It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. 

- J. K. Rowling

A twisting dark tale with an unknown author; Beowulf is a story among stories. Every version is different, different ending, different version. The movie is a whole knock back from the story. From Grendel’s sensitive ears, to Grendel’s mother looking human, and Hrothgar being Grendel’s father, but no matter the version or story one thing is the same. The epic is amazing in both of the versions.

Let’s start with Grendel.  In the book Grendel is a descendant of Cain from the Bible. He is upset that he couldn't interact with everyone else. He heard the laughter and the fun coming from Herot, and became jealous.  So since he couldn't join them he would ruin their fun.  In the movie however Grendel has sensitive ears, and all the partying and noise hurt his ears. So instead of trying to go and talk to them (which probably wouldn't have worked anyway… not with his looks anyway) he went over there and tried to shut them up by beating around people and killing them. In the end to me Grendel was nothing but a child who felt pain in both of the versions. The reason I say that is that when a child gets frustrated or annoyed they hit people and make a fuss, sort of like Grendel.

Grendel’s mother is a succubus. Okay, maybe not exactly like a Succubus I’m pretty sure she doesn't suck the life out of the people she touches but she’s close enough like one… but only in the movie. In the movie Grendel’s mother is gorgeous. In the movie she seduces Beowulf with promises of immortality. While in the text it’s a fight and she looks like a monster.  In my eyes I feel like the text version is more accurate, you’re not going to want to seduce the man who just killed your only son. You might want to pull him apart limb from limb, but definitely not seduce him.  Nothing compares to the biggest plot twist in the movie, Grendel’s father.

Hrothgar created his own demise. At one point Hrothgar must have met Grendel’s mother because somehow Hrothgar is Grendel’s father. GRENDEL’S FATHER IS HROTHGAR, but that’s only in the movie. While in the book Grendel’s father is unknown.  In the movie Hrothgar being Grendel is a big part of the movie, because it brings his own death. When Beowulf kills Grendel, and then goes to see Grendel’s mother, when Beowulf returns Hrothgar kills himself after leaving the Kingdom to Beowulf.

In the end even with all the differences, the story is great.  So what if Grendel has sensitive ears in the movie, or that his mother is human looking, or that Hrothgar made his own demised (Spoiler Alert: and death considering he committed suicide). In the end they are both amazing, but there is one question none of us can answer. Which story is the true version?

The Devil and Tom Walker

Tom is a greedy little man who doesn't really care about anyone but himself, we can infer this because in the beginning of the story the author describes Tom as a "meagre miserly fellow". We can also infer that Tom only cares about himself by the fact that when he was wife was murdered, it is shown in the text that he thought the woodsmen (later found out to be the devil) had done him a favor. The next character I want to talk about is Tom's Walker wife, who we never learn the name off. Tom's wife is just as miserly as Tom is and we can infer that because it tells us directly in the text. We can also know she is a selfish person because it is infer directly in text by saying "Whatever the women led hands on she hid away." She also wanted her husband to sold his soul to the devil and when he was questioning it, she grabbed her best silver and went to make the deal herself. The last character I want to talk about is the Devil, you can tell that something is odd about him the first time he was there because he knew about Deacon Peabody. At first you can't tell he's the devil but its indirectly mentioned as he says his nickname "The Black Woodsmen."  You can also tell the devil is very manipulative, he tells Tom that he has what he wants which is money, this is directly inferred when he said, "The black man told him of great sums of money..." 

The truth about Fairy Tailes

Warning: Picture below is gruesome


http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm021.html

           





          When we think about Cinderella or any other type of princess, we think of a prince, a castle, and a happy ending, but some people think of it differently. I'm one of those people. I grew up thinking all the time that Cinderella and all the other Princesses were happy but when I grew up I learned the truth, and somehow it makes me love them more than I did before.

         The first Grimm Brothers book I read was Cinderella, I was around 11/12 and when I found out the truth I was eccentric. It wasn't all happy and joyful; in fact it was depressing with a hint of good. It was like the world I know in real life. Cinderella's mother had died, and a year after her death her father remarried. The mother brought in the two-step daughters and like the Disney story goes they treated her terribly. On the night of the ball, she cried onto her mother grave where a dress fell upon her and she got dressed and went. (There were no magic involved just birds.)  When she got home she took the dress off and it was taken away by the birds so no one would imagine it was her. The ball went on for another day and that’s when she lost the shoe. The prince took the shoe and went looking for her, he tried the stepsisters first. The older one went first and when the shoe didn't fit she cut it off, held her pain and went to see him. He took her onto her house and rode off, but the birds from the ball night warned him that he was wrong. So he brought her back and tried the younger step sister who cut her heel off.  He took her onto the house but again the birds warned him and he went back. Finally Cinderella tried the shoe on and it fit, and she became a queen. On the day of her Wedding the birds who warned the prince picked out the eyes of the stepsisters and left them permanently blind and as poor beggars. 

          To me this story had the theme of, when you do wrong to others it gets thrown back to you.  The stepsister degraded Cinderella as a beggar, and treated terribly, but when she became queen they wanted to baste in her glory, and that probably would’ve worked if they didn’t degrade her in the past. So they called her beggar but in the end they were permanently blind. So pretty much the moral of this very long blog post is “Do unto other as you would have them do to you.”

I am a shattered piece of glass

I am slowly pulling myself back together

I try to do it all alone

I need to overcome

I am.

I can stand alone

but being by yourself is lonely

The friends I had all left

but I'll be okay.

I can overcome

I can

I will let you in on my thoughts

I will show you the broken one

but I can show you a fake me

A false stronger me

I will make it.

I wiil, I can, I am

Luna