Identity In Beowulf

National identities are some of the must fundamental tools in the build-up of countries, and can be created from a number of possibilities, ranging from outside military threats to the feeling of belonging in society. This is best seen in countries like England, where the epic poem Beowulf plays a large role in the country’s identity, and the United States, where George Washington’s life story plays an important factor in the forming of its national identity. Serving as major symbols for later generations, these stories/figures have become everlasting, and continue to impact the regions to this very day. However, the inclusion of a country that Westerners are less than familiar with, Kyrgyzstan for example, changes the discussion almost entirely because of its small stature and almost inefficient role in geopolitics. Kyrgyzstan is

The epos begins with the ancestry and history of the hero of the epic by describing his father’s desperate need for an heir. He visits a holy place, prays for a son, and after a while his wife becomes pregnant.16 Manas’s father takes specific actions to appease his wife while keeping the birth of his infant son a secret from the Uighers, indicating its significance to the Kyrgyz.17 When Manas was born, he landed straight on his feet, and in his right hand, khan Manas, came out holding a clot of black blood.18 This description of Manas’s hand holding a clot of blood not only serves as a prototype of Chingiz Khan, 19 the Mongol khan who initiated the devastating Mongol invasions of Eurasia, but also goes to show that Manas was ready to fight as soon as he is born (a sign of future comings that people would continue to describe in their oral