When Worlds Collide
The world of Beowulf and that of modern America have some interesting similarities. The Anglo- Saxon belief in "wyrd," or fate, is alive and well in the 21st century. Like the Anglo- Saxons, our culture regards the crime of killing one’s own kin or family to be the most heinous of all. Americans love entertainment just as much as the Anglo- Saxons of Beowulf’s time did. Of course, with our modern technology like movies, television, and the Internet, we are allowed to experience many more methods of enjoyment than medieval people were able to enjoy. However, their culture is remembered through portions of our popular culture.
Within its pages, Beowulf contains the notion of
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In Beowulf, Hrothgar refers to the story of Heremod, an evil king who kills his own people, and in turn his people finally kill him: “He lived joyless to suffer the pain of that strife, the long- lasting harm of the people.”(p.30) In our society, the weight of a crime against one’s own family is a heavy one as well. The Andrea Yates case is one such incident that has gripped the country’s attention by the sheer unbelievable nature of the crime. Yates’ drowning her own children has shocked the entire nation. According to psychiatrist Phillip Resnick, who testified on Tuesday, March 5, “Yates knew she was legally wrong when she killed her children in the bathtub on June 20th.”(NBC) However, she murdered them anyway, and regardless of her mental state, it is hard to forgive or even understand this crime. Like the Anglo- Saxons’ culture, American society believes that the family unit is most important part of our civilization and it is unthinkable to harm anyone in one's own family.
Our society loves entertainment just as much as the Anglo- Saxons did. Warriors would sit around the mead- hall listening to the scops spinning their tales and hearing of the feats of their heroes. Modern Americans go to movies and love to watch television shows, especially those with hero themes. Movies like Gladiator and The Patriot are excellent examples of this style of storytelling with larger than life heroes who perform amazing acts to save others. We also pay
When looking at both the Anglo Saxon and American culture, a sole person would see how popular people boasted, and they would be able to tell the difference between the two civilizations is God. Popular meaning the upper class. There was a moment in the text where Beowulf said to unferth that “No tales of you, Unferth, telling Of such clashing terror, such contests in the night!””. He says he’s able to boast because he has the experience to back it up, unlike Unferth. Looking at the most popular people in American culture, thinking of the entertainment group, you always hear them bragging about all the fame and glory they get. The people bosdt to make other people jealous. The Americans feel that
In his book A Chance in the World Steve Pemberton tells us about growing up in the Massachusetts foster care system. Steve was removed from his mother 's care as a toddler and went from the life of an abused and neglected foster child with no self identity, to a successful, professional man with a family of his own. Steve breaks his story into three parts.
Beowulf has delighted and intrigued a wide array of people for centuries. The timeless nature is visible in modern-day extensions of this epic, through heroics and battles of good versus malevolent forces. Beowulf continues to appeal to sophisticated audiences because it tells the story of a great hero prevailing over evil, a timeless theme valued by society and portrayed by his counterparts in modern media, although these new heroes display more complex qualities.
In today’s society, we see violence as a way to cope with all types problems. Humans have used violence as a way to resolve issues since ancient times. The poem “Beowulf” was written between the eighth and eleventh century by an anonymous author. The poem recounts the story of a brave warrior, named Beowulf, who battles three great monsters. Two of the monsters, Grendel and Grendel’s Mother, terrorize the people of Daneland and the third monster, the Dragon, lives in Beowulf's homeland. The epic poem “Beowulf” illustrates and normalizes the idea of violence within the Pagan Warrior Culture.
Many people who read the poem Beowulf would probably find it hard to find similarities between the poem and life in modern America. How could one compare an ancient Anglo-Saxon culture with the sophisticated world that we are living in today? But, if we look closely, we may be able to pinpoint some parallel between the two societies. This essay will discuss the topics of warrior life, the “bad guy,” and social similarities. One might wonder how a warrior culture might be similar to our own? But if we consider American culture, we are actually still very war-like. We have a strong military system built to protect our country and the people that make it up. We are also known for going to the aid of other
Anglo-Saxon culture consisted of receiving fame, glory, and wealth through acts of vengeance and courage. “Beowulf” portrays these parts in great detail and shows how destabilizing it can be. Through acts of vengeance, a never ending war occurs.
Firstly, murder is a crime which carries a distinctive reaction from the public at large. Moreover, when it is the murder of a child, in this case children, the dynamic greatly changes. The triple murder of Steve Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers in
Imagine if a random guy killed your daughter along with a couple of other girls: you would be furious. What would you want to happen to him? Would you want him to suffer greatly, or even die for what he did? Would you have sympathy for him because he is young? Would you forgive him if he apologized? This guy murdered your beloved daughter that you love with all your life, and you would do anything to stop him and put him to justice. If you turn this situation around, and it was your son who killed the girls, what would you want to happen to your son? Would you want him to suffer the consequences, or would you defend him to the highest point? These situations are
In this world where people can acquire anything they need or want, we have to wonder, “Is the government controlling us?” Both the governments in A Brave New World and in the United States of America offer birth control pills and have abortion clinics that are available for everyone, thus making birth control pills and abortion operations very easy to acquire. Although both governments offer birth control pills and abortion clinics, A Brave New World’s government requires everyone to take the pills and immediately get an abortion when pregnant. This in turn shows us that A Brave New World’s government is controlling the population and the development of children. China is one of the few countries that currently have control of the
In the book, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, he focused on the fear young black boys have growing up in America today. Along with discussing how it makes him feel about the Society he lives in. He emphasized the effectiveness of police in America overall and uses reference to slavery. Which reminds me of Goffman premises of symbolic interactions. How individuals in society just adopt to their surroundings. Although just because a person adapts, their inner thoughts and feelings of growing up afraid or even being one to see torture or detainment for no reason but knowing you have no power to change what seems to be a cycle. Also Pierre Bourdieu concepts of, “ social space and Genesis of groups” relates to Coates focus because he argues that, “ individuals can be defined by their position in the space they are involved in”. For example, when Coates the mistreatment done on young black boys by police officers, whom are suppose to be their as a protector of the citizens but continues to misuse their intended purpose within the position.
The insanity defense of Andrea Yates: The country was absolutely appalled when it heard that Yates, a mother of five children, had killed each of her children resulting in a horrific family slaughter. There were extremely polarized feelings about this case- sympathy (concluding
Huxley's work, Brave New World, is a book about a society that is in the future. This book contains many strange things that are generally unheard of today. Yet we see that some of the ideas that are presented in this book were already present in the 20th century. The idea of having one superior race of people can easily be seen as something that Hitler was trying to accomplish during the Holocaust. Huxley presents the society in his book as being a greater civilization. A totalitarian type of leadership is also presented in his book. According to him, this would be the best and most effective type of government. Hitler also thought that a totalitarian government was best. We see several similarities between Hitler's Germany and Huxley's
Aldous Huxley wisely inserts many instances of distortion to the elements in Brave New World to successfully caution the world about its growing interest in technology.
What do you think of when you hear the word entertainment? Do you ever wonder why it’s the way it is? Have you wondered what forces, ideas, and people have molded and shaped it over time? How does entertainment affect culture and a society? These are questions that might have many different answers of varying explanations and magnitudes. For centuries, people have looked to a multitude of different things to do as a way to escape their normal lives and to have fun. So then came various forms of entertainment. Although it may not seem so at first glance, taking a more critical look at the similarities that our society shares with the Brave New World’s society may yield some shocking discoveries.
Drama."3 These changes led to the development of more actors in a play and the