The Namesake, Ch. 7

The imagery of this chapter strongly foreshadows Ashoke's death.

Prior to when Ashima receives the news, Lahiri describes the setting around the home on Pemberton Road: "the sun's strength already draining from the sky," "the inevitability of nightfall," "darkness descending mere hours after noon," "the shapes of the neighboring houses become silhouettes, solidly black". All these descriptions create images of something darkening, dying and fading away. They describe death and the easiness with which life passes, like a fading day. Nightfall is inevitable, just like death is.