The White Hotel: Know Before You Judge

Know Before You Judge Foreshadowing is to show or indicate beforehand. Most authors use foreshadowing as a tool to let the reader see what is going to happen in the future. Often times, readers take foreshadowing for granted, taking the tiny hints left by authors as actual indications of what’s to come. Authors like D.M. Thomas, use this implied notion to catch their readers off guard and evoke emotion with the unexpected. Adding fiction to history, Thomas does this perfectly in his novel The White Hotel. After several years of pain in her breast and ovary, main character Lisa Erdman seeks the help of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Early on in the story, incredibly unique images like breast, the crucifix, and luggage portray Lisa, who is called Anna in the first the chapters of the book, as psychotic sexually driven woman. The reader sees a one dimensional girl at first. As the images develop, the reader begins to see that Lisa is more than her disturbing dreams lead her on to be. In his book The White Hotel, author D.M. Thomas flawlessly incorporates and connects the images and themes of sex, religion, and disturbing predictions, to foreshadow and progressively leave hints to his reader. These hints unveil the complexity of Lisa and prove that human life is more than a title like “Jew”, but a beautiful complex system in which everyone is worthy of living a life unrestricted by simple minded thinking.
To begin, the image of breasts continually appears throughout the first part of the novel. Thomas leads the reader on to believe that Anna’s disturbing dreams and hallucinations are a sign of sexual addiction and immaturity. When her “breast where bursting,” Anna found herself sharing her milk with more than just her lover (23). Anna is willing to let anyone and everyone take advantage of her unusually full and sensitive breasts. The reader is caught off guard by the vulgar language and care free willingness to let anyone touch, suck, and drink from what society sees

Cited: Thomas, D.M. The White Hotel. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 1981. 1-274. Print.