Grendel by John Gardner

Introduction

Get out a piece of paper, so you can begin your quest for information on JOHN GARDNER, the author of GRENDEL. You'll also learn more about GRENDEL, the novel, and about the use of astrology in the novel.

Write your name, and write all your answers on the paper. Turn it in at the end of class for some PROCESS POINTS ! Or, if you need more time, take it with you and finish by Friday.

THANKS, STUDENTS !!  

Click on the TASK tab to begin.

Task

TASK 1

http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/DocumentToolsPortletWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&jsid=1fb588b8e0626e0fcba7bf8ea90d490c&action=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CK1603000896&u=nort87507&zid=058ab83a0727061f90f81f7dbf271f6b

1. When and where was John Gardner born?
2. When and where did he die and how old was he?
3. What universities and colleges did he get his edgucation from?
4. What books did he write? (Notice they are italicized)   Give at least THREE examples other than Grendel.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/481146.John_Gardner

5. What was John's genre of writing? (fiction? Non-fiction? mysteries? romance novels?)
6. What did John's parents do for a living?
7. how did John's brother die?

TASK 2

http://pitt-lit-con.blogspot.com/2011/04/grendels-existential-crisis.html

Use the first four paragraphs to find the answers in numbers 8 - 13

8. In Beowulf, we defined Grendel as an EVIL MONSTER who killed humans. However, in John Gardner's Novel, Grendel, reader are supposed to see Grendel more as what? 

9. What is Grendel's accepted ROLE in life as stated in the novel?

10. Describe in two or three sentences Grendel's intelligence (second paragraph). He has skills the others in his world - the creatures and his mother, do not have.

11. Does Grendel have an equal or is Grendel seemingly alone in his world?

12. At the end of the second paragraph, Grendel "encounters the human race." What does Grendel discover about humans over time? 

13. In paragraphs three and four, you find out Grendel is having an EXISTENTIAL CRISIS. Can you put into your own words what it means to have an existential crisis? Use the link below to help you with question 13 and question 14 -  https://www.buzzfeed.com/catadamson/27-signs-you-are-in-an-existential-crisis-dk49?utm_term=.iuZglrOyO#.ocGZX7aQa

14. Using the buzzfeed link, do you think you've ever had your own Existential Crisis? If so, when was it and what was going on with you? (It won't get shared, so write it down!) Or do you know someone who has been in an existential crisis? What was happening with them?

TASK 3

http://grendelzodiac.blogspot.com/

15. Write down your astrological sun sign - look at the list provided in the link. Find your birthday, and then read the section about you. Are you an Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius or Pisces? 

16. Find your Zodiac sun sign on the list of grendelzodiac and see the description relates to how you think you are? Describe part relates to you? Read the text from Grendel that goes with your zodiac sun sign. Does any of what Grendel does seem like anything you've done? (Write at least four sentences for this response #16) This site might help more - scroll down to find your "SIGN" -  http://www.whats-your-sign.com/zodiac-signs-and-meanings.html

17. Final question. Do you want to know more about astrology or John Gardner's inclusion of the 12 signs of the zodiac in the novel GRENDEL? 

THANKS FOR COMPLETING THE WEBQUEST !!