Breath, Eyes, Memory: Foreshadowing

Toward the end of this book there was lots of foreshadowing hinting towards Sophie's mother's suicide.  When she is talking to Sophie about the baby she talks about the baby being the death of her.  How the child was talking to her, and trying to hurt her.  Later she sings "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child" and says "I want that sung at my funeral" (215).  Most parents pray that their children will out live them.  When Sophie's mother dies, however, she leaves not only Sophie a motherless child, but her unborn baby as well.  Later that evening.  when saying goodbye, Sophie's mother hugs her and wont let go, Marc then says to her "She will come back" and separates the two of them (216).  That scene would in fact be the last time that this mother and daughter would ever see each other face to face.  The final words ever spoken between the two of them would later be "Pray to the Virgin Mother for me" (217).  All of these actions and statements are hints towards Sophie's mother's future death.  Not only her death, but the way in which she dies is also important.  She stabs her unborn child twelve times.  The final thing she ever says to Sophie is a biblical statement, and she stabs herself.  "Pray to the Virgin Mother" is a very important last statement.  She feels the guilt because she is not in fact a virgin herself, she has now been pregnant twice and not one married.  She can no longer identify herself with the Virgin Mary.  This reference to god is also interesting as she commits suicide and a violent act such as this makes it so one can no longer get into heaven.  For someone so religious she had committed quite a few sins herself.