Lawyer+4+(D+Block)

Bokyung Kang

// “The world and everything in it is unplanned accident, existence is meaningless; the past is irrelevant; nothing matters.” //

1. Unplanned accident When Grendel slips on human blood, on page 171, " If you win, it's by mindless chance, make no mistake. First you tricked me, and then I slipped. Accident." Grendel believes that it is an accident and if Grendel didn't slip on the blood, we never expect who is the winner of the battle. This incident shows that even little accidents are unplanned.

2. Existence is meaningless When Grendel meet the dragon, dragon thinks nothing man creates- religion, poetry, and philosophy will survive the destruction of time, which means, everything that human created or even human beings are meaningless because everything will be destroyed and nothing lasts forever. "So I might set aside Hrothgar’s whole kingdom and all his thanes. If I did not, for sweet desire’s sake set limits to desire. If I murdered the last of the Scyldings, what would I live for? I’d have to move (158).” Grendel is stating that his life is so meaningless he would have nothing to live for if he could not simply go and kill several people.

3. Past is irrelevant In chapter 12, Grendel sums up his belief in three words, //nihilo ex nihilo//, which means nothing from nothing. This Latin phrase shows Grendel's pretentiousness, and he thinks because time passes moment by moment, the past is just as irrelevant as the future. He can ignore anything that isn't happening right now.

4. Nothing matters "I understood that the world was nothing; a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly- as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back" In this quote Grendel finds no purpose in the shifting world in which he finds himself and so many others are pointless beings.

__Statement__ We are living our lives that we can never expect what is going to happen tomorrow even an hour later from now. Those events that happened in our lives makes us happy, sad, and angry. These events are not planned or destined. It is all unplanned accident and meaningless. Grendel slips on human blood while he is fighting over Beowulf, Grendel says " If you win, it's by mindless chance, make no mistake. First you tricked me, and then I slipped. Accident." Grendel thinks that it is an unplanned accident to lose this battle and he might have won if he didn't slip on the blood. When Grendel meets the dragon, dragon changes Grendel's mind by telling him about how life is meaningless and nothing matters. Dragon thinks that everything that man creates- religion, poetry, and philosophy will be destroyed. Also, on page 158, "So I might set aside Hrothgar's whole kingdom and all his thanes. If I did not, for sweet desire's sake set limits to desire. If I murdered the last of he Scyldings, what would I live for? I'd have to move." Grendel states that his life is so meaningless that he would have nothing to live for If he could not simply go and kill people. In chapter 12, Grendel sums up his belief in three words, //nihilo ex nihilo.// which means nothing from nothing in Latin. This phrase shows Grendel's pretentiousness, and he thinks time passes moment by moment, the past is just as irrelevant as the future. He can ignore anything that isn't happening right now. If we go back to Chapter 2, when Grendel is attacked by a bull, Grendel says "I understood that the world was nothing; a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly- as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back", Grendel doesn't find any purpose in the world, and he thinks that so many others are pointless beings including himself. 

__Questions__

Dragon: Can you tell us what your basic beliefs in life are? How did they develop? Why? Ashes to ashes.. What does it mean? So it wouldn't really matter since everyone is going to die? According to what you said on page 63, "If you with your knowledge of present and past recall that a certain man slipped on, say, a banana peel, or fell off his chair, or drowned in a river, that recollection does not mean that you caused him to slip, or fall, or drown.... knowledge is not cause." knowing about the past doesn't affect future or make a big difference in life?

Grendel:

"So I might set aside Hrothgar’s whole kingdom and all his thanes. If I did not, for sweet desire’s sake set limits to desire. If I murdered the last of the Scyldings, what would I live for? I’d have to move (158)." Are you saying that your life is so meaningless that you have nothing to live for if you can't simply go and kill several people? What do you mean by //nihilo ex nihilo// (nothing from nothing) ? Why are you so attracted to Dragon's philosophy?

__Letter Reflection__ Through the letter from John Gardner, I got a better understanding of what the author really wants to talk about towards the audience. While I was reading Grendel and Beowulf, I had some questions about characters and quotes that I couldn't understand, and reading this letter helped me understand deep philosophies of each characters. Furthermore, the letter contains some facts about characters that the book never mentioned which was helpful for my statement.