earlier today i read jonathan swift’s “a modest proposal” (the full title is “a modest proposal for preventing the children of poor people in ireland from being a burden to their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public” a long name that pretty much describes what the short story is being satirical about) for the first time since high school. it really is an amazing manner in which to address a situation. i love the extreme mockingly serious tone of swift’s writing in dealing with the poverty of his time.
i first read “a modest proposal” in mrs. hooks’ senior honors english class. of the four english teachers i had in high school only mrs. hooks was any good. i’m pretty pro teachers (pam family has several teachers in it) so you wouldn’t usually hear me complaining about teachers but my other english teachers were really bad. all i remember from my sophmore english teacher was her screaming “you better hush your mouth before i take this wig off my head and throw it at you.” she said that quite a few times. yet mrs. hooks was so amazing that she made up for the deficits of the other teachers – which is really saying something considering those deficits. i did not enjoy reading until mrs. hooks’ inspired me to. i think i read one book a year before her class. she so loved literature and that her passion for it caused me to love reading. she had a huge impact on my life.
while my grammar still sucks i do love reading. thanks mrs. hooks.