Flashback Grendel Style

AP Literature Open Question: 

Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reasons for its effectiveness.

One, if I actually saw this on the exam I might cry. Which is why it's a good idea to blog on it. Blogging on difficult things before the exam make me less nervous for the exam and prepare me for everything that could come. However, I will still cry if the prompt is similar. 

If I did get this prompt I would write on Grendel by John Gardner. Can you guess which line I would use?? Yes! You're right!! "Tedium is the worst pain" is the main line that sticks in my head. Maybe because it's the easiest one to really say and I couldn't exactly talk about how he cries for his mom all the time. Alright here we go. So, tedium refers to something that takes a long time and can be enervating. For Grendel those tasks that are long and enervating are frustrating and "the worst pain". But don't the acts that are tiresome to certain people different than those that tire another person? Why yes of course! That's why this line is effective. We all have something that drives us bonkers. For instance my dad HATES standing in line waiting to check out at the grocery store and it's probably bad that I laugh at his frustration but this is where he relates to Grendel. This stupid boring task is what drives them both crazy. Gardner is trying to relate Grendel to us because there aren't a lot of things that we share in common with Grendel. We aren't furry and scary looking, we don't eat people (hopefully) we don't yell at chasms, and we aren't angsty teenagers. Ehh well ok, maybe I take back that one but still, we don't share a lot of things in common with him. By Gardner's reaching out, we are able to identify more with Grendel and understand what he's going through. But that's exactly what the point is. We aren't supposed to be similar to Grendel. We are supposed to see the differences between humans and animals just like Grendel does. He sees that humans are awful creatures that pillage through other villages and kill dogs and cows and start wars and burn things down for no good reason. But when Gardner is talking about tedium, he wants us to connect with Grendel to show one of the small similarities that humans and animals share.