later on Katsa, want to avoid throughout the book      

         This avoidance towards the world discovering the truth about Po’s Grace can also be argued foreshadows how Katsa snaps out of King Leck’s trance.   Katsa kills Leck in order to protect Po’s secret. If the necessity of keeping this secret was not emphasized early on in the book with the child mind reader, then it would be harder to understand Katsa’s rash decision. 

         Overall, I think Cashore foreshadows Katsa discovering the truth about Po and Po’s fear of the world finding out the truth about his Grace early on in the novel.  There are many similarities between Katsa dislike towards the child mind reader and Po’s Grace of perception in Chapter Two of Graceling. This use of foreshadowing gives the reader early insight about Po along with what to expect with Katsa reaction to determining the truth  about him and his Grace.