Elizabeth Vesialou, Pd. 2, 3/11/2021 Day A

 Wednesday, March 11, 2021                                                              Elizabeth Vesialou

Literacy & Learning

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

         Over the course of this year, we have learned about many cultures through reading literature that represented their belief system. Reading Norse Mythology has been a new experience for me because I’ve never learned about it before and the culture and stories from Norse culture are different, yet similar, to other cultures’ myths and beliefs. Beowulf and Grendel are eye opening novels because of the different views they offer on the same character of Grendel. In Beowulf he is a human eating monster that rampages randomly into human events and causes trouble while killing many. The novel Grendel offers insight into his character by providing a backstory to his difficult relationship with humans. We see Grendel in a different light because of the negative influence that the Shaper and humans had on him. The Shaper spreads unfortunate information about him to others, which causes humans to see Grendel as the enemy and attack him. This caused character development for Grendel as he gradually turns on humans and becomes the Grendel that was the villain in Beowulf. This moderate spin on a seemingly villainous character offers insight into what we have become as a society. Many movies and books today aren't black and white. They show the grey areas between good and evil because people nowadays focus on the complexities that come with personality, psychology, and people's behavior in general. We tend to search for the reasons why somebody is the way they are instead of just labeling them (most of the time). Thus, trends have been seen in giving more context to a villain in order to humanize them. For example in the tv series, "Once Upon a Time" villains such as The Evil Queen and Rumpelstiltskin are given tragic backstories of how them developed from kind people into "evil" ones, and some even seek redemption. Thus, a novel such as Grendel is yet another example of the "grey area" and complexity that many works of art focus on presently, in addition to the author's own history (being in an accident that killed his brother, which means in some ways he could relate to Grendel) that influenced the character he selected to shift perspective for. In fact, shifting our perspective has been an overlying theme for many of the works that we read in this mythology course. 

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

          In this mythology course, especially in Greek mythology, we saw how many of the issues that exist today stem from the “societal norms” that existed so long ago. The lives of the Greek gods are a perfect representation of where the problems that women face today such as inequality because of “gender roles” and sexual harassment come from. The relationship of Zeus and Hera along with Zeus’s actions on their own belittle large injustices such as rape and adultery. For example, Zeus is known to cheat on Hera and have kids with other women. Hera’s response to this is to blame the women and torture the child that is born from the affair. This quality of Hera’s that makes her irrationally put the child through what could be seen as torture, depicts women as emotional, irrational, and lesser than men. Additionally, the face that she blames others instead of Zeus suggests that men can do no wrong, even while cheating on their wives. This reaction from Hera can even be considered a result of her unwavering love for him because she can’t seem to blame him for her pain and even I mistook it for this when first reading the story. However, this is a subtle hint at the societal norm that when men stray it’a normal and even expected, while when women stray it’s a problem. This class allowed me to change my perception of Greek myths and have shown me the dangers they can have on those who don’t see through the surface of the myth. While I feel as though as a society we have been making progress in how women are approached and treated by others, plenty  of norms are still present such as calling women”sluts” for the same choices that men are applauded for. Also, sexual harassment and rape are still large issues today and their problematic nature isn’t seen to the full extent. This idea could again be brought back to Greek mythology because in many myths the affairs that he has with women are actually a result of rape. Greek mythology not only blames the victim, as society still does today in many circumstances, but also glosses over the fact that it was rape, a traumatic crime, which is highly problematic all on its own. Victim blaming is still a fight today and stemmed from centuries upon centuries of inequality and oppression of women. 

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

     The novel Grendel has been one that is easily applicable to other classes as well as myself and the world around me. Grendel is a character who has been misunderstood and traumatized because of this. In our group discussions we compared him to a teenager because of his actions and the idea of feeling as though nobody understands you and as though you're trapped. This reminded me of the psychology course I'm taking because we discuss how these teenage years, the part of our brain that isn't fully developed yet is the part that controls impulsiveness. Thus, it is more difficult for us to control our actions and many times we impulsively do or say things that we regret later on and Grendel feels this uncertainty in his life. The other psychological issue facing him, as well as teenagers, is to figure out our identity. This is the time in our life that we are trying to figure out who we are and what our purpose is. Grendel is discovering new things and is aimless because of lack of support and contact from others. He is also related to somebody who killed his brother and this is probably a large part of his background that affects him everyday, especially with the Shaper telling others that he is the enemy. Teenagers, including myself, also have to face others' bad opinions of us that they spread and they deal with that while trying to find some direction during this period in life. Overall, Grendel as a character is relatable, especially from a psychological standpoint. 

    Additionally, Norse mythology in general can be connected to my history classes from prior years. We learned about how Christian missionaries would travel and force their culture and belief systems on others, causing some cultures to be almost completely lost. This is evident through the story of Beowulf, especially the movie version. The movie takes the original idea of an honorary death for the Norse, which is in battle, and adds a Christian value to it. In the movie, Beowulf dies in a battle with the dragon attacking his people after having redeemed himself with his loved ones. This is a Christian quality of an honorable death, not a Norse, and is one of many examples of how Christian beliefs start to overpower Norse values during that time period. The Norse are just one of the groups of people that had Christians influence their way of life, which I learned about in history classes in high school.