Plot Details
What animal is at the beginning of the story representing the arrival of spring?
Ram
What does the italicized word mean in the following sentence:
"I toy with shouting some tidbit more--some terrifying, unthinkable threat, some blackly fuliginous riddling hex--but my heart's not in it."
Dark and sooty
The astrological symbol relevant to Chapter 1.
Ram
"Life-bloated, baffled, long-suffering hag."
Grendel's Mom
Identify and explain the philosophy explored in Chapter 1.
Orphism
Key ideas: endless cycle of reincarnation; the body is the prison of the soul; animals are not to be killed or eaten, etc.
How many years has Grendel been at war with the Danes?
12
The big-boled oaks gaze down at me yellow with morning, beneath complexity. "No offense," I say, with a terrible, sycophantish smile, and tip the imaginary hat.
behaving in a fake way to flatter someone
List at least two traits of a Taurus.
Objective, concrete, usually calm but narrow-minded and stubborn, exists alone.
He talks to Grendel in a cave about the meaning of life
Dragon
Identify and explain the philosophy explored in Chapter 2.
Solipsism
Key idea: You are alone and can't know that anything exists outside of the contents of your own mind.
Grendel thinks that he and the men might be related because:
They seem to speak the same language
I understood that the world was nothing, a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears.
a state of hostility
Gemini
He's the King of the Danes
Hrothgar
Identify and explain the philosophy explored in Chapter 3.
Sophism
Key ideas: rhetoric over virtue; perversion of the truth for the sake of winning arguments
What Biblical story does Grendel learn about in Chapter 4?
Cain & Abel
Oft Scyld Shefing shattered the forces of kinsman-marauders, dragged away their meadhall benches, terrified earls -- after first men found him castaway. (He got recompense for that). He grew up under the clouds, won glory of men till all his enemies sitting around him heard across the whaleroads his demands and gave him tribute.
compensation, payback
What is the symbol of the Gemini sign, and identify at least one trait of a Gemini.
Twin lambs
Versatile, superficial, quick-witted, good with words, dual-natured.
He enchants Grendel with his songs
Shaper
Identify and explain the philosophy explored in Chapter 4.
Key ideas: the Christian story of creation; basic values of good vs. evil, original sin, and a vengeful God
What is Grendel's reaction to the Shaper's songs?
He runs back to the mere, confused, crying, and screaming.
Pick any vocab word from our list, define it, and correctly use it in a sentence.
Answers will vary.
How does the astrological sign Cancer play into Chapter 4?
Teacher discretion.
He tries to fight Grendel, but is brought back to the mead-hall alive
Unferth
Pick any philosophy explored in Chapters 1-4, and explain how it connects to a specific passage in the novel.
Answers will vary.