Chapter 1 Grendel Dialectical Journal

Grendel exhibits human feelings and characteristics in many ways. Although Grendel is a monster “forced into isolation by his bestial appearance and limited imagination” (Butts) he yearns to be a part of society; he craves

Everyone follows a set of routine, as if the society is a factory and humans are the machines to production. Some may know what they are trying to achieve, but many others just obey the pattern of society blindlessly. The novel Grendel by John Gardner reiterates the epic poem Beowulf through the perspective of the antagonist, Grendel; Gardner challenges different philosophical beliefs of human civilization as he depicts Grendel’s chaotic state of mind due to Grendel’s internal and external conflicts. The novel portrays a clash of belief presented by Grendel’s personal experience and his observation of human society; throughout the novel, Grendel seeks to understand his position in the world, as he struggles to discover the purpose of life. Ultimately, Grendel chooses to believe that life is pointless, though this belief dies along with his death.

In John Gardner’s novel, Grendel, Grendel transforms into a viscous monster influenced by the actions of humankind, this plunge into a world of violence can be deeply related to the multiple attacks by humans and their senseless attacks on one another. In Gardner's novel, Grendel, one significant

Grendel is an unreliable narrator in John Gardner’s book Grendel, which describes his life journey to find truth about humanity and himself. Grendel does not display the qualities of an impartial, authoritative, and unbiased narrator in the story, but instead gives the reader cause for suspicion in his narration of events. Firstly, Grendel is inherently biased as a narrator because it comes from the first person point of view. Grendel has a bias to favor himself more positively in the events that transpire over the course of the novel. He displays personal interest and is directly involved in the conflicts that arise. Moreover, Grendel antagonizes and tortures the humans over the course of twelve long years and can lessen his guilt by being deceptive to the reader. He diverts blame for

In the novel Grendel, the main character is portrayed as a half human, half murderous creature. Because of his horrific characteristics, he is isolated and constantly misunderstood. Ironically, John Gardner writes in a way that has contradicted material that still makes sense and allows readers to understand Grendel. There are paradoxes throughout the novel that supplements the complexity of Grendel. Gardner uses irony to show that Grendel is a paradox and as a result of misinterpretation by others, he is left to live a life of isolation.

Multiple people have examined the classic epic known as Beowulf, but few have examined the modern novel, Grendel. This in depth story comes out of the mouth of the horrifying monster, Grendel. This tale brings meaning to Grendel’s life and experiences, but there lays meaning behind some of the character placement as well. The characteristic effects in Grendel represent one, if not many, of Jung’s archetypes such as the persona, the shadow, and the anima.

In the epic of Beowulf, one of the warrior’s biggest adversaries is a creature from the swamp named Grendel. Although the character of Grendel is present for only a short portion in the story of Beowulf, Grendel signifies one of the important messages in the text about humanity. In Beowulf, Grendel is called a ‘monster’. However, if observed closely, analyzing the meaning behind the story, it is easy to see that Grendel is not a typical monster, in fact, it doesn’t seem like he is a monster at all. There is much evidence within the short period of the text where Grendel is present, which indicates he is

Early in the novel, the reader’s perception of Grendel is barbaric. Gardner writes, “ Similarly, in Gardner’s society at the time, the greater population was very narrow minded in refusing to acknowledge black people’s humanity. Grendel has grown up as a monster, and as a result, he has endured constant mockery and abuse: “And so being the twelfth year of my idiotic war. The pain of it! The stupidity!” (Gardner

Humanity is a raging river. People persist, caught up in their own problems and lives. Society is ever-changing, always trying to adapt to new ways of life. Humanity plays a great role in how Grendel changes. Grendel is a beast that watches how humanity develops overtime; he notices how destructive and cruel humanity has become. Despite this, he attempts to get along with the people, but they regard him as a monster and try to kill him. Eventually, he gives into and becomes what the people believe him to be: a savage beast. However, Grendel was never originally evil. In Grendel by John Gardner, the anti-hero Grendel is misunderstood by humanity even though he attempts to socialize; has clear, lucid thoughts; and feels love, but humanity continuously shuts him out and treats him like a monster.

The book Grendel by John Gardner details the life of the monster Grendel until he is defeated by the hero Beowulf at the end of the story. Gardner paints Grendel in a more sympathetic light, compelling the reader to understand and even feel sorry for the monster. He appears philosophical and curios from the perspective Gardner creates, and the humans seem almost villainous for shunning him when he tries to understand and interact with them. The humans create the monster inside of Grendel by mistreating him, and that monster is tested by heroes like Unferth and Beowulf.

