The Thinker

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While Rodin may have sculpted this with Dante in mind, our discussion regarding Grendel as an observing outsider searching for understanding and companionship reminded me of the sculpture above. Gardner paints Grendel as a little boy learning from his violent human neighbors and the historically inaccurate storytellers. Are we surprised that Grendel turns to violence and hyperbolic uses of language to create his own legend? We discussed nature versus nurture today, and Gardner made us consider how much evil is innate and how much is modeled to the susceptible young.

For tomorrow, we will resume vocab experts with the last five words of unit 3 and the first 5 words of unit 4. The quiz will now cover 20 words. Then, we will see what Grendel has been doing in chapters 5-7.

And, don't forget that our Monster Bash is Wednesday to celebrate Grendel and all those Anglo Saxon monsters -- even though I think we can agree that many monsters are not born of Cain but born of man.