Ten Months As A Teacher by Dave Jaffe .Last Part - Part Eight.

               Part Eight


     Books can sometimes predict your future.
     In the early 1960's John Updike's book 'The Centaur' was published. It told a story about a high school teacher in a small town in Pennsylvania. The book took place in the late 1940's, and the male teacher with a young son to support and a wife and mother to feed, couldn't quit teaching though he hated the job.
     I first read Updike's book in early 1964 and didn't understand the story. It seemed too complex for me at the time. Plus the plot took part of its framework from Greek mythology. This made the book even harder for me to understand.  When I was asked by one of my classmates at McGill University whether I enjoyed the book, I said, "There's some good writing here about a basketball game."
     That was the only part of the book that I connected with.
     Yet about ten years later I came across the book again and enjoyed it immensely. "This is the story of many teachers," I told a friend of mine after I'd finished reading it. Of course, Powell River was wedged in between the sea and the mountains, while 'The Centaur' took place in eastern America's farm land. And it seemed that B.C. teachers in the early 1970's were paid a lot more than American teachers of 30 years before.  Still these differences aside, I  saw parallels between my ten months in Powell River and the teacher in 'The Centaur'.
      So ends my story about my attempt to be a full time teacher.