Ying Dan Lin 2/12/20 Period 2 - Blog #2

2/12/20 Ying Dan Lin PD2
Aim: How does Grendel illustrate the commercialism of art and beauty through the analysis of the Shaper?

Do Now: "If the ideas of art were beautiful, that was art's fault, not the Shaper's." (49)
(accompanied by a picture of the Sistine Chapel paintings)

We begin class by discussing a quote from Grendel and then relating it to nihilism and existentialism. We established that beauty is in the eye of the beholder which means that art is very subjective. We debated whether the work of art should be associated with the artist or whether it should be appreciated for itself. This was illustrated by Yayin pointing out that there is controversy in the music industry for whether or not we should stop listening to artists that have participated in questionable actions. This quote can be related to existentialism such that Grendel has human qualities because he can interpret what he finds beautiful such as the songs sung by the Shaper. In those songs, he is assigned a role in society as the ‘monster’ and because he is so unsure of where he belongs, he is willing to accept that role. Nihilism can be found in the way that Grendel says that it isn’t the Shaper’s fault because his job is one that can be done by anyone. It’s meaningless, pointless and mindless talk that anyone can take over the position. The counter-argument to that was that the Shaper does play a huge role because the artist displays their own perspective and interpretation in their artwork.

In relation to the do now, we discussed the painting of the Sistine Chapel by Michaelangelo. He painted one mural in return for his dad’s debts with the church to be cleared. They liked it so much that they kept asking him to paint more but Michaelangelo never got paid like he was promised so he painted in obscene gestures. He was paid, or well, promised to be paid to make the art rather than him actually wanting to make the artwork. Despite the artist not wanting to make the artwork, it is still being admired to this day for its beauty which shows how art transcends the creator yet at the same time it can be a weapon without being any less beautiful.

Chapter 4 corresponds with the Cancer zodiac sign which is the crab. Some traits for Cancers include deeply intuitive, sentimental, very emotional and sensitive, care deeply about matters of family and home, sympathetic and attached to people they keep close.

“I listened, felt myself swept up. I knew very well that all he said was ridiculous, not light for their darkness but flattery, illusion, a vortex pulling them from sunlight to heat … My heart was light with Hrothgar’s goodness, and leaden with grief at my own bloodthirsty ways. I backed away, crablike, further into darkness” (48)

We discussed sympathy versus empathy and concluded that Grendel was empathizing with the humans as he knows that what they say isn’t the full truth and completely silver coated but he understands why they would want to believe in it. We went on to talk about how each person you meet has different experiences with you which means that if you asked all these people to describe you, the answers could be different from each other and from the way you define yourself. For Grendel, the feedback he was getting from the people eventually became reality. The Shaper was so compelling, and because of Grendel’s existential issues, that Grendel wanted to believe that he was a ‘bloodthirsty’ monster but the reader knows he isn’t because we are aware that he is basically a child. We talk about the Shaper’s influence in singing the songs/poems in the first place and realize that people also pay attention to what they want to hear. The songs that survive history are the ones that people wanted to listen to.

Dignity: the state of being worthy of respect and honor
“I stepped on something fleshy, and jerked away. It was a man. They’d cut his throat. His clothes had been stolen.” (50)

In this quote, Grendel is jerked back to reality and stumbles upon a man who has his dignity taken away from him. This is symbolized in the fact that his clothes had been stolen after being killed and then left unburied. Dignity symbolized by clothing can be related back to the original sin with Adam and Eve since after eating the apples, they realized their shame for not being covered up. We talked about how taking dignity from others may make you feel powerful but it is in the smallest ways because it is temporary and fleeting and thus not real power. It was ironic that the people were calling Grendel the ‘bloodthirsty’ monster when they were the ones to kill a man, steal his dignity and then leave him unburied, the ultimate disrespect as seen across all cultures.

Why did I learn what I learned today and how will I use what I learned?
Today’s lesson continues to deal with existentialism and nihilism which are concepts that everyone eventually needs to come to terms with. We discussed and analyzed the Shaper and his influence on Grendel and in the process learned some life lessons and left us thinking about the modern interpretations of art. I left this lesson realizing that I am a different person to all the people I meet. Just the other day, one of my friends told me about how they heard someone else describe me as quiet and reserved but she couldn’t see that in me because I was quite the opposite when I was around her. It just shows how much you might not know about other people until you really get to know them, much like how Grendel’s situation.