Upon finishing Beowulf in my AP Lang class, I can finally agree that the Anglo-Saxon epic is a literary masterpiece.
I’ll admit that I was underwhelmed at first. The age-old story of a Geatish warrior traveling to Denmark to liberate the mead hall has been regarded as the foundation of English literature for a millennium. It seemed to me that it was regarded as such, not because of its content, but because it was the first to be written down. It’s just an adventure story, after all—I saw no difference between Beowulf and any bland Avengers film released in the past two decades.
It wasn’t until we delved into the implications of bravery that I truly began to resonate with this pioneering literature. In Anglo-Saxon culture, honor and bravery were of utmost importance. Beowulf was regarded not just because of his might and his military tactics, but also because he used these powers to defend against evil—for the Danes, of whom he had no obligation to protect besides his father’s debt to their king.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which means that we are celebrating one of the bravest individuals throughout American history. King was aware of the danger of his trade, but knew it needed to be done. He knew that few others had both his tenacious tact for public speaking and his groundbreaking insight into what it felt like to be a second-class American. He also knew that at any moment he could be killed for his actions, just as he was in 1968.
Yet, he did it anyway: he took up his pen and fought against the evils of racism and discrimination. Although he wore a suit and tie instead of chain mail, King will forever be regarded as a hero.
Hopefully.
Right now, it seems, that the act of protesting, of fighting for natural rights, has come under fire. Whatever work King had done to expel racism was only the first step—and it seems like a bitter pendulum has swung back to King’s volatile time. Even peaceful protests are responded to with guns and violence; “I’m not mad at you, dude,” is met with three bullets to the skull.
Now, in Beowulf, the Danes weren’t subjugated by their own king, Hrothgar. Rather, some foreign, inherently evil forces terrorized their towns. MLK didn’t have the luxury of such, and neither did his cohorts. Neither did Renee Good.
And neither do you.
So fight the good fight. Fight for the rights of the Danes, in full knowledge that a dragon may puncture your skin and drain your lifeblood, but aware that your cause, your community, is still worth defending.
