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Foreshadowing In Three Dirges Essays

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Foreshadowing In "Three Dirges"
A sense of ominous foreboding permeates the woeful passage from "Three Dirges." The conflict is immediately apparant: "Don Lazaro, you've got five boys in Comitan teaching the campesinos how to read. That's subversive. That's communist. So tonight, you have to kill them." Don Lazaro, the mayor of the war torn village, San Martin Comitan, seems to have no choice but to carry out this heartless command. His response is indicative of a desperate man searching for answers, yet already resigned to carrying out the task at hand. "What can I say? --you tell me!" cries an anguished Don Lazaro to the villagers. Is he pleading for their understanding, or asking for a miraculous …show more content…

In contrast, however, the religious principales have assumed a formation of some sort; "marching in six files, two abreast," ceremoniously fulfilling their obligation as if all hope had already eroded.
That hope further dissipated when the young men, now being led each by an older man, made their way to the cemetery. The cemetery was an eery prediction of what was surely now about to happen. Don Lazaro has protested so much that there is nothing he can do, it now borders on the pathetic. Does he know of some additional harm that would befall him if he doesn't carry out this sinister plan? The young men, now willing to sacrifice their lives, and resigned to doing so, bravely meet their fate. "The five young men, each escorted now by an older man, followed the cofrades over the ridge of the hill and dropped down on the other side just out of sight." Certainly the reader can see that, with the movement of the young men out of sight, the terrible command is surely about to be carried out. Still there may be time to stop it if Don Lazaro would act quickly. The young men, foretold of their own fate, perhaps taking control out of the hands of Don Lazaro by saying, "But what else can you do?" Clearly, this has happened before to others in other villages, therefore their fate seems sealed.
With their short journey almost complete, the

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