Warfare in Beawulf Warfare is defined as military operations between enemies. The second definition is an activity undertaken by one country to weaken or destroy another (The Merriam Webster Dictionary). In Beowulf, warfare is extremely important for it is a way for a man to prove his strength and courage against others. War is also to protect others, and in Beowulf, the anonymous author seems to be rooting for, rather than against, warfare due to the many battles that Beowulf encounters. Beowulf begins with Grendel attacking the Danes out of vengeance and hatred. Grendel is the relative of Cain which means that he is outcast to eternal darkness as punishment for the crime of Cain killing his brother Abel. Therefore, when Grendel hears laughter in the hall named Heorot, he is angry and a little envious, so he goes on a killing spree in order to put an end to the warriors’ happiness. Because of Grendel’s attack upon the Danes, Beowulf arrives in order to put an end to the killing spree: “And now alone I shall settle affairs with Grendel the monster, the demon” (Donaldson, p.8). The author offers no other solution to solving this issue with Grendel but battle, and after the battle is fought and Beowulf wins, Grendel’s hand is preserved as a trophy. Beowulf is rewarded with gifts for his courage, and now the Danes are at peace. The poem then takes another turn when Grendel’s mother comes to avenge her son’s death by killing one of Hrothgar’s most trusted companions. By doing this, she is following the warrior code of the Anglo-Saxons which is an eye for an eye. The other alternative is to pay for the crime committed which is called a wergild. Once again the Danes are made uneasy because another monster is at large, and Beowulf agrees to put an end to her. Although Beowulf seems to respect the action that Grendel’s mother has taken by saying, “It is better for a man to avenge his friend than much mourn” (Donaldson p.25), nonetheless, he has to kill Grendel’s mother because he has a duty to protect the Danes. Beowulf is not afraid of fighting Grendel’s mother because glory comes before death and to him that is best for a warrior: “let him who may get glory before death; that is best for the warrior after he has gone from life” (Donaldson p.
He lives in solitude in a cave at the bottom of the lake and is angered by the parties in the mead hall. To further emphasize the archetype, he is said to go on raids only during the nighttime. This shows more of his loneliness because he can not show his face in broad daylight. When his arm is ripped off, Grendel runs away. This shows his cowardice since he runs instead of finishing the fight on the spot. For the Anglo-Saxons, death in battle was the most glorious type of death, Thus Grendel running away would have been mocked by the crowd and re enforced the quality of courage. When the battle itself begins, Beowulf decides to fight Grendel bare handed. His comrades however stay to help him fight. This reveals the theme of loyalty. This theme is prominent during the main battle because Beowulf is shown to be, “Surrounded closely by his powerful thanes” (98). This ties into the theme of loyalty to one’s kin because although the weapons do no damage, Beowulf’s brethren stay by his side to help. This is also used to emphasize the Anglo-Saxon warrior culture, the battles serve as a way to show the listener the deep cultural significance of the kinship of the warriors. They are treated as one group,
On April 12, 1961, the first application of the chemical nicknamed Agent Orange was sprayed on Vietnamese foliage in an attempt to stop guerilla warfare, launching a herbicidal disaster ("Herbicidal Warfare"). The consequences of agent orange, unbeknownst to the former government officials, led to a series of catastrophic effects including, but not limited to neurobehavioral and physical anomalies of the human body. As a result of the lacking knowledge of Agent Orange, the United States and Vietnam are still cleaning up the herbicidal mess that could have been avoided (Magnuson). Decades later, scientific evidence proved that the use of the dioxin herbicide Agent Orange was linked to many physical and neurobehavior disorders (Poremba).
Almost thirty years after the last troops were pulled out of what was then South Vietnam, its effects are still felt in today’s society. It is hard not to find someone who’s life has not been affected because of this war. One of the most controversial decisions made in the war was to use chemicals to fight the enemy. The most boradly used chemiucal was called Agent Orange. Some people agreed with the use of Agent Orange. They saw it as a very viable weapon that needed to be used in order to keep the Communist from taking control of South Vietnam and subverting their democratic government. Many others disapproved of its use. They knew, correctly, that it would severely devastate the landscape of Vietnam and would forever ruin the land for agricultural use. They also knew of the harmful effect it would have once adults and children came in contact with the harmful chemicals that form the chemical make up of Agent Orange. Once the first bombs carrying Agent Orange were dropped there was no going back. For some people the use of Agent Orange changed their whole opinion of the war and what we were really fighting for. Pictures showing burns and disfigurement were soon to hit the presses. Once the American public could see exactly what was happening and how the civilian life was being treated impacted many people so much that they could no longer support what the United States was doing over in Vietnam. The goal of this paper is to show how the use of Agent Orange changed many people’s perspective of the war in Vietnam.
