A Song Of Fire And Ice Analysis

There are two sides to every story. The events may be the same, but the tone in which the story is told shapes the reader’s understanding of the events. This idea is never more evident than through the disparity between Burton Raffel’s translation of Beowulf and John Gardner’s Grendel. Both novels are based on the idea of Beowulf killing Grendel. However, the two different points of view telling the story create vastly different novels. Beowulf highlights the heroic and positive world in which Beowulf lives. Whereas Grendel elucidates on the miserable life that Grendel is circumscribed to. The consistent variance in tone skews the events in two completely different directions. The tone between Beowulf and Grendel differ in

Beowulf, king of the Geats, engages in battles in order to protect his community from physical creatures while King Arthur’s knights engage in spiritual battles against evil temptation which lurks around every corner. Beowulf proudly displays his prowess before he must confront Grendel, the “God-cursed brute” when he declares with bold confidence that he “can calm the turmoil” (Heaney 11, 21). Beowulf boasts of his strength, pledging to kill Grendel with his bare hands. Grendel, the cursed descendant of Cain, enjoys death and destruction, ruining Hrothgar’s reputation with every attack on his kingdom. The monster kills one of his men, angering the Thanes and encouraging them to fight

This remorse, “blue-black like poison”, kills them slowly until nothing is left but, “dead ashen hollows” (15). This first chapter describes a war from beginning to end, dealing with the events that transform the men from “Iron Youth” to “old folk” in a matter of two years (18).

As the fireman, Guy Montag, from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury changes his view on the world, his view on fire changes as well. Throughout the book he encounters many different people who each change him in different ways. Some people convince him that fire is great because of its destruction. It burns away the things that make people unhappy, and changes things. However, as his journey continues, he begins to see fire as an escape. By the end of the book, he realizes that fire does not just take and destroy, but it gives.

The concept of physical war is universally understood while many do not recognize internal struggles as a war within. The wife of bath, Beowulf, Lanval, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight all share a common theme of internal struggle. From a mental war over the kingdoms precedent, to an altering decision on whether knightly virtues are more important than his own life, these characters are battling the ideology of their roles during their time periods, as well as themselves.

Set in an era long before the customs of contemporary western civilization, Heaney’s translation of Beowulf follows the courageous hero through an epic journey that solidifies his figurative immortality. Much like the Greek’s great Odysseus or the Roman’s devout Aeneus, Beowulf serves as an impressive and almost godlike warrior for the Anglo-Saxons, providing insight into the constituents of greatness for that society. Confident in his abilities and committed to his task, Beowulf voluntarily embarks on a mission to defeat Grendel, the treacherous enemy of the Danish kingdom. Beowulf solidifies his classification as an epic hero as he satisfies his quest for glory, saves a kingdom from destruction, and reveals the values of an era.

According to Wikipedia, a symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow us to go beyond what is known or seen by creating links between concepts and experiences. They help create a better understanding of the plot, theme, or characters in literature. For example, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding consists of several symbols. The novel is about a group of British boys who are stranded on an island with nothing but their knowledge of human civilization. They try to create a society of their own, but it begins to subside as they descend into savagery. Symbols like the conch, the beast, or the painted masks help reveal their true nature. However, the most important symbol is the fire. Golding uses the fire to paradoxically represent savagery, destruction and most significantly hope of rescue. He describes the fire as technology that menaces destruction if it gets out of control, yet ironically it also symbolizes the boys’ connection to human civilization.

