Thursday
When I launched this blog over 10 years ago, I called it Better Living through Beowulf because Beowulf is the starting text for those of us specializing in British Literature. I used Beowulf to represent all of literature and felt free to write about any literary work that provides insight into the life we are living. Other bloggers do the same with other works and authors, for instance Lucy with Tolstoy Therapy, Lory with Emerald City, and Rachel Barenblat with The Velveteen Rabbi.
While highlighting Beowulf, I didn’t realize how relevant it would prove to be in a world grappling with an unending series of gun attacks. No literary work understands violent eruptions better than Beowulf, making it an essential resource for our time. At the end of this article you can see how often I have turned to Beowulf when writing about mass killings, and my book How Beowulf Can Save America also explores America’s anger problem. Today I repeat ideas I have shared in the past because sometimes one needs to sound like a broken record.
Beowulf is above all a poem about violence—what causes it, the chaos that ensues, and what can be done to counter it. Given the instability of 8th century Anglo-Saxon warrior society, the Beowulf poet was well acquainted with the subject. While some of the violence he mentions comes from without (say, Frank, Frisian, and Swedish invasions), he is most interested in the violence that comes from within. Using modern categories, he focuses on domestic rather than foreign terrorism.
The poem’s three monsters, each of which is the manifestation of a different kind of anger, are all locally generated. This is noteworthy because the poem opens with images of political stability. There has been a successful four-king succession, no small thing, and the fourth king has built a magnificent mead hall that would make any foreign invader think twice. It’s like America flexing its military might. Because Hrothgar’s Denmark and the United States are both the reigning super power of their time, neither fears a frontal attack.
Yet violence still occurs and in this very mead hall. Grendel is no more a foreigner than those white supremacists who dwell in the dark reaches of the internet, nursing a “hard grievance” and resenting the sounds of other people having a good time—say, Obama supporters celebrating the triumph of American diversity. Our own Grendels attack our shopping malls, schools, churches, synagogues, and other places at the heart of our society.
Grendel is the form grievance takes when it turns to violence. He is society’s malcontent, which in Anglo-Saxon society could take the form of a warrior angry about being bypassed, a nephew who thinks he should be king, or a relative of a diplomatic marriage who can’t get over the quarrel the marriage was supposed to solve. All three figures show up in the non-monster parts of the poem, but their fury receives full emotional articulation in the archetype of the monster.
Grendel’s mode of attack resembles any number of the shooters we have seen—they storm into a space and begin shooting (in Grendel’s case, slashing) left and right. The fury of slaughter overtakes them until some strong arm takes them down. Here’s Grendel anticipating the carnage to come:
Then his rage boiled over, he ripped open
the mouth of the building, maddening for blood,
pacing the length of the patterned floor
with his loathsome tread, while a baleful light,
flame more than light, flared from his eyes.
He saw many men in the mansion, sleeping,
a ranked company of kinsmen and warriors
quartered together. And his glee was demonic,
picturing the mayhem: before morning
he would rip life from limb and devour them,
feed on their flesh…
The strong arm, by the way, is not “a good guy with a gun.” The NRA’s macho stance—which is actually a sales pitch for buying more guns and is more accurately translated as “a white guy with a gun”—grows out of the very resentment that leads to the violence we are witnessing. When Beowulf enters Hrothgar’s hall, he is affronted by a trash-talking Unferth, who has killed a relative but is still accorded a place of honor. Instead of reaching for his sword, Beowulf makes a strong verbal reply that gets Unferth to back down. It’s a version of how he defeats Grendel: he disarms both figures–literally in Grendel’s case–with a strong grip, which proves more effective than the frantic sword strokes dealt out by his fellow warriors.
We cannot rely on a Beowulf to ride in and save us, although Trump could have an impact if fought the NRA on assault rifles and background checks or if he forcefully renounced white supremacy. For that matter, Republicans in Congress could have an impact if they collectively stood up to Trump. It’s called having a spine.
But because they cower before Grendel’s destructive energy, the shooters in our midst are emboldened and unleash mayhem in our great hall. As a result, we find ourselves in the position of Hrothgar: head in his hands following a second monster attack, he moans, “Rest, what is rest? Sorrow has returned.”
Former Republican Congressman David Jolly, now an Independent, says that Republicans will never approve common sense gun reforms and the only solution is to vote them all out. Beowulf, who always prefers a non-violent response, would approve.
Previous Posts on Mass Killings
Racism, Traveler of Darkness
Mass Killings, Our Most Dangerous Game
What Would Lord Jim Do?
On Labeling Survivors as Crisis Actors
In Support of Today’s NRA Marchers
Manchester: Grendel Evil vs. Beowulf’s Strength of Mind
Sen. Blackburn Unsexes Herself over Guns
NRA Uber Alles
GOP Invokes Catch-22 on Gun Control
Atwood’s Dystopias and the Gun Business
Conrad: Terrorism Not as Clear as It Looks
The Killer Always Comes Back
Las Vegas: Our Killers, Ourselves
Grendel Strikes in Orlando
This Time Grendel Chose Umpqua
Grendel Violence Never Ends
Grendel in Paris
Pennywise Kills North Carolina Muslims
The Killer Always Comes Back
Grendel as a Norwegian Christian Fascist
Dostoevsky and the Arizona Shootings
Lost Paradise Syndrome in Tucson
Analyzing Loughner’s Booklist
Satan Strikes Again, This Time in Aurora
Grendel’s Invasion of Fort Hood
A Modern Grendel on the Rampage