Gardner’s Grendel

Now, there’s a long list I’ve made of why I loved Grendel (the skeptical, quirky, entertaining, self-aware consciousness of the beast himself, the subtly-placed social issues concerning Grendel’s realization of death’s permanence, life’s meaninglessness as well as its purpose, the confusing yet enticing concept of war and bloodshed, mankind’s idiocy and ingenuity, the meaning of anarchy, not to mention the parallels drawn between the DRAGON and Beowulf himself) but don’t worry, I won’t bore you with all that. And to think it wouldn’t have been written without Beowulf...actually, a lot might not have been possible without Beowulf. But what is most admirable about this specific work is that Gardner takes a simple, one-dimensional yet iconic monster of literature and transforms him into a character that not only fits my character development criteria but also provides a great look at the inner-workings of the anti-hero archetype and the book's antagonistic foils.

The Art of Character Development

Welcome to the first blog post for this marking period season! I think I should start off this “season’s” next line-up of blog posts by reminding my audience of what it takes for a story-teller to build characters, specifically characters perfectly molded for a certain plot. Honestly, I don’t think character development gets the credit it deserves -- that may be because, when a character is developed well, they truly fit into the plot and theme of the story, contrary to a character that may have no real purpose or development in the plot and theme of the story. So what does this criteria include? And what are examples of characters that embody that criteria (or characters that don’t)?

The Influence of Static Characters

There’s an idea akin to the phrase “move or be moved” that Achebe refers to in his novel. With this tug-of-war nature of the relationship between the Umuofians and the Europeans comes an inevitability; someone has to give. History tells us that the Africans ended up with the shorter half of the chain. To really emphasize Okonkwo’s steadfast devotion to his culture, Achebe masterfully kills off the main character at the end of Things Fall Apart; but how about during the story? How do Okonkwo’s living actions affect the reader? The plot? The theme; how does his story represent the theme?
As a static character, what does Okonkwo do specifically in Things Fall Apart that sets him apart from a dynamic protagonist and how does this influence the story's elements?