What Men Live By

Foreshadowing is used throughout the story to hint at Michael’s true nature. Michael’s oddness is immediately apparent, and his oddities foreshadow his eventual reveal as a holy figure. After Simon finds him lying against the shrine (a holy place) and asks him how he got there, Michael replies that “God has punished [him]” (Part 2, paragraph 5). While Simon interprets this to be metaphorical, Michael means it literally, as God personally banished him from heaven and is responsible for his current condition. Michael is often described as looking upward, foreshadowing the reveal of his heavenly origins. His knowledge of the gentleman’s forthcoming death and the recognition in his eyes upon seeing the twin girls also imply a connection between Michael and forces of power and knowledge beyond human ability. The light that surrounds Michael when he smiles is similarly extraordinary and foreshadows the light he is bathed in at the end of the story upon his reascension to heaven.

After Simon and Matryona take Michael in, Matryona asks “We give; but why does nobody give us anything?” (Part 4, Paragraph 14).