Driven by Purpose: Passion or Obsession

Write two paragraphs.

Using examples the works we have studied so far this year -- Beowulf, Grendel, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein -- explain how having a sense of purpose can drive someone to help others.

Then, using examples from the same works explain how having a sense of purpose can also lead one to harm others -- both purposefully and accidentally.

Nature vs. Nurture in Frankenstein

Based on your viewing of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein so far, does the film attempt to show that "nurture" (what a person learns from his environment) is more influential than "nature" (what a person is born with) or that "nature" is more important than "nurture"?

Write a paragraph. State your answer clearly. (That's your thesis or assertion.) Then develop your answer with explanation and supporting details from your notes on the film.

Nature vs. Nurture

Oooops! Shawn H pointed out to me that I didn't post the question on the blog. Here it is.

Which is more influential nature (what you are born with) or nurture (what you learn from your environment)?

Write a focused paragraph in which you develop an answer to this question. Remember to make an assertion (that's your thesis), explain the assertion, and support the assertion. For a paragraph like this the support can be difficult. Look for examples in your life and in the world around you. Remember that you are trying to convince me and your peers that you are right.

Letter to John Gardner

If John Gardner were still alive how would you respond to the tone and ideas in his letter to the students. Write a letter in two parts. The first part should explain and justify your reaction to the tone of his letter. Quote him; base your opinion on exactly what he has said and how he has said it. The second part should explain and justify your thoughts about one or more idea brought up in the essay. Again, make sure you respond to exactly what he has said. This second part should show that you have understood what he has written (in the letter and in the novel) and that you have thought about it deeply. (For an example, think about what Christian T said on Friday. He reacted to this part of Gardner's letter: "There are basically two choices: either you behave as if there were a god and try to determine what's right, in other words you make up values, you dream up a future better than the present and try to create it; or else you accept the world as it seems to be and scoff at all values (dreams for the future) because according to what is true at this moment they're lies." Christian pointed out that "making up values" is a kind of lie and accepting the world as it is is at least a kind of truth. That's the kind of statement (but more developed) that I'm looking for.

Post your letters in the comment box below. If you have problems with the comment box email me at jcook@gloucester.k12.ma.us.

Chapters 11 and 12 of Grendel

Write a focused open response paragraph (10+ sentences) with supporting evidence about one of the following topics in chapters 11 and 12.

* the significance of Aquarius, the water bearer in Grendel
* the significance of Pisces, the fishes in Grendel
* Grendel's reasons for feeling "mad" "joy" (this is related to Grendel's statement "tedium" is the worst pain in chapter 10 and to the dragon's advice "find gold and sit on it" and to Grendel seeing existence as meaningless--and therefore a coffin or trap)
* the significance of the similarities and differences between the stranger and the dragon (The similarities are physical ones perceived by Grendel; the differences are related to values and purpose. This question gets to the heart of the meaning of the book.)

Talking back to Grendel: What are your beliefs?

Talking back to Grendel: What are your beliefs?

• Chapter 6 (Virgo, the virgin): Do you believe in inner heroism?
• Chapter 7 (Do you believe in beauty?
• Chatper 8 (Scorpio, the scorpion): Do you believe in the necessity of government and law—even when you disagree with them?
• Chapter 8 (Scorpio, the scorpion): Do you believe that through political change the world can be improved?
• Chapter 9 (Sagittarius, the centaurian archer): Do you believe in a supernatural power (God) that gives purpose to all things? What is the nature of the supernatural power you believe in? Or, explain your disbelief in supernatural powers.
• The rest of the book (Capricorn, horned goat; Aquarius, water bearer; Pisces, fishes): Do you believe in the power of hope? (Do you believe in belief?)

Do you believe in inner heroism?

“A hero is not afraid to face cruel truth…. [Grendel,] you talk of heroism as noble language, dignity. It’s more than that, as my coming here has proved. No man above us will ever know whether Unferth died here or fled to the hills like a coward. Only you and I and God will know the truth. That’s inner heroism.”

…

“…I didn’t know how deep the pool was,” [Unferth] said. “I had a chance. I knew I had no more than that. It’s all a hero asks for.”

“I sighed. The word “hero” was beginning to grate. He was an idiot. I could crush him like a fly, but I held back.

“Go ahead, scoff,” he said, petulant. “Except in the life of a hero, the whole world’s meaningless. The hero sees values beyond what’s possible. That’s the nature of a hero. It kills him, of course, ultimately. But it makes the whole struggle of humanity worthwhile.”

I nodded in the darkness. “And breaks up the boredom,” I said.

Do you believe in beauty?

When drunken men argued, pitting theory against theory, bludgeoning each other’s absurdities, she came between them, wordless, uncondemning, pouring out mead like a mother’s love, and they were softened, reminded of their humanness, exactly as they might have been softened by the cry of a child in danger, or an old man’s suffering, or spring. The Shaper sang things that had never crossed his mind before: comfort, beauty, a wisdom softer, more permanent, than Hrothgar’s.

…

The queen smiled. Impossibly, like roses blooming in the heart of December, she said, “That’s past.” And it was. The demon was exorcised. I saw his hands unclench, relax, and—torn between tears and a bellow of scorn—I crept back to my cave.

…

I slammed into the bedroom. She sat up screaming, and I laughed. I snatched her foot, and now her unqueenly shrieks were deafening, exactly like the squeals of a pig. No one would defend her, not even suicidal Unferth at the door….

Do you believe in the necessity of government and law—even when you disagree with them?

Do you believe that through political change the world can be improved?

[Hrothulf] said angrily… “Nobody in his right mind would praise violence for its own sake, regardless of its ends!”

The old man shrugged and put on a childish smile. “But I’m a simple man, you see,” he said, “and that’s exactly what I do. All systems are evil. All governments are evil. Not just a trifle evil. Monstrously evil.” Though he still smiled, he was shaking, only half controlling it. “If you want me to help you destroy a government, I’m here to serve. But as for Universal Justice—“ He laughed.

Do you believe in a supernatural power (God) that gives purpose to all things? What is the nature of the supernatural power you believe in? Or, explain your disbelief in supernatural powers.

[The Chief God] is the eternal urge of desire establishing the purposes of all creatures. He is an infinite patience, a tender care that nothing in the universe be vain.”

…

“The ultimate evil is that Time is perpetual perishing, and being actual involves elimination…. Such is His mystery: that beauty requires contrast, and that discord is fundamental to the creation of new intensities of feeling. Ultimate wisdom…lies in the perception that the solemnity and grandeur of the universe rise through the slow process of unification in which the diversities of existence are utilized, and nothing, nothing is lost.”

Finally, do you believe in the power of hope? (In other words do you believe in the power of belief? Or to put it another way, do you believe in the power of imagining a better world?)