No New Tale To Tell

Ever since I was little, I could watch the same movie or show over and over and over again. Sometimes repetition is soothing, a familiar presence in a persons life. It's always good to have a familiar sort of routine or "tale" but as there has always been a new "tale to tell" since the beginning of humans. We, as a people, make up the the tales of time, a prime example being Adam and Eve. Everyday a new reality is made and we always log it or remember it. Newspapers, the media, and the internet are all examples of the "tales" we make. The idea of no new tale to tell i think isn't real. Its similar to the idea of "can't teach a dog new tricks" in the sense that old ideals or stories can't change or become new. If there was no new tale to tell, we could never move on as a society or human beings.

Truth

In Grendel, we all know that Hrothgar isn't exactly the greatest guy ever. He's killed a bunch of people, taken over lots of kingdoms, made people think he was trustworthy when the reality is he's a backstabbing, old man. But the Shaper does a pretty remarkable job of making Hrothgar's actions seem like hes a God. The Shaper is used as a dual story teller in Grendel, one that shows what the men of Thanes (or danes? I'm never quite sure who Hrothgar's people are) show what they think of how they have acted. Because Grendel is only first person view, we don't really know what the people think of him or how they view their own accomplishments, so the Shaper is that point of view and voice. In Beowulf we never got to see what Grendel thought but in Gardener's book we have a view of both sides. However, the Shaper is giving Hrothgar and his men a little too much credit and the fact that everything he says has a huge effect on Grendel doesn't make much sense. But if you look at it from a modern day view it makes more sense. For example, if 3 people are in a fight and decide to gossip about it later, each person gets their side of the story told. Two will villanize the other person entirely and one will tell the story from a bias standpoint. That bias standpoint cane make either side seem that much better or that much worse. Its the same in Grendel and because the Shaper distorts the truth to make Hrothgar and his men that much more favorable, that becomes the truth to Grendel and everyone else.

Modern Day Grendel

The best modern example I could think of for a lovable, evil like Grendel is the Grinch. Although I'm not sure if the Grinch is monster or human or elf warlord or some kind of chemically experimented green pepper, but he shares many characteristics of Grendel in a child descriptive manner. For starters, the Grinch is living alone with his dog near a village of happy people. Grendel lives alone with his mother near a town of rich and happy men. Both can't stand being in the state they're in - outcasts, sad, and lonely - so they want to take their anger out on the people having a good time. Plus, both are out of grace with some sort of other being; the Grinch with Santa and Grendel with god, thus each tries to get their revenge on those that have all that they don't. The Grinch steals Christmas from the town and Grendel murders every night. Now, if we were to hypothetically put the Grinch where Grendel's situation is, and there is no Christmas, chances are he would resort to killing. He had no other options and he was desperate or, in modern terms, “thirsty”.  In addition, from the town’s point of view, both are thought of as monsters and thus villainized before the reader thinks of their side of the story. Although, the Grinch didn't end up dead whereas Grendel has his arm ripped off and slowly died still alone, with only his mom.

Me

Name: Alana Marie Bourgeois
Gender: Female
Year: 2015, Junior
Occupation: Student seeking to win the lottery
Hobbies: Practicing languages, and stand up comedy (not really the comedy but its a good backup)
Likes: The color blue, foreign countries, sweet foods, my pets
Dislikes: Veggies (so un-yummy), math

I currently live in the South Loop with my mother and two pets. One dog and one cat that are particularly annoying at 6 in the morning, regardless of the day of the week, but give lots of love and affection. Since i was a little kid i have always traveled with my mom and met people from all over the world. We once owned a house in Mexico that was built by my grandfather and traveled there a lot before i started kindergarten. Partially due to the fact everyone in my family has some slightly big-shot job - lawyers, judges, dentists, doctors, in television production - and partially due to the fact my mother is a Jewish parent, the expectations on me to be great are high. Because I've always been motivated to be great i decided to be a diplomat of a foreign country which is why i'm currently studying Japanese, Chinese and Hebrew. The Hebrew is because my mom speaks it almost fluently an we want to travel to Israel together soon. But because I'm trying to be a diplomat I spent the past two summers in Japan studying and next summer i plan to go to China. However, if being a diplomat fails, I've decided I'll go into stand up comedy. I think i would have a real talent for it.