Jian Hong Su, Period 6, 3/15/23

Literacy & Learning

Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or nonfiction 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?

For the past month, our class has been reading and analyzing Grendel. For me, the lesson on chapter 9 had the greatest impact. All the characters that are able to communicate with Grendel (the dragon, Ork, Unferth, etc) are all outcasts, just like Grendel. Chapter 9 focuses mainly on Ork and “The King of the Gods”, and the underlying bond that ties everything together is the difference between perception and reality. Ork, a priest but is blind, is unable to perceive the reality that is a monstrous being (Grendel) in front of him, and is led to believe that Grendel is “the destroyer, thus leading to all the dialogue that follows. 

The first thing that came to mind from “perception vs reality” was a term I learned in psychology: availability heuristic (availability bias), which by definition is our tendency to use information that comes to mind quickly when evaluating a specific topic or decision, or more commonly known as stereotyping. Our knowledge of others and the world is limited, so we tend to use prior knowledge/experiences to quickly make judgments even when that information might not apply to your current situation. I felt like this ties in with what we perceive vs what is the reality of the situation as is portrayed with Ork and Grendel.

Reflecting on myself, I have had thoughts that stereotyped people as well. “That jock must be dumber than me”, “He likes anime, so he must be socially awkward”, “That person looks like he’s homeless from his clothes”, etc. Even though I am more aware of it now, I still find it hard to entirely stop my instinctual prejudice from first impressions,  although I think that my awareness of this issue is a good first step.