In the novel, Grendel by John Gardener, Grendel is a human-like creature capable of rational thought as well as feeling emotions. Early on in the story Gardener depicts Grendel as being very observant, critical and somewhat spiteful of the world around him. He describes himself as a murderous monster who smells of death and crouches in the shadows. Grendel watches the humans from the shadows of the trees and at first it seems as though they are the real monsters, slaughtering and pillaging all for the sake of their leaders and for power. This light that the humans are put in gives Grendel a certain charisma about him, making him seem like the one to side with in this novel. Later in the story, however, things change. Grendel seeks out the

Recently, after analyzing the novel Grendel, curiosity in the round character Grendel was realized. In this novel, John Gardner pulls from his life to create a complex character, whom is relatable and opposing to the previously written epic Beowulf. This produces not only an emotional effect, but changes the entire plot. Grendel, the main character, was previously portrayed in Beowulf as an inhumane monster, but in Grendel one realizes the importance of mental state in all characters. Using appalling personification and morbid imagery, Gardener conveys Grendel’s self-journey as one of inevitable tragedy, which leads to the central idea that misinterpretation may lead to isolation.

Grendel, is thus seen as the descendant of an individual who epitomizes resentment and malice in Beowulf. The author states Grendel lives in exile and is seen as “mankind’s enemy”(Raffel, 22). Grendel is the representation of all that is evil and he is declared to be the “shepherd of evil and the “guardian of crime”(Raffel, 33) by the Danes in Beowulf. The author describes Grendel to be an evil, cruel, apathetic creature who’s pleasure lies in attacking and devouring Hrothgar’s men. The author describes Grendel’s malice by painting a gruesome picture of Grendel’s countless attacks on the mead hall in which he exhibits Grendel as a heartless, greedy, and violent being who mercilessly murders the men at the mead hall by tearing them apart, cutting their body into bits and drinking the blood from their veins. The author describes Grendel’s greed by stating Grendel’s thoughts were as “quick as his greed or his claws”(Raffel, 21). He describes Grendel’s as having eyes that “gleamed in the darkness and burned with a gruesome light”, swift hard claws and great sharp teeth which paints a picture of Grendel’s frightening appearance in the reader’s mind. In contrast to the traditional story of Beowulf, Grendel in John Gardner’s novel, Grendel is not depicted as a monster but as an intelligent creature capable of human thought, feelings and speech. John Gardner portrays Grendel as an outcast

The story of Beowulf is a heroic epic, chronicling the distinguished deeds of the great Geatish warrior, Beowulf, who travels across the seas to rid the Danes of the evil monster Grendel, who has been inflicting destruction and terrorizing the kingdom. Beowulf is glorified for his heroic deeds of ridding the land fiendish monsters and stopping the scourge of evil, while the monster, Grendel, is portrayed as a repugnant creature who deserves death for its evil actions. However, many have disagreed with such a simplistic and biased representation of Grendel and his role in the epic poem. John Gardner in his book, Grendel, sets out to change the reader’s perception of Grendel and his role in Beowulf by narrating the story through Grendel’s point of view. John Gardner transforms Grendel, once perceived as an evil fiend in Beowulf, into a lonely but intelligent outcast who is actually quite similar to humans, due to his intelligence capacity for rational thought and his real, and at times irrational emotions. Gardner portrays Grendel as a hurt individual and as a victim of oppression, ostracized from civilization. Although the two works revolve around the same basic plot,, the themes and characters in Beowulf and Grendel are often different and sometimes contradictory.

In the novel Grendel by John Gardner, the main character Grendel seems to be a vicious evil monster that makes his goal to kill every man that steps foot in the mead hall, built by King Hrothgar, for his men. Grendel night after night enters and almost has a “midnight snack” by going in the mead hall and devouring about thirty men of Hrothgar's a night. Grendel has made an evil appearance to the audience by now but as learned later in the book, it is discovered that Grendel’s job is to keep balance between him and the population of the Danes. He is seemed as misunderstood, but actually has proven himself to be rather evil because he kills women and children, does not try to work the situation out with the Danes and finally, does not understand the human mind and thinking process. Grendel’s inabilities bring him more trouble and are the main cause for the conflict against the village of the Danes. Over the course of the book, Grendel slowly becomes Overall, Grendel is evil because of he kills women and children, does not try to work the situation out with the Danes and fails to understand the human mind and thinking process.