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Grendel - Finished



After reading Grendel, I was more satisfied than I thought I would be. I expected the book to be boring and disgusting. After all, in the most general terms, you could just say it was just Grendel rambling on about how stupid he thinks everything is, and then proceeding to kill whatever he wants to kill for the heck of it. But upon further inspection, Grendel was much more than that. After I thought about it and I decided that it wasn't about killing and other peoples' stupidity, it was about a lonely being trying to cope with his feelings.

The book showed Grendel constantly around humans. Most of the time, he was observing them in their mead hall from someplace near. He started doing this when he was young, and as he grew older, as he began to realize just how lonely he is in the world, so he started doing it more. Later, he began to make fun of them because of their moronic values such as when villages invaded other villages for honor, or when they hold parties in their mead hall. Humans seeking out joy in their lives seems ridiculous to Grendel since he believes in nihilism, the philosophy that life has no meaning. However, he began to make fun of the humans because he was jealous of them for that same joy they seek and find. This is further supported when Grendel talks with the dragon, who's omnipotent knowledge foresees the end of the universe. Because the dragon know the world will eventually end, he claims that living life would be pointless, but Grendel is somewhat unsatisfied with the dragon's belief  because he wants to experience joy. However, it is hard for Grendel to experience joy because there is nobody who can experience joy with him.
The image of Grendel in the beginning
of the first chapter. The image seems
to depict Grendel weeping.

Instead, Grendel plays a game with the humans. He rushes into their village occasionally and terrorizes everyone. This is Grendel's only way to interact with other people, but unfortunately, it also eventually leads to his demise.

Through Grendel's characterization, I decided to create a theme statement that encompasses the story: In Grendel, John Gardner suggests that loneliness is a horrible condition that can do both mental and physical damage to someone.
This is supported when Grendel terrorizes the humans because he is lonely, and eventually is killed because of it.

Comments

  1. Aboli KesbhatDecember 11, 2014 at 4:32 PM

    Just by looking at your first paragraph, I see that this sounds like a disturbing book. The story line, though scary, sounds very unique and interesting. I also like the fact that this book teaches a lesson, even if it was in a disturbing way. For anyone to feel lonely is bad, and like you said, does mental damage. Grendel did mass murder to cope with feeling lonely. Grendel sounds like a unique character and I'm glad he was able to teach a lesson.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownDecember 15, 2014 at 2:14 PM

    I like how you made your theme statement apply to regular life other than just the book.

    ReplyDelete

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