There aren't as many examples of flashback in this novel
as there are of foreshadowing, as your previous question focussed on. However, we have
definite flashbacks in Chapter 15, when David is reunited with Sophie after so long
apart. One of these occurs when Sophie expresses her absolute desolation at what has
been done to her because she was a deviant. Seeing her crying triggers a flashback in
David's memory:
I remembered watching. The man with his arm
linked in the woman's, the small figure on top of the pack-horse waving back to me as
they disappeared into the trees. Myself desolate, a kiss still damp on my cheek, a lock
tied with a yellow ribbon in my hand. I looked at her now, and my heart
ached.
Note that this
flashback serves to heighten and emphasise the horror that Sophie has experienced by
remembering her as a fragile, vulnerable child. Seeing the older Sophie grieving over
her forced sterilisation juxtaposed with the child Sophie, David's friend, exacerbates
the difference and demonstrates the tremendous cruelty of the Waknuk
regime.
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