Discussion Board Prompt

Answer each question listed below.

1. Chapter 5 of On Monsters poses a common problematic question in the conversation of monsters. This chapter provides us with a good exercise in discussing religious texts unbiasedly. For this discussion post, be as objective as possible and answer the above questions without letting anyone else know your own personal beliefs. 
2. What is that common problematic question? 
3. How has Asma explained the answer(s)? 
4. At the end of chapter 6, Asma reflects, “the idea of a great king shutting up dangerous uncivilized races behind an iron gate made sense, but the question was, Who were these brutes?” and then continues with “this tells us something about the human tendency to keep locating barbarism and monstrosity farther and farther away from oneself and one’s own tribes” (92).
5. What is Asma referring to here?
6. What, exactly, does it tell us about this particular human tendency?
7. Chapter 7 of On Monsters discusses different possible interpretations of the poem Beowulf and reminds us that monsters (and the heroes who fight them) reflect the cultures who create their stories. After explaining the shift in portraying Beowulf (and Grendel) over the centuries, Asma comments, “It’s hard to imagine a more complete reversal of values” (101). The different portrayals of Grendel and Beowulf tell us about the different values of the cultures.  He offers plenty of examples in the chapter of how we can determine a culture’s values by looking at their monsters and monster-killers. There are two options here:
8. Find one of those examples in the text and explain how it supports this idea (use quotes and citations!). OR
9. Find one example from a film you’re already familiar with and explain how it supports this idea (use quotes and citations!).