Sophia Bejar, 4/7/21, PD 8, Day C

Sophia Bejar
Modern Mythology
4/7/21
Period 8

Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or non-fiction covered in class.

Grendel has many experiences with people who have varying perspectives on life, which over time seems to give more knowledge to Grendel as he grows up since when he was younger he didn’t really have anyone to talk to and learn from. Earlier in the book it seems that Grendel mostly sees things in black and white, good or bad, as he saw the humans as mostly evil and horrible because of their constant fighting over gold, mead halls and glory. First Grendel is heavily influenced by the dragon’s extreme nihilism with the mentality that nothing really matters and sees the human’s efforts to create meaning as foolish. However over time, by seeing different new characters like Wealtheow who embodied compassion and the rather good side of humans, which confused Grendel’s view of humanity.

Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception?

Using the author’s background introduces another perspective to view the book, which is that Gardner himself is present in Grendel due to the similarities and themes of characters. They address Gardner’s guilt for the death of his brother as there’s many allusions to brother-killers in Grendel like Unferth and Grendel’s curse as a descendent of Cain who killed Abel. This influences my critical perception because other than what is written literally with the plot, there is, in some cases like in Grendel where the author’s own life can bring another perspective to a piece of literature. So depending on the book as well, in Grendel we know there is an upcoming Beowulf, by taking these ideas of different perspectives one can view the text in more ways to learn more about it.

How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

Learning about different perspectives and philosophies apply to the world around us because by learning and understanding the different stances about life one can come to their own conclusions about how they feel about the philosophies and one’s own thoughts about the world. In addition, by knowing various philosophies, one can better understand the feelings and viewpoints of others which can help with working together as well. The strategy of looking at something in various lights is also useful in general most things in the world for example when you analyze a piece of literature under one view but it’s not working you can try another which can also be applied to other various problems you can encounter in the future, which is trying things from another angle for more understanding.