Artem Lavrov, Period 1, 3/4/2022

Artem Lavrov

Period 1

3/4/2022

Modern Mythology 2022


Literacy & Learning

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

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

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


Since the beginning of the school year, we have read many fictional pieces, but by far my favorites were the stories of Greek and Norse mythology. To me, they were like a lens into ancient cultures and their values, and even though they seemed like simple stories, through our analysis of them I learned that they were so much more. Through these discussions and our discussions of fairy tales, I realized that even the simplest stories have value, for even if they do not seem to amount to much, they represent the core values of a society. I also realized that every story has a hidden meaning, even if the author did not intend one, for the world the author lives in and their beliefs will always make it into their story, intentionally or not. So while it is important to appreciate a story for its more obvious elements, you are not getting the full story unless you take the time to uncover what is beneath the surface. While I knew this before I took this class, I never realized how much hidden meaning there is in a story.

Right now we are reading Grendel, and due to the extreme focus on Nihilism in the book, we have discussed it a fair bit, which has gotten me to think a lot about it. Nihilism has always been a fascinating ideology to me because to me it symbolizes giving up. To believe there is no purpose to anything that is done and that nothing matters is a very pessimistic view on life, and very dangerous to anyone who believes in it. Yet technically, it is correct. In 1000 years, no one will remember me, who I was, what I believed in, my life goals. Initially, I was upset during our discussions because although I didn’t want to believe it, the dragon was right, nothing has importance in the grand scheme of things. However, as I thought about it more, I realized that it doesn’t matter if I what I do is important to the universe, it only has to be important to me. The universe was not created with a meaning in mind, it is us humans who believe there must be a meaning to everything. Order is an entirely foreign concept to the rest of the universe: in AP biology, we learned that everything goes towards a state of higher entropy in the universe, except life. Life is the one bastion of order that fights against a universe of chaos. This concept is even present in the mythologies that we read about: almost all of their creation stories begin with chaos, and then order slowly comes out of that chaos. So to tie it all back to Nihilism, while Nihilism is technically correct, it is also very wrong. As a form of life, we fight against chaos to create order. Whether what we do affects the universe should not matter to us at all, for nothing affects the universe, it is just chaos. However, we can affect our small lives, the people around us, and we can create our own meaning, our own importance, our own purpose. This belief of mine comes through an amalgamation of things I have learned throughout my life and a significant amount of those things I learned in this class. Through discussion of Greek and Norse values, Nihilism in Grendel, or Ancient Egypt and the bible, and all the other stories we have read, I have been forced to think about so many concepts that I would never have thought about otherwise, and only now, through writing this blog did I realize how they all came together. So to tie it back to Grendel, I believe that he became a monster because he submitted himself to Nihilism, and that he serves as a warning of the dangers of Nihilism and how important it is to remember to make the most of your life and make it matter to you, because it certainly will not matter to the universe.