Dear Diary

I've always thought of keeping a diary. I started one in grade 7 when I went to England for two weeks because it was my first time travelling without my family. But then I got lazy and that was it. Although there weren't any big secrets in my attempt of a diary, I wouldn't want anyone reading it because, after all, diaries are meant to be personal. However I doubt if Pepys would agree, with his published diary enjoying such huge success even until today.

I think the main reason why his diary is still read after a few centuries is that, in the form of a diary, he captured and recreated the daily life of his time. It is filled with vivid imagery and interesting details that make the readers feel like they are in that time period by Pepys’s side witnessing everything together with him. Moreover, the diary entries are quite lengthy, making them more like short stories gathered in a book. I cannot imagine writing that much every night before going to bed, but then I’ve never witnessed a fire or an execution, phew!

Of the three important events he recorded in his diary, the London Fire is my favourite. I can picture the incident in my head just like a movie as I’m reading it. It first started with Pepys being informed of the fire but, thinking that it was far away, not showing much concern. Later when he realized how powerful the fire was, he toured around London and made observations to what was happening around. He also carried information to the king and organized fire fighting teams. These all became historically significant evidence that’d be helpful for people learning about the great fire. Besides, I find the part about him safeguarding his possessions very realistic and interesting. 

Sir, the Baby is Served

If Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a modest proposal, I don’t think I understand the word modest anymore. Of course I’m being ironic, to go with the theme. Quite frankly, though I understand that this is a reputable satire essay, I’m not exactly thrilled with all the gruesome imageries depicted. But still one cannot deny the power of Swift’s words in terms of attacking the two groups of people in his essay: the English government and the Irish people themselves. The full title “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being a Burden on Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick” clearly states the contents and purpose of the essay as well as establishing the insensitive, straight-faced tone that makes the essay even more satirical.

Swift proposes that the children of poor people should be fatten up and then fed to the rich. They should be sold into meat markets at the age of one, when their meat is the most fresh, as a way to solve the problems of unemployment and overpopulation and sparing the poor parents the expense of child-rearing. He extensively uses understatement such as parents wouldn’t care if their children would be eaten and eating children would save pig’s life. He further suggests the beneficial outcomes of his proposal by saying that eating babies would improve the culinary experience of the rich people. Here he uses techniques like overstatement with all the different cooking methods, and irony with the idea of serving children at weddings and christening. Talk about sending shivers down my spine!

RESTORE THE LOCK!!!

Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock is considered one of the best mock-epic ever published and I guess the reason is pretty obvious. Based on the event that occurred to Arabella Fermer, it is about the trivial event of a Baron cutting the young woman Belinda’s one little lock of hair. To satirize the vanity of high society and how people make a big deal out of nothing important, Pope coats the story with epic characteristics – Belinda is equivalent to the epic hero, the scissors and hairpins are the weapons of the hero, the card game, the actual cutting of the hair, and the fight at the end are depicted as the epic battles. The title of this mock-epic also has its significance, not only does it catches the readers’ attention immediately, the use of the strong, violent word “rape” is such an overstatement for a cut of the hair, which once again serves the purpose to satirize the high society’s idleness and sole emphasis on appearance. 

When we think about it, the problem of emphasizing on physical appearance actually still remains in today’s society, especially with the media’s portrayal of a certain standardized beauty of many models and celebrities getting more and more accessible to the general public. Pope makes Belinda’s reaction really exaggerated to a ridiculous extent in order to make his point, which reminds me of some of the crying girls in the makeover episodes of the reality show “America’s Next Top Model” when they are given a haircut. But just to be fair, I would probably be pretty mad too if someone just cut my hair for no reason. Not letting this happen!!