“The Things They Carried” The narrative “The Things They Carried” by Tim O'Brien shows the man versus self conflict of the inexperienced Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and his troop in the Vietnam war. O’Brien tells the story of the lieutenant’s struggles, sacrifices and transformation that the war inflicted on him. Struggle was no stranger to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross or his grunts deep in the swamps of Vietnam. They struggled across the lush jungle with the physical burden of carrying all the possessions they would need to eat, sleep, and live in the foreign mud, or at least everything the US Army found fit to issue them for such a task.
Grendel let’s the animals know that his fate will soon happen to him and he knows this, but the animals are not understood they are just looking at him slowly die. “Overcome by both terror and joy, Grendel whispers to them, “Poor Grendel’s had an accident. . . . So may you all” (Gardner 12). Grendel whisper’s the quote and is overcome with joy because he never knew that the animals were so calm and that they wouldn’t attack him for unexplainable reasons and he is terrified because he remembers all the times that he was attacked or spooked off by the animals. Finally, Grendel is done with life he get’s to the cliff and sits there thinking about what’s going to happen in his life flashes before his eyes and he thinks of how Beowulf got him and claims it was an accident because she slipped on blood, so he runs out of the hall.
So the dragon told Grendel to start killing the knights and people at the meadhall because it would keep the society alive. If Grendel keeps killing people in meadhall every year, the knights and the king would keep planning a defense every year to keep the monster away from the valley. Grendel did what the Dragon told him, on the first night of Grendel attack. Grendel didn't know what he was doing because that was his first time. He made his appearance seeable quick, he try to kill other one knight to see how it really felt to kill someone but other knights saw him and that's when they all attacked Grendel.
In conclusion, in both of the novels the theme of isolation is presented through Grendel. He becomes evil, wants to be accepted, he feels helpless and he wants to take revenge. Both of the novels show that Grendel is alone and he is characterized as a evil monster because he doesn't know anything, but to do bad things to other people. Grendel doesn’t have intentions to kill people but his loneliness leads him to become evil because he feels that he is unwanted in his world. All in all, Grendel’s isolation is caused by not being understood and listened.
At the end of Chapter 12, Grendel’s last words were “Poor Grendel’s had an accident … So may you all.” (Gardner 174). Such words are meant as a curse to affect mankind. To start off, Grendel’s relationship with humans are not great.
Rhetorical Analysis of “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” Many people believe monsters are imaginary creatures that are seen in movies or even for others, it could be a serial killer that was heard about on the news. Stephen T. Asma wrote “Monsters and the Moral Imagination” which “first appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education in October 2009” (Hoffman 61). Asma, who is a professor of philosophy, examines how different individual’s perceptions of a monster can be different depending on the era or even events happening around them. In “Monsters and the Moral Imagination,” Stephen T. Asma wrote a nonfiction, persuasive article for an educated and possibly specialized audience to examine how the idea of monsters have changed over time, what could be the motivation to create them, or even how life experiences could change an individual’s perceptions.
Grendel was this grim beast who haunted the moors and secluded fens; this troublesome one had long lived with monsters since the Creator had declared his exile. Grendel had been punished and separated from the company of man and God through the sins of Cain. Being a descendant from Cain, Grendel is full of evil and deceitfulness. This fuels his hatred, and a desire to destroy goodness from the world of which he can have no part in. His first night of violent attacks was describe as “The unholy creature, grim and ravenous, was ready at once, ruthless and cruel, and took from their thirty thanes; thence
Iago vs. Grendel In well written short stories, movies, and books, readers are always drawn to the villians or characters with the dark backstories, and sometimes may even root for them. This is no difference when it comes to Grendel in the epic story of Beowulf, and Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello. But between these two fictional characters, most readers can feel for one more than the other.
Monsters will NEVER ever die: all cultures around the world have them and have had them since people first thought of them. Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Columbia College Chicago, Stephen T. Asma, in his essay, Monsters and the Moral Imagination, describes how we look at and are drawn to monsters. But not just monsters, murderers and psychopaths also. Monsters never age, ranging from the first civilization to now. In Asma's essay he asks, "Why do monsters exist?
In Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s Monster Culture (Seven Thesis), Cohen analyzes the psychology behind monsters and how, rather than being a monstrous beast for the protagonist of the story to play against, “the monster signifies something other than itself”. Cohen makes the claim that by analyzing monsters in mythology and stories, you can learn much about the culture that gave rise to them. In Thesis 1 of Monster Culture, Cohen proposes that “the monster’s body literally incorporates fear, desire, anxiety, and fantasy”, specifically the fear, desire and anxiety of the cultures that gave rise to it;; fFor example, vVampires, undead, represent a fear of death. Monsters are born of an intense fear, desire, or internal conflict, “at this metaphorical
Molly Childree Fleischbein EH 102.147 Draft February 5,2018 Our world is full of monsters, some imaginary, but most are legitimate and terrifying. In his text “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)”, Jeffery Jerome Cohen examines the use of monsters in literate and cinema. Cohen makes the claim that the use of monsters, historically and presently, in forms of entertainment symbolizes more than just the fear they instill in audiences. A monster is no longer just a monster.
Some of the main qualities that make up the basis of a monster include a creature that mostly deviates from the norm and can pose a threatening force against the rest of society. When it comes to works of fiction, the machine has taken a prominent role in the formation of monsters and continues to do so as societies reliance on technology increases. In 1818s Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, The Curse of Frankenstein produced by Hammer Studios in 1957, and Ex Machina made in 2015 each tells the story of a man pushing the limits and bringing to life a new being, in turn creating a monster. These creations deviate from their creator’s initial expectations and change from being viewed as a wonder to something of horror forcing
The Monster’s Nature “For while I destroyed his hopes, I did not satisfy my own desires. They were forever ardent and craving; I still desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all human kind sinned against me?” (Chapter 24, 240)
The monster archetype has been one of the most riveting archetypes that surrounds the concept of ‘evil’. It has been portrayed as a supernatural creature with grotesque features that normally brings disruption to the city and needs to be tamed or controlled to bring once again peace to the story. Due to this, it is most commonly depicted with a negative connotation, and with the idea of horror and fear. The monster has been present since the bible, which was written approximately 3,400 years ago, with the anecdote of Goliath. It has remained with its primary role of converting the protagonist into a hero and providing fear to the storyline.
Regardless of who we strive to be, or who we dare not to be, those who we respect and look up to will be the ones who leave an impression on our lives. To the Monster’s credit, it continued to pursue a life of good deeds until the people it idolized turn on it. Because of the influence made on it by its parental figures the Monster behaves like an outsider, and as an outsider it gains new role models and is governed by new emotions such as anger and hate. The monster should not be blamed for its malicious nature, rather, the people who taught it hate and the Doctor who created it without a true intent of being its
