3/3/20 Leyao Yang Period 8

3/3/2020

Modern Mythology 2020

Period 8 

Leyao Yang #32

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

Do Now: Pair-Share

Aquarius: The Water Bearer

How is water (and all things related to water) illustrated in Chapter 11? Why is this particularly significant in comparison to the ending of Chapter 10?

• The conversation began with Adam relating Beowulf to a fish. Previously in chapter 10, Grendel’s mother tells Grendel to “beware of the fish,” and here in chapter 11, Gardener makes several references of Beowulf to a fish: he “has no more beard than a fish” with shoulders “sleek as the belly of a shark.” 
• Ruby adds onto the symbolism of water as we know that water has the power of purifying sins, demonstrated in Noah’s Ark. While Grendel can be viewed as sins, the fish symbol presents Beowulf as a Christ-like figure coming in to cleanse the land of Grendel. 
• I recall from Ms. Fusaro’s Learn to Read packet, that one of the features of a Christ figure was being good with fish/water, a trait of Beowulf much emphasized in Chapter 11. The duality of water lies in its ability to destroy and purify, and in this case, destroying Grendel to cleanse the land. Like Noah’s Ark, there is creation where there is destruction, thus at the end of this chapter, we see a poem about rebirth. Acewin was then able to relate the power back to the priest in previous chapters, calling their greatest god the “Great Destroyer,” which can also be known as the Great Creator.
• Stanley wraps up the discussion by equating Beowulf to hope, who will battle against Grendel representing nihilism. This is symbolic of the aquarius sign as one of their main traits is being hopeful. 

*Although Beowulf does present Christ-like features, it is important to remember that he isn’t Jesus, but still a man with flaws (much like the little boy in The Road).

Next, we watched a brief video explaining the origin of the Jesus Fish symbol. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SEwR60aDGE

We learned that the symbol is in fact an acronym. The Greek word for fish, ichthys, was meant to stand for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.” The symbol played an important part in Christian history, especially during the Roman Empire when Christians were persecuted and had to worship secretly.

The Neverending Story

How can the Neverending Story be compared to Grendel?

Stanley began the discussion by connecting the nothingness to nihilism. He explains the power and strength nihilism holds when people start to lose hope, believing that nothing matters anymore. However, when people start gaining hope again, nihilism weakens. This can be tied back to Beowulf as a beacon of hope to defeat the spread of nihilism amongst people. Ruby then connected the character Gmork to the dragon in Grendel. Nihilism is represented by Grendel, who after meeting the dragon, loses all hope for life. 

The common theme in our answers, as Ms. Fusaro stated, is the idea of nihilism being viral. The dragon passes his ideas to Grendel, who then passes to Unferth. The change in characters of the two demonstrates the power of the “fact” that “nothing matters” possesses. However, when Unferth tries to pass the idea to Beowulf, Beowulf was able to clap back at him, and stop the spread of nihilism. 

Unferth

Does the depiction of unferth from Grendel’s perspective create an empathetic and relatable character in Unferth?

• In this chapter, we see Unferth fulfilling his inner heroism that he deeply valued prior to the meeting with Grendel. He seems to have accepted the fact that he just wasn’t meant to be the one defeating Grendel, and realized that his true purpose was to play the role of a supporter (from what we know from Beowulf, he gave Hrunting to him).
• This depiction allowed us to empathize Unferth more because in Beowulf, we simply saw him as a flat, jealous, and bitter person that felt defeated by the arrival of Beowulf. In Grendel, however, we see Unferth evolve from a hopeful soul looking to become a hero, to a shattered soul with his views absolutely wrecked by Grendel, back to finding meaning again. 

Reflection

Up until now, we see Grendel trying to prove that nothing matters at all. But this chapter has been proving Grendel wrong, showing us that there are meanings in everything, although it might not be what you expect. The arrival of Beowulf marks a twist in the novel as he overthrows the nihilistic ideas imposed by the dragon and Grendel. It’s almost uplifting, to see Unferth abandoning his bitter self and finding new meaning. 

It is ironic, Grendel tries to act chill because he wants to convince himself that nothing matters, yet even the things he deems as pointless have meanings to them. Yes, from an alien’s perspective, it might seem like humans are just living this repeated cycle of life consisting of mundane tasks until we reach our inevitable death. But as humans, we still experience different emotions in our dull everyday lives. What’s stopping us from seeking those meaningful moments?  This somewhat reminds me of Our Town by Thornton Wilder, in that some people are busy getting through the different phases, but they are forgetting that there are meanings in every moment and aren’t appreciating them. Can one really blame life on being boring and repetitive when you’re choosing to ignore the meaningful moments?