Boasting, Good or Bad?
One of the questions which I found rather interesting during the Beowulf socratic seminar was question fifteen. Question fifteen of the Beowulf socratic seminar asks "How is boasting seen in the poem as opposed to how it is seen today." In the Pagan culture during the time of Beowulf, boasting was something seen as acceptable by society. Boasting was practically common and expected in society. Individuals in Beowulf's society would want other members of society to know what great things they have accomplished and how well they were doing at the time. As seen in Beowulf, whenever Beowulf has successfully accomplished something he boasts about it. One example of Beowulf's boasting is when he came back to the mead hall and he boasts about how he had just killed Grendel. This was acceptable during the time and seen as a good thing for Beowulf to celebrate and announce his accomplishments. Boasting was a characteristic of a Pagan hero existing in their culture during the time.
In modern society, boasting is something that can be described as ugly. Boasting is practiced by those one may argue as the cocky, conceited, egoistical members of society. Boasting has not always had a negative connotation associated with it, but I believe that as the stereotype of a "hero" has developed over time, modern society has revised the characteristics of a hero through the use of media, books, and life experiences. A hero in modern society is one who is humble and modest, one who could care less about whether or not they receive recognition for their good deeds and accomplishments. For example, through the eyes of modern society a firefighter who saves a cat from a tree and goes without telling others of his good deed may be seen as "more" or a hero as opposed to the war hero from Iraq that saves the day but doesn't shut up about his good deeds and accomplishment. I believe that Society has boundaries set for those who chose to boast, there is a certain point to how much one can celebrate their accomplishments.
Personally, I believe that it is okay to say "Guess what? I got an "A" on Mrs.Burnett's test!," but as soon as one takes it out of proportion and begins to literally cheer themselves on and make others either feel worse or annoyed by bragging about their accomplishments, it not only becomes looked down upon by society but also annoying. Personally from life experience sometimes when I put hard work and dedication towards something and do well, generally I do like to tell my mom or a friend about how well I did, but there is a difference between telling someone and making it your Facebook status. There are certain accomplishments which deserve their recognition but it all depends on how one chooses to celebrate their accomplishment which will determine if it is seen as boasting or not.
