Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Week Six

“Then he reproved her, saying that it was imprudent to visit such houses. Villela might learn of it, and then…
‘Impossible! I was exceedingly careful when I entered the place.’” (The Fortune Teller, Machado de Assisi, 48)

It was then that I knew that Villela would indeed see her and that the story would end in death. No, I’m not a super sleuth, I have just read a few morbid short stories in my day. (Favorites: The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe and A Rose For Emily by William Faulkner.) These two lines say so much, yet so little. On a quick read-through, these sentences would be overlooked, like much foreshadowing is. This particular instance of foreshadowing reminds me of Pride and Prejudice when Elizabeth Bennett says that she doesn’t care what Mr. Darcy thinks because she doubts she will ever see him again. Spoiler Alert: she sees him again.

I think that life is made up of overlooked foreshadowing. For instance, at the start of a new semester, I assess the students in my classes and determine who I would or would not like to do a group project with. And I nearly always end up working with those I didn’t want to work with. (The same thing happens with Church callings. “Please, I don’t want to be FHE group leader. Anything but FHE group leader.” The next day: “We’d like to extend a calling to you to be… FHE GROUP LEADER!” You know you’ve been there.)


My point is simple: we miss a lot of opportunities because we overlook foreshadowing in our lives. Obviously Machado’s story wouldn’t have been the same if Camillo and Rita had recognized that moment as foreshadowing. But in real life, I think we could make our lives a lot better if we seized opportunities that may be foreshadowing. In a way, we could almost choose what path we want to take in life. 

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?





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