The epic Beowulf shows us how a mans’ character is tested as he encounters difficult situations. The unknown author of Beowulf, leaves behind a mystique, an intriguing quality with which the character which hold our interest. The modern-day hero, Superman, also possesses these same qualities. Their modest actions are what helped these hero’s to become their peoples’ “ideal man.” The first quality that earns a person’s respect between Beowulf and Superman is wealth. Neither of these men had a considerable amount of money. This helps the every day man relate to them more easily. In the epic, Beowulf’s home is far away from his lord’s castle. We get the sense that Beowulf is an outcast because of the lengthy distance to reach his kingdom. In stories such as these, the outcasts are perceived to be the poorer of the people in the kingdom. Like Beowulf, Superman lives in seclusion from the society in which he lives. He apartment is purposely set on the opposite side of town from everyone he works with. In relation to the common man’s life-style, we can easily assume that Superman does not make much money. This fact is defined by Superman’s day job as a reporter for the city of Metropolis. The “ideal man” of past and present has to posses the quality of intelligence. Beowulf shows great intelligence in his approach towards his battles. In his battle with Gre...
They could not speak their native languages, in addition, they could not communicate with their parents. Joanna Rice describes that these "schools were designed and operated by the church and state with the purpose of destroying Native cultures(Rice 1)". This loss of culture affects core beliefs and values, These beliefs and values are important as it dictates how moral behavior is passed on from generation to generation. It is no wonder that "every Aboriginal community in Canada today is affected by the experience of residential schooling (Rice
This essay is the comparison between Beowulf and a modern day hero. I consider any American soldier to be my modern day hero. In this essay I will explain in three paragraphs of how my modern day hero is like Beowulf. With in these three paragraphs I will go over how they are both fighting for a good cause, how they are both rewarded for what they do, and how they are both treated with much respect.
There are many similarities between Batman- a modern day hero making use of his intellect, modern technology, and detective skills on crime and warfare and the classic hero, Beowulf- who travels great distances to prove his strength against his enemies, even at impossible odds. For example, the simplest being that they are both heroes working towards the common good, saving others without twice thinking of their own safety. However there are also many differences: obvious ones such as the fact they were born centuries apart, and subtle ones like the importance placed on humility with Batman versus self-confidence with Beowulf.
A key turning point for Beowulf is when he is an old king and fights a dragon. Being his usual prideful self, Beowulf chooses to fight the dragon alone and asks his men to remain outside during the battle. However, when Beowulf needs help to fight the dragon, his fellow men “broke ranks and ran for their lives” (2598). Beowulf’s “high-born comrades” and “hand-picked
Grendal, a descendant of Cain, is one of the main antagonist of the poem Beowulf. He lives under an inherited curse and is denied God’s presence. Throughout the story Grendal causes enormous grief and fear to the people of Herot. After so much pain and agony the king of Herot, Hrothgar, sends for the protagonist of the poem, Beowulf. He is a Geat and the epic hero of the poem. The wide variety of distinctions between Grendal and Beowulf is what develops the climax of the composition. Beowulf kills Grendal, so he is honored by the people of Herot for his heroic act. Since Grendal and Beowulf play opposite roles in the poem, Beowulf, they let the reader know how contrasting characters can develop the plot of the story.
The way these kids grew up, with incest, sexual and physical abuse and brutal punishments led to poor parenting skills which damaged future generations. We all know drinking during pregnancy greatly affects babies but these people did not only drink as pregnant adults, most started drinking at the age of 11. The Aboriginal adults that became parents were not capable of raising their children properly because they did not know how to show affection or relate to their kids on any level (Fournier, 83). When the parents were younger and in the residential schools they could not bond with anyone which also led them to become incapable of bonding with their children (Fournier, 83). An even more sad fact is that some Aboriginal kids literally had no concept of what family was (Tunstall 112). These kids did not know what a dad is, what he should say, what he should do or what his ole was. This was a result of being taken away from their family and put in a residential school. Some kids did have family however it was not technically their family. Social workers thought it was a good idea to place these children in middle-class white families. However this isolated the kids more and made them more vulnerable than they were in the residential schools. They were still abused in these home (sexually and physically and were treated as not even
Beowulf and Superman have many resemblances and distinctions, but I believe that Superman directly resembles Beowulf. Both men in these stories have superhuman attributes; Superman and Beowulf both have super strength and other astounding characteristics. Beowulf has various features that make him a hero in the epic tale. When Beowulf tears Grendel’s arm off during hand to hand battle, he exhibits his super strength and depicts his capability to breathe underwater while being pulled into the monster’s lair. To kill Grendel’s mother, Beowulf picks up the massive sword in the cave. Superman displays superb strength when he saves all of the people of Metropolis. However, he has one weakness that involves the stone called kryptonite; he can’t fly,
First of all, the introduction about who Beowulf is, and who Robin Hood is. Beowulf is heroic, strong, courageous, has a long hair, he is feared by his enemies, and is loved by the people he protects.
