A device used by a writer to recall past event in a literary work is

1. Analyze the question The question asks for the literary device a writer uses to recall past events in a work. The key phrase is "recall past event."

2. Explain the concept Narrative devices are techniques writers use to shape how a story is told. Here is what each option means:

• Anti-climax: A sudden drop from something serious or exciting to something trivial or disappointing. It is often used for humour or to let down expectations.
• Interlude: A short break or intervening episode between the main parts of a work, such as a brief scene, song, or dance in a play.
• Flashback: A scene or passage that takes the reader back to an earlier time to show events that happened before the current point in the story.
• Foreshadowing: Hints or clues about what will happen later in the story. It looks forward, not backward.

3. Show the solution

• Recalling past events means going backward in time.
• Foreshadowing looks forward, so D is out.
• Anti-climax concerns a letdown in tone or intensity, not time, so A is out.
• Interlude is a break between parts, not a recollection of the past, so B is out.
• Flashback interrupts the present narrative to revisit earlier events, which matches the question exactly.

Example: In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, we are taken back to Okonkwo's childhood and his father Unoka's life. This gives background to why Okonkwo fears weakness. That is a use of flashback.

4. Answer The correct option is C. flashback.

5. Exam tip Link the word to its direction in time:

• Flash-BACK → goes back
• Fore-shadowing → looks ahead (fore means before or forward)

When you see "recall," "past," or "earlier events," think flashback. When you see "hint," "warn," or "future," think foreshadowing.