No New Tale to Tell

I believe every tale is unique. Of course they can can be categorized into genres, but the essence of the story is unique. The theme, mood, and tone may be the same, but the way the story convenes it is distinct. There will always be a new tale to tell.
The Pardoner's tale is about three men who are overcome by greed; it reinforces the message that greed is the root of all evil. This moral has definitely been used in many other tales. However, that does not mean that the Pardoner's tale is not unique; he tells the moral through his own unique tale. The Pardoner incorporates his own characters and rhymes into his tale so that he sets it apart from other stories.
The tale of the Fisherman and the Fish also conveys the moral that greed is bad. The fisherman catches a golden fish who promises to grant wishes for its freedom. The fisherman's wife asks for increasingly luxurious wishes until the fish finally puts the fisherman and his wife back in their old home. By having too much greed, they end up back where they started. The theme of both tales are the same, but told vastly differently. Every tale is unique.

Truth

Truth is merely an illusion and the Shaper is proof of that. Through his graceful poetry he is even able to convince Grendel of lies and exaggerated tales of heroism. Grendel  cannot handle the paradox of the Shaper's songs and it enrages him. He is drawn towards the Shaper's interpretation of Danish history even though he knows firsthand that they are far exaggerated. Grendel seeks truth from the dragon.

The dragon claims that he knows all that happens and all that will happen. Even though the dragon tells Grendel that the Shaper is all smoke and mirrors Grendel continues to have faith in the Shaper's side of truth. In the end, I think Grendel realizes how the Shaper was manipulating the truth. That is why Grendel regrets not slaying the Shaper years ago.

Modern Day Beowulf

A modern day Beowulf is the United States. Like Beowulf, our nation likes to boast about its achievements such as being the first to reach the moon. The biggest topic to brag about is our so called "freedom", which we take great pride in. When Beowulf killed Grendel, he kept the monster's arm as a victory trophy. Similarly, the United States holds onto foreign lands as spoils of war.

Me

My name is Tian Zhou and this blog is for my English III class at Whitney Young. If you are here because of randomly browsing the internet then this is not the blog for you. My elementary school was Healy. I'm an only child living with my parents. I was born in Beijing, China. My favorite breakfast food is bacon. I enjoy going swimming and playing chess. My goal is to pass this class and then pass high school.