The Indian Residential School System was run by the Canadian Government with the help of various churches with the objective of “killing the Indian in the child” (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 2015). An estimated 150 000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children passed through the Residential School System between 1867 and 1996, and life for these children was lonely and alien (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 2015). The Canadian Government has tried to maintain mutually respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, however, their efforts to reconcile with Indigenous people have not been adequate to heal the wounds of cultural genocide left by the Indian Residential School System. The Canadian Government has relied too heavily on formal apologies and promises rather than on implementing policy changes when attempting to reconcile with the Indigenous people. Although the government has tried to
In the Anglo-Saxon time period the major values were bravery, honor and loyalty. Beowulf and wiglaf demonstrate these values by standing up to villains, fighting a fair fight and protecting the people of the public. These values later carried on into modern day heroes, such as, Batman who displays these values by fighting evil in Gotham City by sticking to his honor code, and not being afraid to stand up to the evil villains in order to protect the public. Although, ages apart both Beowulf and Batman share these values. The epic Beowulf shows the values of the Anglo-saxons that later reflected in modern day heroes.
The negative effects of the residential school system has had a persistent, negative impact on generations of Aboriginal culture and aboriginal families in Canada. The impact remains evident today, as seen in the loss of connections to Aboriginal language and cultural traditions and the high rates of poverty. First Nation children, family and communities in Canada continues to experience the disproportionate social injustice resulting from colonialization. The Canadian child welfare system has become the new form of colonization that has overrepresented Aboriginal children in the foster care system. According to Vandna Sinha, Stephen Ellenbogen and Nico Trocme (2013) states that “Analyses of provincial/territorial administrative data
Despite the claims of education being a priority, these schools often provided Indigenous students with an inferior education, “often only up to grade five” (Kohn 2006). The students that attended these schools had no idea that their education was lower than the public schools. In fact, the many students who came out of these school hardly knew anything, as they were primarily taught about God. As Melvin Jack stated during an interview, “they taught us well about their higher power” (Melvin). “When I finally got out of there they sent me to public school and I didn’t know nothing and I felt so stupid” (Page). Today when you ask someone about their typical day at school, you don’t expect to hear that their scared or have no friends. However, when it comes to the case of residential school it is a completely different story. When interviewed, Velma Page, a survivor of a residential school stated that she feared both the Nuns and Priests. These were people who served God and were supposed to make them feel safe and yet students were terrified of them. When you hear something like this it makes you wonder about the horrific acts that took place. Well, the students were given specific rules that they had to follow or they would have to face the consequences. When stated like that it makes it seem like nothing is wrong. However, these students were told not to look around and talk to the other students. If for any reason, they did break the rule, they would “get strapped or get their ears and hair pulled” (Page). This of course made it difficult for students to make friends or even find their siblings that they were separated from. Despite the horrible education system, Indigenous students also had to endure an enormous amount of abuse while attending these
The relationship between the Canadian government and the Aboriginal community has been a violent one, built on colonization and cultural genocide. The attempt to destroy traditions, values, languages and other elements that make up a cultural group is the very definition of cultural genocide, and this has been a goal of the Canadian government for over a century.1 This is evident in the Indian residential school system, whose purpose was to “take the Indian out of the child”.2 Beginning in the late nineteenth century, the Canadian government partnered with various churches to create residential schools for Aboriginal children, forcibly pulling them away from their family to assimilate the Aboriginal people. 3 Nearly 150,000 children went through
Residential schooling has been used in both Canada and America. It was said to be a solution for the “Indian problem”. For many others who attended, it was a time of abuse and desecration of culture. In 1920, under the Indian Act, it became mandatory for every Indian child between the ages of 4 and 16 to attend a residential school and it is illegal for them to attend any other educational institution. There are two objective views that the government wanted to establish with residential schooling. The first one is to isolate the children from their families, so they can be converted and educated into the “white” culture. The second view is to blend the Aboriginal children into the dominant culture. The objectives assume that Aboriginal culture
However, friendship and enemy is to opposite words which represents quite differently to the way the friendship often seen in this novel. The enemy and friendship were often seen in this society. In this novel the binary can be seen differently to this stereotype. Rather than the friendship been altruistic his associated with being enemy. Symbolism is when writers use animals, elements, things, places, or colours to represent other things. In this novel there are many symbolisms used to describe a person or things. The scar symbol is seen in Harry’s parent’s death and Harry’s connection to Voldemort. Another symbol is dementors. This word symbolises death and evil. This is shown when flowers die when the dementor