The character Beowulf, “a man of great strength and bravery” (Magill 388), is a hero in the way he defends his neighboring country, Denmark. When the word that a hostile creature, known as Grendel, was killing tons in Denmark, Beowulf set sail to help defend the people and rid them of the hideous monster.
There are many traits that are possessed by those who seek heroism. Whether it is in real life or in fiction, every hero desires these character traits in the past, present, and future. IN my opinion, the two traits that are most prominent in the poem Beowulf are bravery and goodness.
Throughout the story, Beowulf fights three battles against frightening monsters. Beowulf, the prince of the Geats, was a well known warrior with extreme strength who makes a promise to protect his people under any circumstance. In the poem, his strength is tested, but he uses it to save many people in battles against: Grendel, Grendel 's mother, and a dragon. Before, during, and after each of these battles Beowulf shows many similarities and differences in his actions.
We must do everything in our power to make the world recognize that our veterans are still paying a high price for fighting the war in Vietnam. Agent Orange is slowly taking the lives of these brave veterans. The government has recognized some diseases but the rules to compensation can be complex. It was in the 1960's that we were in the process of trying to destroy vegetation and brush in Vietnam, in doing so we proceeded to contaminate one of the largest parts of the environment, Humankind. War Veterans were exposed to Agent Orange and now live their lives with a disease not necessarily curable. The question remains did these Veterans know about the hazardous effects, and how are they being compensated now? Agent Orange was the code name for a herbicide developed for the military, primarily for use in tropical climates. It destroyed covering vegetation to protect the American and allied troops from ambush. The product "Agent Orange" was named so for the orange band that was used to mark the drums it was stored in. Agent Orange "was a reddish-brown liquid containing two herbicides: 2,4,5-T was contaminated in the manufacturing process with a type of dioxin - 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, also known as TCDD."(VA Fact Sheet) The combined product was mixed with kerosene or diesel fuel and dispersed by vehicle, hand spraying, and aircraft. The term Operation Ranch Hand was the military code name for the spraying of herbicides from United States aircraft in Southeast Asia. "Between 1962 and 1971, Ranch Hand sprayed about 19 million gallons of herbicide, 11 million of which was Agent Orange."(Buckingham 2) Ranch Hand made attacks more difficult by clearing several hundred yards of vegetation in order to make ambushes more difficult and air attacks easier. There was, "more than 10% of the land area of South Vietnam was sprayed at least once, and some were sprayed repeatedly."(Boffey, 1) After several weeks the herbicides would dissolve into the soil which would contaminate the water and the vegetation. "Orange contained relatively high levels of an exceedingly poisonous contaminant known as Dioxin."(Arison, 1) Dioxin is what remained after the herbicides would dissolve; this is not a harmful substance found in nature, but rather a man made poison. The introduction to using resources: Choices and Trade-off s...
(Howe 50) The messenger mentions that Beowulf has accomplished so much for his country, and Beowulf was a good man, but now his accomplishments are useless because the Geats are going to be attacked by the Swedes anyway. So any accomplishments in war eventually become completely futile. Beowulf is a pacifist poem that explicates war as a pointless way of life. The values of the warriors are as wasted and unnecessary as is the death of the warriors themselves.
