Eric Chen, Period 6, 2/2/23

 Eric Chen

Period 6

2/2/2022

Modern Mythology 2023

Literacy and Learning

Out of all of the pieces of literature we’ve read in this class so far, the one that’s had the most impact on me by far is Grendel. Despite being only three chapters in(and reading the fourth one today), Grendel has done something no other piece of literature has done in this class so far: it surprised me.

I have always liked mythology. I grew up watching dramas about Chinese tales based around mythological characters like Sun Wukong and Jiang Ziya. Then, in eighth grade, I had a mini fascination with history, which included stories from a vast array of cultures. I started looking into stories from various mythologies and over time, I had a basic understanding of a good amount of myths from around the world. This eventually led to me taking myth because it was a topic I thoroughly enjoyed. 

So far, this class has covered Norse mythology, Greek mythology, fairy tales as well as Abrahamic and Egyptian mythology(though to a lesser extent). One of the big themes of this class has been taking some well known myths(as well as some of the lesser known ones) and taking a deeper look into their themes and aspects of the story that we might have originally overlooked. This meant I knew a sizable portion of the stories we’ve read, even if some of them were altered to fit the author’s vision(looking at you Neil Gaiman). Grendel was the first major work we’ve been given that has a vastly different story from the original myth, and it does so by making the protagonist the antagonist from the story of Beowulf. While it’s not the most unique premise for a story I’ve seen, it does accomplish its goal of showing the story of the villain, painting Grendel in a more sympathetic light. On its own, however, this change barely stands out. I’ve read through many stories covering the antagonist’s point of view and when I read the first chapter of Grendel, I thought that the story would be the same as all the other stories I’ve read that tried to fill that niche. 

I think the thing that changed my perception of this iteration of the classic Beowulf story is the historical context of this novel as well as the connection between Grendel and John Gardner, the author. After reading chapter 1, we learned about the historical context of the novel in class. It was written in the 1960s, a time of civil unrest, a time where people protested for civil rights and peace. We also learned about the life of Gardner and how his brother died when he was 11, something that he thought he caused and blamed himself for throughout his life. Grendel became a narrative about the life about a monster trying to find meaning in life to a commentary on the civil unrest at the time Gardner wrote this book as well as an allusion to his own life. Scenes like the one where Grendel questions why humans killed each other during the war became less about Grendel and more like the growing protests against the Vietnam War at the time as well as Gardner’s own feelings on the matter since he knew the feeling of losing a loved one(and the feeling that he took a life). It was something that we could’ve easily missed without someone guiding us through the story, but just knowing the backstory behind the author and the time period it was written in added so much depth to the story. It shows that intent behind a piece matters and has reminded me that everyone has different circumstances and that I should make sure I take that into consideration. Lastly, I’m looking forward to reading World War Z and Interview with the Vampires as they’re both stories I’ve never heard of.