Storytelling In The Odyssey
Analysis of Storytelling: Discovering Ones Identity and Purpose in Life
Storytelling plays an important role in characterizing important figures in stories as giving personalities and traits specific to them. It also drives the plot, as in Homer’s The Odyssey and Virgil’s The Aeneid the epics are based on the telling of the protagonist’s journey. Another piece of literature, Grendel, written by John Gardner, utilizes storytelling in a different manner. The main character bases his self-understanding off of the storytelling done by the Shaper, a blind bard telling historical tales. The function of storytelling in Gardner’s, Homer’s and Virgil’s works is to personify the protagonist in what he does to truly define himself.
In John Gardner’s …show more content…
Storytelling not only is signified by the one telling the stories but is also signified by how the story is told and with what techniques. He does this by the conventional method of a story given through the eyes of Grendel himself. The story is told as being a twelve year feud with the Danes and ending with the heroic Beowulf fending off Grendel. However, the use of flashbacks in Grendel’s life shows what Grendel came to learn and understand growing up. This showed light of him being a curious and naïve animal as opposed to the monster depicted in Beowulf, until he breaches the surface where he sees the rise of Hrothgar’s kingdom. A key thing that Grendel learns when exploring in his early years is that the human race revolves around violence, and he learns this when he encounters the bull is constantly trying to thrust his horns at him. The theme of violence occurs now and again in many classical works, “we see men and women placed in a situation in which violence always threatens to spiral out of control and not only destroy them but also force them to act in ways that de-humanize them” (Norton 101). This theory is then solidified when he is attacked and almost killed by Hrothgar, at an early age, and other Danish warriors. When Grendel comes to the realization about the world and violence, he understands life has a meaningless value and that it revolves around “brute” violence. Referencing Grendel’s encounter with the bull he states, “Bulls do such things, though they don 't even know that the calves they defend are theirs” (Gardner 20). The Shaper in Grendel plays an important role in giving incite in underlying meanings and themes throughout the
Storytelling plays an important role in characterizing important figures in stories as giving personalities and traits specific to them. It also drives the plot, as in Homer’s The Odyssey and Virgil’s The Aeneid the epics are based on the telling of the protagonist’s journey. Another piece of literature, Grendel, written by John Gardner, utilizes storytelling in a different manner. The main character bases his self-understanding off of the storytelling done by the Shaper, a blind bard telling historical tales. The function of storytelling in Gardner’s, Homer’s and Virgil’s works is to personify the protagonist in what he does to truly define himself.
In John Gardner’s …show more content…
Storytelling not only is signified by the one telling the stories but is also signified by how the story is told and with what techniques. He does this by the conventional method of a story given through the eyes of Grendel himself. The story is told as being a twelve year feud with the Danes and ending with the heroic Beowulf fending off Grendel. However, the use of flashbacks in Grendel’s life shows what Grendel came to learn and understand growing up. This showed light of him being a curious and naïve animal as opposed to the monster depicted in Beowulf, until he breaches the surface where he sees the rise of Hrothgar’s kingdom. A key thing that Grendel learns when exploring in his early years is that the human race revolves around violence, and he learns this when he encounters the bull is constantly trying to thrust his horns at him. The theme of violence occurs now and again in many classical works, “we see men and women placed in a situation in which violence always threatens to spiral out of control and not only destroy them but also force them to act in ways that de-humanize them” (Norton 101). This theory is then solidified when he is attacked and almost killed by Hrothgar, at an early age, and other Danish warriors. When Grendel comes to the realization about the world and violence, he understands life has a meaningless value and that it revolves around “brute” violence. Referencing Grendel’s encounter with the bull he states, “Bulls do such things, though they don 't even know that the calves they defend are theirs” (Gardner 20). The Shaper in Grendel plays an important role in giving incite in underlying meanings and themes throughout the