Everything is Sex (#4)

Warning: The following blog post contains awkward situations where a simple scene is a metaphor for sex. Read at your own risk. (Seriously, it gets a little awkward).

So, this post about Beowulf will be a little awkward considering which chapter of How to Read Literature Like a Professor I'm applying it to. The chapter is called "Everything is Sex" which basically tells us that almost everything in a novel is a metaphor for sex. Going off topic a little bit, I would like to personally tell Ms. Pyle that I could have gone my whole life not knowing that a little boy riding a rocking horse is a metaphor for masturbation and I would have been okay with that. Sadly, I read this chapter and learned this information. It will now stay with me forever so thanks Ms. Pyle.

Anyway, back to the main focus of the post, I recently read about Beowulf's triumphant victory of the monster Grendel and then Grendel's mother. It was after reading about these that I realized that the battles between Beowulf and the monsters were also a metaphor for sex. When he fights against Grendel, he is locked in an embrace with him and both are caught in a handgrip against each other. It eventually ends when Beowulf rips off one of Grendel's arms. The fight and grip they are both caught it represents, well, two people having sex. Then, Beowulf ends the act by ripping Grendel's arm off, or climaxing.

The same thing happens when Beowulf is forced to fight Grendel's mother, and this is a little more believable for a metaphor for sex (a man and a woman). It follows the same pattern as the original fight, but ends when Beowulf decapitates Grendel's mother, once again following the pattern mentioned above.

I don't really know how to feel about applying this chapter to Beowulf, as instead of an epic fight, I now only see sex. I know that probably wasn't the original intention when this was written, but now I can't ignore it. I'm also a little frightened about the future mainly because I can read something now and instead of interpretation it as it is, I can now see it as sex.

The Seasons in Novels Matter (#3)

So for my AP Lit Summer Assignment, I have decided to go with the epic poem that is Beowulf. My sister had told me that it was one of her favorite books from AP Lit and I decided to give it a try. It's a little dense at times (as it was written 1000 years ago) but overall, it's a pretty interesting story about a man who fights dangerous monsters.

One part that got me in particular was during a celebration after Beowulf had fought the monster Grendel and won. A minstrel then comes forward and recalls the saga of Finn, a story about a battle between Danish and the Frisians. This story really serves no point to the overall narrative and is really only in their to continue in the theme of vengeance for honor. However, while I was reading, I noticed something that peaked my interest.

After the Danes lose their leader in a battle, they agree to live with the Frisians under the same rule. They then spend a harsh winter there and once spring comes, the feud is back with the Danes being victorious this time. What interested me was the use of the seasons in this saga. I then connected it to the chapter in How to Read Literature about the different meanings of the seasons. The winter basically represents the "death" of the feud between the two warring tribes, as everything on Earth dies with winter. But with the arrival of spring, the feud is "reborn" and they fight again. This was an interesting use of the seasons, showing how the idea of winter and spring can be used as metaphors for death and rebirth and not just for living creatures, but rather for anything. Even though this story doesn't really affect the main plot of Beowulf at all, it was still very interesting to find that symbolism in the saga. In fact, the saga altogether was apparently one of the most respected ever, as it ties into Anglo-Saxon poetry. Overall, I'm really looking forward to the rest of this poem and if anybody wants to, they should definitely read it.