According to Agent Orange Record (n.d.) “The Vietnam Red Cross estimates that 3 million Vietnamese have been affected by Agent Orange, including 150,000 children born with birth defects.” The birth defects often show as face disfigurations or limb disfigurations, and veterans encounter different cancers such as Soft Tissue Sarcoma, respiratory cancer, and prostate cancer. There are other diseases associated with Agent Orange as well, such as Parkinson’s disease, Ischemic heart disease and AL Amyloidosis. Many veterans in America and Vietnam still suffer from symptoms related to Agent Orange, and there are countless birth defects that clearly relate to Agent Orange, however there is still little research about cures and treatments for the problems that they run into. There have been few studies around toxicology and Agent Orange, but most of it has fizzled out to nothing because there is so little knowledge and funding. The most recent method used in Vietnam to cure Agent Orange symptoms is known as detoxification. Detoxification consists of taking various vitamins and mineral, strenuous exercise, and sweating in a sauna. These efforts are aimed towards purging the body of dioxin through sweat and other excrements, in turn removing the negative effects, but it is only an acute study, and they have not been able to monitor any major results. However, Dr. Marcella Warner, a research epidemiologist who studies
Veterans who served anywhere in Vietnam between January 9th, 1962 and May 7th, 1975 are presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange. Agent Orange was a powerful mixture of chemical defoliants used by the U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover for North Vietnam and Vietnam troops. It was also used for crops. Agent Orange contained Chemical dioxin, which was the most commonly used of herbicide mixtures and was the most effective. 19 million gallons were sprayed over 4.5 million acres of land from 1961 to 1972. Agent Orange was a disease that affected Veterans who served in Vietnam.
The first opponent Beowulf must face in the land of the Danes is Grendel, textually described as “a fiend out of hell … [a] grim demon / haunting the marches, / marauding round the heath / and the desolate fens” (Beowulf, line 100 – 104). The author also provides us with a moral description, explaining how Grendel is “merciless … malignant by nature, he never showed remorse” (line 135-137). As we can see here, the author’s physical and moral portrayal of Grendel is rather unforgiving. We also resent Grendel further once we learn that he has wreaked havoc upon the Heorot hall for twelve years, “inflicting constant cruelties on the people / atrocious hurt” (line 165).
Agent Orange is a dangerous pollutant that has caused countless birth defects and cancers in both the Vietnamese civilian populous and the U.S. military personnel that served on land and in brown-water navy units that were responsible for intercostal riverine operations in the Republic of Vietnam. The extent to which US military members were exposed to Agent Orange is still a matter of debate and congressional inquiries to this date over 40 years after its employment on the battlefield ended.
...mportance of some aspects which make a good GUI such as the familiarity of GUI’s objects, its attractiveness and being forgiveness of user’s faults, if it is easy to use and effective, it might become a good one. According to the survey, which was done by Vallerio (2006) on 12 electrical engineering and all of them preferred having a GUI which performs their work fast. These findings enhance the understanding of the significance of GUI’s effectiveness.
Beowulf’s first accomplishment as an epic hero was his battle with Grendel. Grendel was a huge beast, a descendent of Cain, who ruthlessly murdered innocent Danes because he felt pity for himself. Upon hearing of the Dane’s problem, Beowulf set off to help the Danish without having been called upon. Even though Beowulf had men backing him, He drew battle with Grendel alone and without armor or weapons. Yet, Beowulf emerged victorious with the arm of Grendel as his trophy. Beowulf then went on to kill Grendel’s vengeful mother and a huge fire-breathing dragon who thought it had been done wrong by the Geats. Alas, the killing of the dragon would be Beowulf’s last great battle for the dragon took Beowulf’s life in the struggle for his own.
The Agent Orange was one of the most used and common herbicides and defoliants which is chemical the United States Military used in the Vietnam War from 1961 through 1971. "It was a 50/50 mixture of two herbicides: 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. It remained toxic for only days or weeks and then degraded, but it had a toxic contaminant, dioxin, that did not degrade as readily and is still causing health problems in Vietnam." (What is Agent Orange). They used this chemical to try to kill people over in Vietnam by spraying it on their fields, vegetation, and trees. There reasons for spraying it on the trees were so that it killed the plants so that the Vietnamese did not have any coverage. This chemical caused a lot of different effects too many people. By the United States using the Agent Orange chemical it was affected people’s health. This chemical could have just caused a short term effect like making people sick and being put on medicine to help them get better, or it could have caused long term effects. Agent Orange could have killed someone right away or it could have made them suffer by making them sick for the longest time until they die. Even though this chemical was very dangerous and deadly it was still used by our own United States military forces to help fight in the Vietnam War.