12th Grade
Memories & Metaphor
Twelve grade felt like running from zombies. This year I had found out that Senioritis was no only really but it's a murderer. I just didn't want to do anything. My teachers would assign busy work and I found myself thinking how could I get way with doing as little work as possible and still get credit for it? My german teacher assigned us this huge project. All I could think about as I worked through it like the undead, slowly and groaning in pain was how mad would Frau be if all I did for this project was say I hasse sie. (I hate her) and just be done with it. At one point my friend Jeff and my friend hit the same undead state I was in. We all looked at each other and for some unknown reason burst into laughter.This seemed to be a pattern between me and my friends in our shared classes. Trying so hard to work but instead we are surprisingly attacked with a feeling of being done and laughter.
I creeped through the terror known as the Twelve grade reading list. Beowulf was a monster. I had a hard time forcing myself to pay attention and the movie was absolutely dreadful.Macbeth was a stone cold killer. It seemed unending and even the teacher dreaded having to read it. English was ruff because I had to keep searching for motivation to do anything. Moving through my living horror story I learned a lot. Mostly I learned how to do things the way my teacher wanted them not how I wanted them. I procrastinated so much this year. There were times when i thought I would make it. Overall this year wasn't so bad. It made me feel a little like I was walking through mud but not that bad. Introduction
The original assignment was a character analysis called the Beowulf essay. The steps I followed to create this essay were to do the essay outline given to us by the teacher then i used that to write the essay which is why I picked the essay. I had never used that format so i feel like it helped me step out of my comfort zone.
Beowulf
“The sword was wet with her blood and Beowulf rejoiced at the sight”(644-645). The warrior finds victory after a hard won battle with Grendel’s mother. In doing this he demonstrates three traits of an epic hero, he uses supernatural strength to defeat the monster and is supremely ethical by helping Hrothgar’s people. The Prince of the Geats’ brute force aids him throughout his life.
Beowulf has supernatural strength. When speaking to Hrothgar the mighty warrior speaks of how his people “have seen my strength for themselves, Have watched me rise from the darkness of war, dripping with my enemies blood” (151). The hero has already shown and proved his strength in the past. When Grendel enters Herot, he is forced to fight the hero and “His mind flooded with fear but nothing could take his talons and himself from that tight Hard Grip” (435). Beowulf was so strong the monster could not break the mighty warriors hold on him. When fighting Grendel’s mother the prince of the Geats sees a magic sword “so massive that no ordinary man could lift it’s carved and decorated length , He drew it from its scabbard broke the chain on its hilt” (636) The hero proves his muscle by lifting a weapon no normal man could ever even hope to lift. Beowulf’s might is shown numerous times. Beowulf defeats Monsters. When Unferth tried to undermine him the Prince of the Geats replied with “Lucky or not, nine was the number of sea-huge monsters I killed” (308-309). The Prince of the Geats ended the lives of 9 monsters. After the hero’s fight with the monster “Grendel escaped, But wounded as he was could to his den, his miserable hole at the bottom of the marsh, Only to die to wait for the end” (500) The mighty warrior made sure Grendel breathed his last breath. After Beowulf took the giants sword off the wall when fighting the She-wolf he swings it and “Caught her in the neck and cut it through broke bones and all. Her body fell to the floor lifeless” (643 -645). The hero kills the mighty water witch. Beowulf destroys the lives of monsters. Beowulf is supremely ethical. When Beowulf chooses to help the Danes at Herot he “quickly commanded a boat fitted out proclaiming that he’d go to that famous king, would sail across the sea to Hrothgar, now when help was needed” (113-116). The Prince of the Geats morals guides him to go to the aid of the Danes. After arriving before Horthgar, he speaks of Grendel, “he needs no weapons and fears none. Nor will I” (168-169). Even though it would be easier to fight with weapon Beowulf doesn’t because Grendel doesn't. When Beowulf speaks of his challenge with Brecca, the great athlete says he, “had chosen to remain close to his side I remained near for 5 long nights until a flood swept us apart” (276-277). It would have been easy and safer for the mighty warrior to out swim Brecca, but his loyalty to his friends made him stay. Time and time again Beowulf proves that his morals are unquestionable. Beowulf’s ethical nature brought him to do great feats and the destruction of many monsters. The mighty warrior proves his high principles brute force through the death of a great deal of monsters, “extolled his heroic nature and exploits and gave thanks for his greatness” (833-834) Reflection
Application
I have written character analysis at least once each year of high school English I took. It was also similar to a song I had to write and preform with a group sophomore. The song had to identify the tragic hero of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and defend your group’s stance on the matter. The song reminds me of this paper because I felt like I had to work really hard to find a way to defend how I felt for each hero. I am sure I will also need to write more when I go away to college and while I had never used this particular process to a character analysis before I plan to use it there. Analysis There is a clear pattern to everything that was done in this essay. That pattern is background, quote, explanation and then repeat. The reason this pattern is so easy to see is that I followed an outline that demanded that I did that pattern. The results of the approach I used was very efficient because it was what the teacher wanted. Evaluation I did pretty well on Beowulf. I got a B+ on it. The reason I did so well on it is that I carefully did everything the outline .The things I need to improve on the most is my conclusion and editing. My strong point on this essay was the quotes that I picked. They truly proved that Beowulf was an epic hero. My weakest point was unquestionably my conclusion. I should have more clearly restated both my thesis and my three topics. We learned about the traits of an epic hero and the story of Beowulf. I think I did an effective job of portraying both how well I learned both of those things. Creation The thing I should do next is review this and my other character analysis papers to see how I have improved and how I can continue to improve. I can use my strength in picking out quotes to improve all of my future English and non-English papers with quotes. This skill should help me get better grades on my papers in college. I should use peer editing to improve all of my papers. A lot of mistakes I made and points I lost could have been avoided if I just done that. I would suggest a time to peer review to my teacher so that we may learn what mistakes were made and how our essays could improve from our peers. |