Rafi Arnob, Period 8, 2/8/22

 Rafi Arnob, 2/8/22, Period 8

1. Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or nonfiction covered in class.

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

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

During their Norse mythology presentation, group 1 discussed the real-world application and cultural background surrounding the stories The Last Days of Loki and The Death of Balder. In doing so, they cited two pieces of nonfiction aligning the concept of revenge and its psychology to nordic culture. The first piece, ‘Twas dangerous to insult a Viking, described how revenge was treated during the peak of the Vikings. The passage states that Vikings were “expected to take revenge.” If they failed to defend themselves, they would lose the right to ask for financial compensation. To me, it seems like nordic culture not only allowed revenge, it encouraged it. Stripping away the ability to “sue” incentivized Vikings to seek revenge. 

The concept of revenge is very frowned upon in the Greek, Roman, and Japanese myths so it was hard for me to envision an entire culture to promote a concept like revenge at the time. Learning that the Vikings did, surprised me. From then on, I kept this “vengeful” side of culture in mind when reading Norse stories. 

The second nonfiction text described the motivations behind revenge in humans. In it, the author, Michael Price, masterfully structures the psychological aspects of the concept by presenting a notion that is believed to be true by most people (that people get revenge to release frustration and anger) and then disproving this belief with scientific studies immediately after. He clarifies that in fact, humans tend to get more frustrated after taking revenge because we cannot trivialize the incident anymore. At that point, the situation is a “big deal”. In reality, humans seek revenge to “punish” those who have misbehaved, even if it hurts the avenger in the process. After digesting this, I started to realize that one reason the Norse are incentivizing revenge is because they want to avoid dealing with those who step out of line. By enabling revenge, fewer Vikings will behave in a way that is going to get them targeted and this achieves the inter-community peace the Norse wanted.

Overall, analyzing these nonfiction pieces helped me answer the questions about the role of revenge in Norse culture. Through this analysis, it became apparent to me that I have to view most pieces through a critical lens.

 In The Death of Balder,  Loki’s provocative actions led to Balder's death. Even though Loki’s portrayed as a  jokester who does things like this in the Norse myths, viewing his actions through a modern critical theory lens calls the god’s morality into question. Without the use of critical theory, it’d be easy for me to chalk this up to “Loki being Loki.” Conversely, however, with a new historicism lens, his actions are a lot more justifiable as we take the ruthless Norse environment into account.

Outside of our Modern Mythology class, I’m trying to make a conscious effort to use critical lenses as well. When I look at court cases in AP Gov, I try to view them using multiple lenses. This way I can fully maximize all the work has to offer, much like I did with The Last Days of Loki and The Death of Balder.