“Oh, come-on now,” Jack frowned. “I’m sure everyone feels out of place on their first day at a new school.”
“Jack, I hate it here,” Grant argued. “I hate everything about this place.”
Hailey stared down at her father’s shoes, disappointed.
“At least give it until after our first practice,” Jack suggested as he ushered the kids back inside the building.
Grant was shocked to find himself actually walking back to class, lured by a mysterious force that he didn’t fight. He managed to get away with resting his head on his desktop until Mrs. Jordan rang the bell that signified the end of class, only to discover he got to stay put for his next period English class.
“Let’s get started,” Mrs. Jordan smiled as she held up a paperback copy of Macbeth.
“Mrs. Jordan,” Billy Wayne said, raising his hand. “I didn’t get a chance to finish my readin’ last night, ‘cause we had church, and I had to study for my math test.”
“Did everyone else get a chance to complete the reading assignment?” Mrs. Jordan asked.
“I read it,” Misty blurted, “but I didn’t get it. I don’t understand why we have to keep reading Shakespeare. The characters talk funny, and it’s not like the stories are relevant to anything that actually goes on today.”
“Yeah,” Joe John groaned. “It’s not like we’re ever gonna need to know this stuff, Mama.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Grant shook his head. “It’s entirely relevant.”
“Oh, so I take it you’ve read it?” Mrs. Jordan nodded at Grant.
“Macbeth?” Grant scoffed. “Yeah, I’ve run into it a time or two.”
Mrs. Jordan turned to her chalkboard and began writing WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE as though the author wasn’t duly noted on the cover or, for that matter, by anyone with the semblance of a sixth grade education.
“What I got out of it is basically that this Macbeth loser is a bad dude,” Paul declared. “It’s an interesting story, but I was glad the guy died in the end.”
“I’m glad you got something out of it,” Misty grumbled. “I didn’t get it at all.”
Mrs. Jordan smiled. “Don’t worry about it. We will go through the play, and I will tell you exactly what you need to know for the test and exactly what you should take from Shakespeare’s words.”
“I don’t understand how you plan to present your analysis as fact when literary interpretation is entirely subjective,” Grant shook his head.
“Excuse me?” Mrs. Jordan said, clearing her throat.
“Grant, let it go,” Misty laughed. “It’s not like anything he said still matters today. Just learn whatever she wants you to know and ace the exam.”
“Just because Shakespeare wrote in a different time doesn’t mean his words aren’t still relevant,” Grant said calmly. “By that standard, the argument could be made that the Bible isn’t relevant today, and I think Mrs. Jordan’d probably be the first to be up-in-arms if I was to suggest such a thing.”
“I am only trying to help the class understand the play,” Mrs. Jordan said, as though working to bite her tongue. “There is no need to offend anyone.”
“You’re missing my point,” Grant shook his head. “The exploration of human nature is timeless, that’s why the works of Shakespeare are just as relevant, if not more relevant, today as they were in his own time.”
Paul rolled his eyes. “You’ve already thrown poor General Custer under the bus today, so please don’t tell me you’re now planning on defending Macbeth. The story is about a crazy dude. Period.”
“It’s a play about blind ambition and desperation,” Grant began. “It’s the story of a man who is so hell-bent on rising to power that right and wrong become blurred. That’s why, from the very onset, we are introduced to the theme: ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair.’ Macbeth becomes so desperate that he is willing to commit regicide to clear a path to power.”
“Mama, what does regicide mean?” Joe John asked.
Mrs. Jordan stared back at her son, waving off his question with an uncomfortable shake of her head.
“It’s the deliberate killing of a monarch,” Grant added before moving on. “Macbeth is a tragic character, his fatal flaw being inordinate ambition to the extent that, in his eyes, becoming a murderer was a more acceptable fate than failing to achieve his goal of becoming king. He feels remorse, but he keeps his eye on the prize and acts against his conscience. He was once a strong leader held in high esteem, a noble man by all accounts, but he was corrupted by a lust for power. It speaks to the good and evil inside each of us…Macbeth let himself be consumed by the latter.”
“Hailey, can you make him shut up?” Paul scoffed.
“Do I appear to have any control over him or anything that comes out of his mouth?” Hailey protested. She wrinkled her nose. “Besides, it’s more than I got out of the story.”
“Whatever,” Paul exhaled. “Just tell me what I need to write on the test, Mrs. Jordan, and I’m good to go.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Mrs. Jordan agreed. “Get out your notebooks, class, and I’ll write a few notes on the board.”
“Seriously?” Grant said, stunned. “We aren’t even going to have a discussion? If you narrow such a complex play down to a few spoon-fed sentences, all you have accomplished is stifling independent thought. I mean, are you going to fail me if you give me a test and my essay doesn’t regurgitate your own interpretations?”
“That’s what school is about,” Mrs. Jordan shrugged. “We learn the material and then take tests on it.”
“That might work in some capacity in an objective field such as calculus,” Grant replied, “but literary analysis is about discussion and generating conversation. You might think you’re teaching us something by asking us to memorize your world view for the sake of a grade, but, in actuality, the test only operates as an intellectual prophylactic.”
“What does prophylactic mean?” Joe John laughed.
Grant exhaled slowly. “You know…it’s a preventative…an agent that works to ward something off…prophylactic.”
Joe John stared back at him, confused.
“Like a condom,” Grant offered with a shrug.
