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Personally, I found this article very interesting to read as I learned many new things about the story of "Beowful" that I did not know previously. From reading "Slaying Monsters" I was very interested in the three journeys of Beowulf and his relationships with other characters after Grendel. Obviously Beowulf is the "prince of the Geats" who are a tribe that lived in what is today Sweden. He defeats Grendel but, also continues to have more battles with different monsters throughout his life. This article used the translated text of "Beowulf" (originally in Old English) to emphasis its point about the other journeys Beowulf faced. First he was faced with the battle against Grendel when he received King Hrothgars word for help, and Beowulf was able to defeat him. The article then continued on to analyze Grendel's feelings and how he seemed "childlike" in all situations because he still had a mother. Furthermore, when Grendel comes home to his mother to die she quickly becomes outraged about his close state of death, which resulted in another fight between this monster (the mother) and Beowulf. That battle ends with Beowulf killing Grendel and his mother. Next Beowulf is faced in a battle with a dragon from Geatland, his home land who has been guarding a sacred treasure for almost three hundred years now. This situation was rather intriguing to me because it had been several years since Beowulf had defeated Grendel and his mother, making him around eighty years old. He was now tired and very old as he had been the King of the Geats and ruled them for fifty years. It puzzled me as to why Beowulf "insists on going into the contest alone" and dismissing his knights from his side upon battling. I believe that he did that in hopes that he would again find/feel the satisfaction of defeating a monster and becoming the town's hero. Fortunately, one of his knights did not run into the forest and helped him defeat the dragon, but soon after that Beowulf's life comes to an end. Even though Beowulf died at the end of this battle he still passed away as hero since he "has not lost his touch" as "he ripped up the serpent" as the article stated. I believe that heroism is what Beowulf was looking for as he aged. He longed for the reassurance that he still had the power and strength to defeat evil figures, as he did in his youthful days. Overall these three specific defensive battles by Beowulf and his death are what really stood out to me through the analysis of "Beowulf" in this article.

Link to the article: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/02/slaying-monsters

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I chose to discuss Elijah Bower's picture post regarding his personal meaning of Darkness. Elijah is in 6th period, and I thought that his picture representing Darkness was incredible. Normally we don't associate darkness with humans and their daily encounters, but instead we associate it with only monsters and scary thoughts. Furthermore, I agree with him when he states his belief that the blindfolds in this picture are representative of the ignorance and intolerance of humans, and once we begin to remove them we eliminate darkness from our lives. Thus reducing the darkness we are also able to reach our full potential as humans, as Elijah said. I think his analyzation of Darkness is different from others in the way that he looked at it from a humanistic approach rather than something that we as a collective species fear. Now I completely understand why Elijah chose to post this picture on the Unit Two Page.

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I think that Grendel would enjoy listening to the band Coldplay. Most of their songs are mellow and exhibit a softer tune, which I think Grendel would be drawn to. Specifically, "Fix You" is the song that I think Grendel would listen to most often.

This song is very soft, slow, and calming and does not have loud parts that would upset Grendel. Thus, the song is very settle and quiet, giving the listener the ability to think deeply about the true meaning of the lyrics. Beowulf describes Grendel as "living in the darkness, growled in pain, impatient, as day after day the music rang," showing that Grendel hated the loud noise heard in "that hall" everyday. He feared unity and since he was able to hear the singing and music that was "loud in the hall" he was frightened by that. Therefore, the fact that this song is very soothing it will help to relax Grendel with his continued fear of community.

Also, I think that the lyrics in this song have the ability to speak to Grendel on a personal level. A specific example of this is when the song says "When you get what you want, but not what you need." This part relates to how Grendel truly feels about his continued, "eleven years now and going on twelve", attacks on Hrothgar and his people. Grendel is able to succeed by winning this attack and get what he wants but not what he actually needs. He is haunted by the idea of love and community, but in reality that is what Grendel actually needs. He lacks love from his parents since they were "By God, punished forever for the crime of Abel's death." Further text from Beowulf states that "their exile was bitter" and they were "shut away from men." Grendel still does not see his parents nor live in a nourishing environment with them and as a result he lacks what needs; love.

Another part of the song that I believe relates to Grendel is when it says "But if you never try you'll never know, Just what you're worth." Grendel struggles with the thought to attack Herot or to not attack Herot. Beowulf describes Grendel's attacks as something they can handle as seen when the text reads "and again and again defeated..." meaning that the Gods that they believe in have been able to beat the "fiends, goblins, monsters, giants" that Grendel is described as. Since his parents have experienced a bitter exile, I still believe that deep down Grendel contemplates whether or not attack Herot since he is aware of the experiences of his parents are other "forms of evil" when attacking or killing.

I think that this song would be one that Grendel would listen to after this specific attack on the mead-hall as describe in annotation number two. He leaves the town as he hears the people singing since they believe "by some lunatic theory they had won" which makes Grendel "shake with rage." He describes himself by saying "I cringe, clawing my flesh, and flee for home" upon his exiting. In Grendel's case this song discusses the lose of love and unity as described by the line "when you lose something you can't replace." Here Grendel is struggling with the lose of admiration and nurture from his family, that he still barely knew.

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I imagine Grendel as a very scary monster that everybody fears. To me Grendel's appearance is very important in his ability to make people fear him but also his presence is haunting. In annotation two the old shaper "goes out the back window with his harp at a single bound" and takes his own life in fear or Grendel's presence. This part of the text shows the impact of Grendel's presence due to the fact that the old shaper was blind and he still would rather have taken is own life away instead of Grendel taking it for him. I think that the impact of his presence on the towns people plays an important role in the way that he looks to them as well.

In terms of physical features I imagine Grendel as a very tall monster that close resembles a man. I think that he does not look much different from a typical man except for his high and incredible strength. In the text (pg 42) it is stated that Grendel picks up citizens of the town with each hand, implying how strong he is, which makes him appear differently from the typical human or as a "monster". I also imagine Grendel as living in an area underneath the ground which implies that he is covered in the remnants from that area. The text states that he was "spawned in that slime", meaning that his body was coated with a type of substance found in his lair that was not found in Herot. I believe that is another reason why the people consider Grendel to be a monster because he exhibits physical features that the typical person does not.

I imagine Grendel to be lurking underneath something, like shown in the picture below. In annotation one the text says that Grendel was "living down in the darkness" meaning that he was not living in the town of Herot, therefore he was isolated. A result of him being isolated makes the towns people believe that he always hiding or lurking in the shadows, and is going to attack when they least expect if like in the picture below.

I think that Grendel represents a human more than a monster. I believe this because he says "I am no stranger here. A respected guest." in the opening lines of Annotation two. I believe that means that he has obviously been to Herot before but he has also experienced living there. Furthermore, I think that Grendel was once part of the society of the town but a tremendous event occurred that made Grendel started to live in what he "made his home in a hell."