Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

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murderer that he once was. He has become a student who believesin having an ethical code. Grendel is now modern. Farrell statesthat “the language spoken to Grendel from the dragon is simple,yet the language speaks to the post modern age. Conformity mustbe rebelled against. Simple portrayals of good and evil are not to betrusted” (938). Gardner “plays with polar extremes and tweaks hisnovel in order to create a more sympathetic Grendel” (938). Gardneris changing the paradigm and exposing truths about human culture.The reader is seeing Grendel as a victim of a corrupt society. Heis not the predator any longer; he is the sympathetic victim. Thecontext in which Grendel was once viewed has been overturned,and Grendel is now a character capable of more rational thoughtthan any Dane or Geat in Beowulf. The audience feels for Grendelbecause his emotions make him identifiable. Gardner demonstrateshis emotions when Grendel says, “why can’t I have someone to talkto?” I said. The stars said nothing, but I pretended to ignore therudeness. ‘The Shaper has people to talk to,’ I said. I wrung myfingers. ‘Hrothgar has people to talk to” (Gardner 53). This line isimportant because it shows how introspective Grendel’s thoughts areand it is the epitome of Gardner’s paradigm shift. That line breaksthe readers’ hearts and erases the images of Grendel the killer andreplaces them with Grendel the lonely victim. Farrell believes thatGardner is exposing Grendel as a victim to a corrupt society when shewrites, “some read Grendel as a Christian mirror reflecting the darkside of human nature back onto the Danes” (Farrell 937). Gardnerfurther creates a paradigm shift when Grendel questions the actionsof the Danes. Farrell describes that “the Danes reveal themselvesto be murderers within their own society. ‘I stepped on somethingfleshy, and jerked away. It was a man. They cut his throat. His clotheshad been stolen. I stared up at the hall, baffled, beginning to shake.’This random violence confuses Grendel even as he is guilty of similarviolence” (940). Gardner’s reversal of monstrosity is the beginning ofemily mastrobattisto 73
the fascination society has with killers of multiple victims. The Danesare not a civilized society; rather, they are “liars, drunks and braggartswho often fall into brawling over trivial matters” (940). Gardner’sparadigm shift is not only declassifying Grendel as the monster, butalso making him the hero. Grendel is exposing the Danes for whatthey really are; a bunch of unintelligent drunks incapable of thelevel of thought that Grendel is. The question becomes, if Grendelis the real victim what does that make the people he kills? Are theDanes just fated to die? The paradigm shift that Gardner creates is aturnabout in sympathy for the killer.The term serial killer is one that has been adopted by post modernculture to describe a murderer that has killed more than three peoplewithin a period of time. Serial murderers are people to be fearednot celebrated. This paradigm shift from viewing mass murderers asdemonic to fascinating is troubling. Why do serial killers thrill andexcite us? Mass murderers have become household names. DavidSchmid’s book Natural Born Celebrities explores the fascinationthat Americans have with serial murderers. Schmid believes that “theFederal Bureau of Investigation has had a role in the popularizationof interest in serial murder” (Becker 2) because killers with multiplevictims are written about, shown through the media constantly andtalked about frequently. The FBI is not keeping a low profile onserial killers; rather, they are sharing gruesome information which inreturn thrills the culture.One of the most notorious and famous mass murderers is CharlesManson. Although Manson did not physically murder one person,he is still considered a serial killer. Together Charles Manson andMary Brunner “gathered a following of teenagers” (Peterson, 3).Over time Charles Manson created a cult and became one of themost famous cult leaders of all time. Manson’s charisma made itpossible for his cult to perform heinous murders. One of the mostfamous murders was Sharon Tate. Peterson recounts the gory details74 afternoons of alterity
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Afternoons of Alterity A Codex of t
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Table of ContentsFrom Medieval Mars
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From Medieval Marsh Monsters toFutu
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imagination, we must first attempt
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seed of monstrosity within themselv
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essence as a monster, it seems reas
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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 54 and 55: the first advocating voices for end
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 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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