Michael Thomas Harbuck						English 1201-SCC
03-17-2008								Essay 07 - Foreshadowing
Ambrose								Sanford, Florida

Here is the News

	 The modern age of communication has brought with it a multitude of benefits to human beings 
who wish to partake of the new technology.  From life-saving calls to hospitals and rescue personnel, to 
the ever-needed phone call to the pizza parlor for that Friday night delivery, the use of communication 
equipment has filled the lived of most all humans, either directly or indirectly.  One amazing aspect of 
the communication revolution, which started at the beginning even of the era of cinema, and continued 
onwards into radio, and of course with the natural progression: television, is the evening news.  Here, the 
gossip and trash of the day becomes a vivid part of our early or late evening, for as many times as the 
human eyes and ears are able to stand the input.  I would like to ask:  How is the evening news a part of 
the literary academia, and what aspects of news reporting on a local level compare to the literary 
characteristics of famous works authored by well known persons?	
	As large as a city might grow, there obviously remains the need for the gossip and name calling 
and general curiosity of small town life to be  kept in full swing by persons who have no other goal in 
life, than to delve into the affairs of others.  A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is a stunning example 
of the literary art form used so descriptively and with such detail and playfulness that there is no doubt as 
to the eternal ironic seriousness of his subject.
	William Faulkner places inside the confines of the paragraphs of non chronological order within 
the story the inklings and vivid foreshadowing which can only be compared to the ranting of the news 
host upon the subject of the hour.  All is told, except of course the actual story, and final ending, which 
must be gleaned from the very last minute of the very last of the late evening news programs of the day.  
As the general townsfolk will go about the business of minding that of another for sake of nothing better 
to be done that hour, so it is nearly one hundred years after the authoring of Mr. Faulkner’s story, that 
‘modern’ man will find the same pleasure in a much, or as little.  
	Our omniscient and all powerful narrator in A Rose... has the all encompassing power to tell all, 
and of course, is not wrong, or in error of detail, unless of course he is wrong, and in error.  The clarity 
and immense objectivity of the declaration of environment such as very nearly giving away the end of the 
story with the line:  ‘So she vanquished them....like the smell.  That was two years....and a short time 
after her sweetheart – the one who we believed would marry her – had deserted her.’ (15)  How ever so open 
can one be when wanting and waiting for the bold truth of the matter.  Our unfortunate and pitiful replete 
existence has lumbered upon the edge of the literary wall of no return, where the once engorged literary 
pages are replaced with the neo-classic equivalent of William Faulkner’s tale of a lonely woman seen by 
all the townsfolk on the screen of a television each evening.  Our television narrator will begin to detail 
his or her story, but of course must wait until the end before releasing the penned frustration of each 
persons’ daily life through the culmination of the story, yeah whether this story be of importance or total 
frivolity.  
	Such drama could not a writer on the small screen call up today which would be more worrisome 
and thought stopping as such a line: “I want some poison, ” (33)  With the disappearance of a man, and 
the request for poison, there should be no doubt in the mind of the reader, that something is askew.  So 
strikingly akin is this line to that of the intermediate news réclame during the nightly prime-time show, 
that the comparison should be an easy one for each person do draw upon in making the connection 
between had been read, and what now is watched.  If only the news reporter had the capacity of the 
author, or half of the wit and charm, then there would possibly be some merit as to these technological 
advances which are perceived as god-sends.  
	By no means do I wish to compare the validity of literature with the seemingly wastefulness of 
the American local news anchoring.  To the contrary, I hope that this story can now be viewed by those 
who has read this small paper, as a frivolity of the human nature of overbearing curiosity of those who 
believe to be concerned and affected by the actions of others, however, are not in the slightest indeed.  
The verity of the foreshadowing which Mr. Faulkner is capable of is nothing short of amazing.  His 
compact, yet sensuously tantalizing detail causes the Pavlov reaction is each educated reader’s 
conscience, waiting and wanting what will be delivered at the end of the short route down the literary 
lane.