Monster Mania (10)

Monsters play a big role in Beowulf, as well as countless other narratives. There's nothing like a good monster scene, replete with danger, fear, horror (and often blood, guts, and gore) to get the adrenaline pumping and the narrative chugging right along.


Grendel and Grendel's mom are model monsters: non-human, vengeful, powerful, dangerous, minutely sympathetic (an important trait), and most importantly of all, losers in the end.


Briefly talk about your all-time favorite monster from the world of either books or movies, explaining why that particular monster is so monstrously perfect. Then talk briefly about either Grendel or his mom. Are they, in fact model monsters? Or is there more to them than that? How do you view them, both as an individual monster and as an element in the larger poem? As always, line references please.


As my gift to you, your comments will not be due until Friday, April 15 at midnight.

Drawing Parallels (9)

Now that we've finished reading four texts, it's time to draw some parallels between either characters or plot elements (i.e. entities or events) of at least two different narratives. We've discussed some of these in class already. Anne Elliot and Odysseus (the various stages of a homeward journey). Anne Elliot and Penelope (the strong woman who holds things together). Weston's speech to Oyarsa and Elizabeth's diatribe about Mr. Elliot (the speech that needs translating and clarifying). The journeys of both Odysseus and Ransom (they come full circle, but the men are changed in various ways).

Now it's your turn. Discuss a new parallel from our texts, being sure to first give us the location of each (especially if it's a single unique scene). Then present a clear argument for why the two characters/events/dialogues/landscapes/etc. are, in fact, similar and comparable. NOTE: you must each write about a different parallel. You can use the same characters/scenes as a previous post if necessary, but you must draw out a new point of comparison and analysis. In other words, read previous posts carefully.

Austen's Genius (8)

Jane Austen is considered one of the most articulate, clever, and witty of 19th Century British authors. An 1890 textbook, A First Sketch of English Literature, declares that Austen "had a keen feminine perception of character, quickened by the sympathetic insight of true genius" and that "every sentence has pith in it...enlivened by the magic touch of genius in every page, and all this charm was found in the common things of life (912-13).

Identify at least one such "genius, pithy, charming" moment in Persuasion, offering your own analysis of its charm and your own hypothesis about why it qualifies as an example of literary genius.

Each of you must write about a unique moment in the book, so read previous posts carefully. 

Faded Flowers? (7)

In the first few pages of Persuasion we are introduced to Sir Walter Elliot and his descendants via an entry in the Baronetage. Austen goes on to give her readers the briefest of snapshots of specific individuals. Sir Walter, for whom "vanity was the beginning and the end of...character" (10); his deceased wife, "an excellent woman, sensible and amiable" (10); Lady Russell, "of steady age and character" (11); Elizabeth, "very like [her father]" (11); Mary, who had "acquired a little artificial importance" through marriage...and who quite frankly drives me crazy (11); and finally, Anne--Anne who is "nobody" in the eyes of her father or sisters...Anne, who is "only Anne" to her immediate family...Anne, whose "bloom had vanished early"...Anne who is, well, just Anne.

And yet we suspect that this is not entirely true. We suspect that Anne is somehow much more than what we are first shown. (After all, this is her story, and you can't have a story about "nobody.")

As you read, be on the lookout for moments that hint at Anne's true identity and character, whether that be through her actions, her words, or her thoughts and observations, which often (but not always) reflect those of the narrator.
Who is Anne Elliot, really? Are your initial impressions confirmed throughout Book I, or do they change? If so, why? As always, be sure to include page number references. 

Deeper Meaning (6)

Out of the Silent Planet offers many terse and pithy phrases whose meanings extend beyond their immediate contexts. Some examples include:

Small claims must give way to great. (Weston, 29)
The love of knowledge is a kind of madness. (Narrator, 56)
A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered. (Hyoi, 74)

For this post, find one such phrase (being sure to identify the speaker and page number) and then comment on how the underlying meaning (whether true or false) reappears and/or is expanded upon in another section of the text. For example, you could argue that the first phrase above (though Lewis obviously didn't agree with it - at least not insofar as Weston meant it) reappears towards the end of the book where the reader is introduced to claims even larger than those of Weston, claims that demand some sort of response and that diminish the seeming importance of Weston's mission.

Though you each need not locate a unique phrase, you each must point to a unique moment in the text to which it can be applied. This post will require you to do some close reading and some sophisticated analysis. Do NOT fall prey to the abysmal, nonsensical, and pathetic discourse illustrated in the comic below. Find something significant to say, and then say it articulately, please. We will all be grateful for your own terse and pithy (and coherently significant) analysis of a terse and pithy phrase.

Some rules:

• you may use one of the phrases listed above
• phrases must be applied uniquely (see previous paragraph)
• phrases may be used only FIVE times each, so keep careful track of previous posts
• comments must be posted by Thursday (2.24) at noon

An xkcd webcomic. xkcd.com/451