“The Most Popular Teacher”
Anne Tyler writes, “As for Ian, he believed it too but only after a kind of hitch, a moment of hesitation. For instance, from time to time he had the feeling that his father was something of a joke at Poe High—ineffectual at discipline, and muddled in his explanation of the more complicated algebraic functions. But Bee said he was the most popular teacher Poe had ever employed, and in fact that was true. Yes, certainly it was true. Ian knew she was right.” Ian’s remarks about his father’s ineffectiveness render his classification as popular ironic. A popular teacher would instill discipline in his students and be eloquent when explicating algebra concepts. Nevertheless, the irony stresses that Ian’s subjective assessments may not be pertinent to other students who consider his father to be popular.
‘The Family’s Scholar’
Anne Tyler explains, “Or look at Claudia. The family’s one scholar, she had dropped out of college her senior year to get married, and then the babies started coming so thick and so fast that they had to be named alphabetically: Abbie, Barney, Cindy, Davey … Where would it all end? some cynical voice inquired from the depths of Ian’s mind. Xavier? Zelda? But his mother said she hoped they would progress to double letters—Aaron Abel and Bonnie Belinda—like items on a crowded catalog page. Then Ian saw Claudia’s children as a tumbling hodgepodge heaped in a basket, and he was forced to smile.” If Claudia were an apparent scholar, she would not have deviated from the fundamental scholarly ambitions by electing to get married before the accomplishment of her studies. An actual scholar would have studied to the uppermost level before resolving to marry.
