Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

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the first advocating voices for ending discrimination and advancealtruistic and objective love as the true sources of human happinesshas been sadly rested beneath the moniker of Anonymous.The question of how one achieves such a benevolent dissent hasbeen discussed earlier in this argument, in terms of deceptive love.However the method in which that deceptive form of love createsan enlightened view of reality is where the real emotional revelationlies. The method of that revelation lies in the final scene of SirGawain and the Green Knight at the moment of the realization of SirGawain that his whole quest has been a set-up, a quest unmaskedby the Green Knight, or Lord Bercilak as one which was purposelymeant to confuse and complicate: “Morgana sent me to your king’scastle/ to test your pride, to determine the truth/ Of the RoundTable’s fame, and the tales that tell it./ She hoped my lopped-offhead would addle/ your brains” (Raffel 131). Through revelationof his true intent, the Green Knight begins to build a relationshipwith Sir Gawain, especially as their differences melt away in the faceof reconciliation.Here is where the process of talking things out, interpersonalcommunication, becomes an important process of developinglong-lasting, positive relationships. The Green Knight discloseshis personal feelings to Sir Gawain: “the green man laughed, andcourteously explained/…you took/ Such plain penance at thepoint of my axe/ That I hold you cleansed, as pure in heart” (Raffel130). This method of disclosing personal feelings, combined withthe small tale told of Morgana Le Fay and her intentions, give twoexceptional details of what building true, loving relationships isall about: Communication and empathy. Communication, in theform of self-disclosure , is “one of the most effective ways to developand manage personal relationships and an essential requirementfor mental health” (Forgas 1), which is especially interesting whenapplied to the situational context, where the Green Knight is in alauren apt 49
happy and jovial disposition throughout the disclosure proceedingstaking place between him and Sir Gawain. It should be noted thatresearch shows that “positive affect should promote assimilation andthus more daring and direct disclosure styles” (Forgas 3), meaningthat the very fact that the Green Knight is disclosing informationin the first place, and then that he is doing so in a friendly manner,increases the likelihood of Sir Gawain accepting the tale and feelinga sort of oneness with the Green Knight.More appropriately this oneness could be termed “empathy”,which is described as the “attempt to understand, to experience andto feel things as another human person might feel them”(Fairbairn192), a powerful reciprocal effect of the Green Knight’s informationdisclosure. Now that Gawain understands the point-of-view of theGreen Knight, his more readily able to consider it. This considerationof the other perspective, the opinions of alterity, would have neverhappened if Gawain had not been at first tricked into being put intoa situation where he would have listen to the thoughts and feelingsof a “monster” whom he would have just as soon beheaded ratherthan hearken to.Whether talking of passionate love or companionate love, two“valid conceptualization’s] of love”( Kim & Hatfield 173), there is nodoubt that in either sense, given that the “two emotions are relatedwith each other…universal[ly]” (Kim & Hatfield 180), a strong senseof empathy and communication must be maintained in order todiffuse feelings of otherness and alterity. It is this sort of love, thekind which operates in pursuit of learning about the “other”, that“which is strange, as it gradually casts off its veil and presents itselfas a new and indescribable beauty” (Casey 371), that will effect theworld in a lasting and impressive way. It is this sort of legitimatecaring for the other, as the Green Knight shows Sir Gawain, that willeliminate prejudices which are preconceived and socially motivatedby the mainstream culture. The Green Knight is a man who is50 afternoons of alterity
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Afternoons of Alterity A Codex of t
Page 4 and 5: Table of ContentsFrom Medieval Mars
Page 6 and 7: From Medieval Marsh Monsters toFutu
Page 8 and 9: imagination, we must first attempt
Page 10 and 11: seed of monstrosity within themselv
Page 12 and 13: essence as a monster, it seems reas
Page 14 and 15: she bore two sons, one from the imp
Page 16 and 17: perhaps, anti-heroes) of the futuri
Page 18 and 19: to watch the murder and mutilation
Page 20 and 21: and modern audiences through their
Page 22 and 23: Works Cited“Bushwhacked.” Firef
Page 24 and 25: Projecting Otherness ontothe Disabl
Page 26 and 27: in any systematic structuration. An
Page 28 and 29: The idea of the monstrous’ vulner
Page 30 and 31: not us and are in the proximity of
Page 32: they want to be treated. The interv
Page 36: Monstrosity and theIrruption of Rea
Page 39 and 40: describing his fears of this place
Page 41 and 42: stained with sin” (Spearing 221).
Page 43: often and at will to show man somet
Page 46 and 47: What’s Love Got To Do With It?The
Page 48 and 49: story than as the beginning? What f
Page 50 and 51: It is textual content like this tha
Page 52 and 53: through the story as the Green Knig
Page 56 and 57: “capable of seeing things objecti
Page 58 and 59: Darkness: The True Monster ofLitera
Page 60 and 61: the way they can make us feel, but
Page 62 and 63: not only closes out, extinguishes,
Page 64 and 65: and temptation, most especially for
Page 66 and 67: hours “led to the term ‘night
Page 68 and 69: specifically his relationship to da
Page 70 and 71: humanization of Grendel draws the r
Page 72 and 73: subconscious the message may be. Th
Page 74 and 75: Serial MonstrosityEmily Mastrobatti
Page 76 and 77: is clear that they are monsters and
Page 78 and 79: murderer that he once was. He has b
Page 80 and 81: of the killing, “When investigato
Page 82 and 83: ook “contains recipes from the bo
Page 84 and 85: asks Charles Manson to marry her, t
Page 86 and 87: Monstrous Mothers andObjectified Da
Page 88 and 89: and her sisters plot to kill their
Page 90 and 91: easons for “otherness.” On top
Page 92 and 93: The original ideas are still intact
Page 94 and 95: objectified creature. “Cultures o
Page 96 and 97: Works CitedAcker, P. Horror and the
Page 98 and 99: Grendel: A Manifestation ofMedieval
Page 100 and 101: ut never was his physicality hinted
Page 102 and 103: to wander in the darkness and the c
Page 104 and 105:
Magic could not resurrect Grendel t
Page 106 and 107:
Works CitedBeowulf. Trans. RM Liuzz
Page 108 and 109:
The Monster Under the BedThe Creati
Page 110 and 111:
to procreate but the accepted manif
Page 112 and 113:
Cain had/killed his father’s son
Page 114 and 115:
can, without a doubt, be placed int
Page 116 and 117:
The vagina’s ability to function
Page 118:
Ed. Barbara K. Gold, et all. Albany
Page 121 and 122:
To understand precisely how states
Page 123 and 124:
a strict delineation between each g
Page 125 and 126:
monstrous and societal rules to fol
Page 127 and 128:
Gawain is willing to accept his mis
Page 129 and 130:
survive, challenge, and defeat. Esp
Page 131 and 132:
governmental standards, then are we
Page 134 and 135:
They Walk Among UsOccupational Viol
Page 136 and 137:
sports and regard our members of th
Page 138 and 139:
modern readers are not part of the
Page 140 and 141:
otherness and disdain for humanity.
Page 142 and 143:
are underpaid and for the most part
Page 144 and 145:
Home and Spatial IdentityPhysical t
Page 146 and 147:
closeness among the people that the
Page 148 and 149:
Into the dark gorge I ventured; the
Page 150 and 151:
the treasures that fill up their ho
Page 152 and 153:
threatened by the very existence of
Page 154 and 155:
and draped in damp, shaggy moss, an
Page 156 and 157:
individual. Home resides within the
Page 158:
Works CitedArmitage, Simon. Sir Gaw
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Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

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