Isabella Ng, Period 1, 03/16/2022

Isabella Ng, Period 1, 03/16/2022


Literacy & Learning Reflection
- 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?


My favorite part about reading Grendel was analyzing Gardner’s carefully constructed imagery and symbols. I was really amazed by the depth of Gardner’s writing, the precision of his language, and his ability to layer so many concepts and symbols into one cohesive narrative. I feel like Grendel is a novel that I can reread many times over and still find new connections in. In class, my group and I analyzed the significance of snow in chapter nine, and we concluded that snow symbolized the inevitability of death. Typically associated with winter, snow represents the coming of the final season– the season of death. Throughout the novel, the changing of seasons aligned with Grendel’s coming of age story. For example, springtime represented Grendel’s youth and naivety, while autumn represented Grendel’s maturation. Now that winter has arrived, it’s likely that this is an indication of a major change in Grendel’s life. I found it really fascinating how snow also served to foreshadow the coming of Beowulf. Unlike other examples of foreshadowing (such as the old woman warning of a “giant across the sea” in chapter ten and of the dead hart in chapter nine), the snow in chapter nine is a much more subtle reminder of Grendel’s fate. Furthermore, snow symbolizes death because it falls on everyone and everything– the same way that death touches all life. Throughout the chapter, Gardner describes snow falling on everything, including the priests, the animals, Grendel, and even the physical world itself. Gardner even writes, “the town is dead.”


Additionally, in the same chapter, Ork identifies time as humanity’s greatest enemy because it is what causes everything in life to decay and wither away. In this way, snow can also be seen as a symbol of time, which, like death, spares nothing. This reminded me of an excerpt from a book I read last year by physicist Brian Greene titled Until the End of Time. In a chapter about time and thermodynamics, Greene explains how the second law of thermodynamics powers a theory that may lead to the heat death of the universe. Brian Greene describes it like this: “anything that thinks may burn up in the heat generated by its own thoughts. Thought itself may become physically impossible.” I was extremely unsettled the first time I read this passage. I remember grappling with the same questions Grendel asked himself throughout the novel. So what? What’s the point? But in Grendel, the humans seem to have it all figured out. They have the Shaper. They have poetry, religion, and meaning– and this is enough. While reading Grendel, I immediately thought of Brian Greene because throughout his novel (which reads almost like a love letter to existentialism) Greene explains how mathematics, language, creativity, and religion all help us forge our own meanings in life. He quotes Toni Morrison: “We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” Personally, I hope to embrace existentialism so that I can fully embrace every moment I am lucky enough to know. I love the idea that I can decide for myself what I want my life to mean– because if I can believe in anything, why not believe that life can be beautiful?