03/03/2020 Kevin Wong Period 7

03/03/2020

Kevin Wong

Period 7

          

Aim: How does the arrival of Beowulf change the mood, aura and atmosphere of

the novel, Grendel?

We started off today’s lesson with a Pair-share; How is water illustrated in

chapter 11? What is the significant comparison to the ending of chapter 10?

Steven and I discussed this and we believe that the water in this chapter

represented the rebirth of purpose in Grendel’s life. Beowulf came from the

water and when he arrived, Grendel became much more excited. He had

gained a new purpose for his existence. 

Other groups also interpreted the water this way as well, with Billy connecting

the significance of water to the Bible. Like how the flood cleansed the world

of evil, Beowulf arrived to cleanse evil as well. He also mentioned how

Grendel describes Beowulf as being like a fish, which corresponds with a

symbol often used to represent Jesus. Diego mentioned that the end of

chapter 10 left Grendel very bored, with nothing to do. However,

chapter 11 contrasts that with Grendel being excited because he now had

something to do.

We watched a video explaining the meaning of the Jesus fish. Fish in

Hebrew was Ichthys, which broke down, meaning Jesus Christ, Son of God,

Savior. Beowulf is interpreted by the Danes as being their savior that would

rid them of Grendel. 

We also watched a clip from The Neverending Story, in which it shows

the protagonist, Atreyu, talking with a wolf named Gamork. They talk of the

Nothing, which is something that is threatening to destroy the humans’ world.

The Nothing in this world exemplified the ideas of emptiness and despair, with Gamork

saying he helps the Nothing because if the humans have no hope, Gamork

would have control, which means he would have more power. 

We then discussed the concept of the Nothing and Alan said that it parallels

the ideas of the Dragon in Grendel, with both Beowulf and Atreyu being the

heroes that bring hope to the humans. The Nothing represents the idea of

nihilism and nihilism’s spread is viral in Grendel. It first starts with the Dragon,

who then imprints his ideas onto Grendel. Grendel then imprints it onto

Unferth, who then uses it on Beowulf. 

Group Discussion: Does the depiction of Unferth from Grendel’s perspective

make an empathetic/relatable Unferth? 

Diego said that it did because we now know Unferth’s background, which

fleshes out Unferth more and makes him more relatable. Steven also brought

up how the book was written in the 60’s, which promoted counterculture at the

time. He suggested that the idea’s within Grendel might be a call to check historical figures. While many people mentioned that Unferth’s idea of heroism

was utterly destroyed by Grendel’s idea of nihilism, Ms. Fusaro saw

Unferth try to defy nihilism by having inner heroism instead. When Unferth

tries to bring down Beowulf, he might have been boosting Beowulf to have

the confidence to take on Grendel and that would be how Unferth could

display heroism. Indeed, we see that Unferth did support Beowulf by giving

him his sword, Hrunting, which brings to light that Unferth may have realized

the only way he could fulfill his ideas of heroism, was instead to be the support

for the hero. 

The period ends with Ms. Fusaro asking us to draw our ideas of Beowulf,

but unfortunately, the bell rings before we can share. We are left focusing

on Beowulf’s eyes, as they are an important part of his description in Grendel. 

Reflection

Today’s lesson left me with new ways of combating the ideas that life

ultimately means nothing and we should do what we want because we have precious

little time. I saw both Beowulf and Atreyu as being the light in the darkness that

people need in those dark times with depressing thoughts. They bring hope and

life to everyone by instilling in them a sense of purpose. That even if our time on this

earth is short, and in the grand scheme of things, nothing, we still have our life to

live and purposes to fulfill, no matter how minimalistic. This analysis of chapter 11

helped me see Beowulf and Unferth with a new light, instead of the one I had

when reading Beowulf. Chapter 11 sets the stage for the 12th and final chapter

of Grendel, where ideals will clash and tempers will flare, with Beowulf coming

out the victor.