Or maybe not.
Kiran Desai used foreshadowing to add suspense and curiosity in her novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. Early in the story, we read of Ba packing a small duffel bag, to travel to her former home in Rangoon. That was a small act as nothing conclusive derived from it. Nevertheless, this small act foreshadows her fictional life’s events. Then the narrative shifts. We don’t know what happened after that. The author teased us with a morsel of information.
In Chapter 16, the entire episode is relayed. Dadaji stopped Ba from leaving the family home, to set off for Rangoon. He managed to dissuade her physical departure that night, but by the following morning, her soul had left.
What did the author want to convey by this example of foreshadowing and the theory of desire to return to one’s motherland?
The first is purely writing technique. The second is the use of myth. It is a common myth that dying people desire to return to their motherland.
Related posts:
The main book review above has many links on the various themes in the book.