One of the boys held his hand up. “What does affectatious mean?”
“Pretentious, fake, and like it’s being done for show,” I replied, tapping the book again. “See, in it, the man cuts a lock of hair off the girl—”
“I’d kill him,” one of the students snapped, holding her ponytail in her fist. “My brother cut my hair once with those scissors that don’t even cut through paper. I glued him to the toilet seat.”
Everyone burst out laughing, including Tamsin and me.
“Understandable. I’m an only child, but my best friend’s male, and if he’d cut my hair when we were younger, I’d have done the same.”
Don’t think about Logan. Too late, there goes the blush.
Clearing my throat, I continued, “Anyway, the woman reacts by being overly dramatic, and society does the same thing. It’s like everything comes to a stop, and it’s the worst thing that could ever happen.”
This time they all looked at each other dubiously.
“For real, back then, it was all about how you looked, and any action against that was the kind of thing that would win trophies and long speeches at award ceremonies nowadays. That’s what Pope was aiming for when he wrote it—to highlight how vapid and pretentious society was. They all wore wigs to prove their stature, even the men spent hours powdering and putting red blush on their faces, and without that, you were nothing.”
One of the boys sitting at the back raised his hand. “That sucks. Who cares if you look great? I haven’t showered for three days, and I’m okay.” He sniffed under his arm and lowered it quickly.
“Exactly. Not only did Pope strike a blow with the content of the piece, but he struck a blow with the title of it, too. Rape—it’s one of the ugliest words, isn’t it?” All of them nodded. “Back then, it was ugly too, but they didn’t have social media or the type of mentality we have today.”
“Because they were too focused on their appearances?” One of the boys shouted.
Clapping my hands together, I pointed at him. “And there you have it. We’re conscious of how we look now, but it doesn’t define our society. Well,” I added with a smile, “not as much as it did back then.”
This made most of them laugh, and the others who didn’t still smiled.
“He was bringing attention to what was important by using it while making fun of how affectatious society was at the same time. What do you think would happen if an author wrote a book with a title like that today?”
A pretty girl at the front shyly raised her hand. “No one would buy it. We don’t like that word.”
“You’re probably right. Not many people I’ve spoken to have read or heard of this book, and when they hear the title, they look appalled by it. That’s because the weight and knowledge of what the word means are well known.
“Would you ever throw a sentence with it in it at someone? I mean, I can’t even bring myself to give you an example, but think back to the ‘go kill yourself’ one that we’re trying to get you to stress to people you meet online is unacceptable, and think along those lines.”
“Do people still buy that book?” another girl asked.
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “But for the content alone, they should. It’s an amazing piece of literature, and it shows how values, ideals, and society have changed in comparison to back then.”
Glancing behind me at Tamsin, I raised my eyebrows to see how I was doing, getting a nod and smile in return.
Focusing back on the students, I added, “Just so you know, the principal spoke to parents about us bringing in an old piece of literature with this title for you, and the emails we received back encouraged it. Words carry weight. You don’t know what someone’s been through or is going through, and you don’t know how your words will impact them, even if you don’t mean for them to.
“Think things through before you say them, weigh your words properly, and consider other people’s feelings. I’m not saying that Pope got everyone to understand how bad rape was and how vapid society was back then, but I’ll bet you he opened a lot of eyes when he published this.”
I held the book up again for them to see.
“Do you think we could read it?” A kid wearing a football shirt asked, nodding at the book. “Like, can we download it?”
“More than likely. I know the paperback is still available to buy at least.”
“Cool.”
After discussing it more with them, hearing examples of things kids were saying, and the other stuff they were dealing with online, we moved on to my least favorite part of any discussion. It didn’t matter whether it was me doing the talking or someone else, the words ‘do you have any questions’ just made me want to shrivel up.
Of course they had questions.
“Are you going to teach us about the book?”
“Can we study the book?”
“What other books have weird names?”
“Was Pope a pope?”
“How much of her hair did he cut off?”
“Couldn’t she, like, just get hair extensions? That’s what my mom does.”
And then came one that re-opened up the thoughts I was trying to ignore.
“I saw you with Logan Richards. Are you dating a deputy?”
Looking at Tamsin for help, I glared when she just smiled at me and asked, “Well, are you?”
“No, I’m not. He’s been my best friend since I was little, so that’s why.”
The girl who’d asked the question raised her hand again. “But he’s hot. Y’all look cute together.”
Before I could even think of anything at all to say to that, another one of the kids
