2/6/20 Anling Chen PD1

Anling Chen – February 6th, 2020 Blog #3

Aim – How does Gardner establish tone and characterization during the expository chapter of his novel, Grendel? 

We began class with a Do Now Pair Share:

Discuss: “I ask the sky. The sky says nothing, predictably. I make a face, uplift a defiant middle finger, and give an obscene little kick” (6). 

My team and I thought that this quote showed the attitude Grendel has about the world. He makes a face at the sky, which we imagined to be a scrunched nose and tongue wagging out, and sticks out the middle finger to nobody. He’s being rebellious and petulant out of resent—much like a teenager. Ms. Fusaro elaborated on this point as well. We thought him to be a large, looming creature of evil from reading about him in Beowulf, but Gardner paints him as this immature creature who’s upset with circumstances out of his control. These circumstances are his overbearing mother, his mind-numbing boredom, and a feeling of being stuck in his cave. 

Also, the significance of his talking to the sky is that he’s talking to God. He’s reaching out to somebody up there and asking “why?” Remember, his lineage is from Cain, so there’s another biblical reference. 

Next, we had another pair share. 

Discuss: “So childhood too feels good at first, before one happens to notice the terrible sameness, age after age.” (9)

We thought this quote represents feelings every high schooler feels. As a younger child, you feel like everything around you is new, is novel, and there’s always something new to learn about. But as you grow older, the list of responsibilities grows, and the once colorful world seems to take on a pallor.  Then, before you know it, those mornings when you feel excited for the day disappear. You begin living for the weekend. Nothing but a couple of holidays stirs strong feelings, because they are a welcome distraction from the everyday drudgery that is working and surviving. 

Grendel felt the same way. He was this huge monster whom everybody was afraid of, but in reality, he was just bored. Bored of the sameness, the same things happening everyday. He has no stimulation, no way out. 

Ms. Fusaro gave a potent anecdote about this, as well. She polls the class to see how many people are excited to leave high school and enter college. Many hands raise. She says that she felt the same way when she was our age, but once she hit the stage that people her age were coming up to, having children, she found that her path was separate. She didn’t want kids. So what does one do now?

Next, we were asked to go to page 1 and identify when this story begins. It begins the last year Grendel wrecks havoc on Herot, the twelfth year of “my idiotic war.” This shows that Grendel is over it, too. He calls it “idiotic” and “The stupidity!”

Philosophy in Chapter One: Orphism-the endless cycles of life. 

a) Grendel deals death in the war with Hrothgar

b) He faces his mortality when he speaks of chasms

c) He longs for meaning, but rejects it as meaningless

d) He sees the funeral scene: the celebrants of the cycle

Then, we discussed the time period during which Grendel was written: the 1960s. 

• Vietnam War, Cold War, Counter Culture, Civil Rights Movement (Times of change)

During these times of change, Gardner would have wanted to write Grendel because the lines between right and wrong were blurred. In the 50s, families were homogeneous and houses were uniform, whereas in the 60s, hippie culture became popular and Woodstock was a state of mind. Grendel wanted to flip the script. Now, Grendel is the protagonist. Grendel is like a human. This is appropriate for this time because it was time for change. Gardner also relates to Grendel because they are both involved in the killing of a brother. Gardner’s tragic past influenced his decision to write a book that humanizes a monster. Just like Cain, perhaps Gardner is trying to purge the image of a cold brother who killed his brother out of spite. 

Reflection:

I thought today’s lesson was especially insightful because of where we are in life. We are in a transitory period of our lives and our perspectives are changing. Rather than absorbing every new thing around us, we must choose what to focus on. Gardner is giving us a new perspective to Grendel. He is this misunderstood, teenage monster who kills people, but not out of evilness. He even describes the people as “sour” resting in his stomach. This chapter sets the tone for the rest of the book. It reads like a stream of consciousness from a jaded person. Reading about Gardner’s past, the reason why he wrote Grendel made sense and I felt sympathetic for a man who would have to live with that for the rest of his life.