ShmoopTube

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour... What effect is achieved by using a flashback?

00:11

And here are the potential answers:

00:16

So... what is this question asking?

00:18

Well, it's really a vocab word question -- what is a flashback?

00:22

What IS a flashback? See? We just had one... kinda.

00:25

A flashback is where we... flash... back. Or backwards in TIME.

00:31

So the key word is TIME...and not the magazine or the herb.

00:35

If we look through the answers... A is about the next event...

00:39

Well, as our stockbroker would tell us, past performance is no guarantee of future results...

00:44

so A isn't relevant.

00:45

And neither is C -- which focuses on the PRESENT state of mind -- flashbacks are...

00:50

of the past... not the NOW.

00:52

So B is the only one that'll work here -- flashbacks add context to the present.

00:58

Our answer is B.

00:59

As in, "Back before we knew the answer to this question..."

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