The rigid and confined society of the Danes also shaped the way its people think and act, but also influenced greatly on the writings. Given the fact that metaphors and kennings are common in Old English literature; the representation of “evil” is also something not to be taken on a literal level. “Edgetho had begun a bitter feud / Killing Hathlaf, a Wulfing warrior” (459-460), inter-tribal feuds, therefore, are also a destroyer of peace. Grendel takes on a form that is left uncertain; its real meaning hidden behind the metaphorical mask of a monster, is the never-ending battles between tribal armies (namely, the Danes, Geats, Frisians, and the Swedes) that had disturbed the tranquility people had longed for. It is almost a barrier of peacekeeping, hider of hope. Hence, it is represented by Grendel, a great evil hated by many, whom

In Fahrenheit 451 ,written by Ray Bradbury, the motif of fire, sparks an interest in the reader which pulls them into the life of Guy Montag. In the daily life of Montag, Bradbury portrays the importance of fire in the censored society. From Montag's standpoint the reader gains a clear perspective of the symbolism and importance of fire. Throughout the story fire is used to represent a different emotion or characteristic. At the start of the book fire symbolizes destruction; towards the middle of the book fire is used to represent change and discovering ones identity; and finally at the conclusion of the story fire symbolizes renewal and rebirth.

“Words of Fire,” by Anthony Collings, details the lives of different journalists in regards to free press and covering potentially dangerous stories. Anthony Collings is a former CNN reporter who shifted his focus from reporting to telling the story of journalists who have come under fire in a power struggle between government and free press. Collings puts free press into a spectrum, on one side there is the United States, where the press is largely free, and on the other side there are places like North Korea or China where press is largely restricted by the government. Collings does not focus on these extremes, but rather the places in the middle where there is an ongoing struggle between state power.

Battles and fights are some examples of conflict in most fictional stories. They can be many different fights, like the epic battle between good and evil, or a kingdom defending their land from enemies. When people think of the word ‘battle’, they may think of climatic sword fights and war. But sometimes, battles can take place inside of a person. Perhaps a character may have conflicting aspirations and desires that may cause an internal battle and maybe result in something catastrophic. Or perhaps a character has opposing personalities that might clash and cause something important to happen. In many works of literature, the writer

A. The king is sad and depressed that his kingdom has fallen into such a state of disrepair. He is overjoyed to learn that Beowulf, whom he knows from stories and his father, Ecgtheow, has come to fight Grendel. Hrothgar promises Beowulf treasure if he can defeat the monster.

Ilan Stavans says that Juan Rulfo’s book, The Plain in Flames, is best represented by the phrase realismo crudo. Stavans defines this phrase as “a type of realism interested in the rawness of life”, meaning that he characterizes Rulfo’s writing as an unfiltered view into the lives of the average Mexican (Stavans, xi). By writing in this style, Rulfo is able to provide “an image—instead of just a description—of our landscape” as stated by Octavio Paz (xv). To create this image, Rulfo broke his story writing the process down into three separate steps. As paraphrased by Ilan Stavans, the first step “is to create a character”, the second step “is to place him in an environment where he might move around” and the third step “is to discover how the character expresses himself” (xiii). Rulfo was able to repeatedly crafted stories that were filled with high levels of realismo crudo by using that special three-step process. By creating his protagonist, crafting an environment for said protagonist, and allowing the character to express themselves within this environment, Rulfo crafted a three-tier image of post-revolutionary life in Mexico that has never been seen before.

When looking at Beowulf and Grendel, one perceives them in different ways when reading different versions of the story of Beowulf. Each character goes through the same or similar actions they had gone through in other versions but they are either shown as a hero or a villain depending on the writer’s opinions, beliefs, and lifestyle. The Beowulf poem displays a more compelling argument for Beowulf by eloquently wording his actions and words, diligently staying on topic, and constantly showing Beowulf under the same lime light throughout the poem.

A Game of Thrones is set in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, a land reminiscent of medieval Europe. Fifteen years prior to the novel, the Seven Kingdoms were torn apart by a civil war, known as the “War of the Usurper." Prince Rhaega Targaryen kidnapped Lyanna Stark angering her family and of her fiancé, Lord Robert Baratheon. The Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen had Lyanna' father and brother executed when they demanded her safe return. Her second brother, Eddard, joined his boyhood friend Robert Baratheon and Jon Arryn in declaring war against the ruling Targaryen dynasty. The civil war ended when Prince Rhaegar was killed in battle by Robert Baratheon. The wealthiest family around The Lannisters