Empiricism In Grendel

One of the major philosophies in the novel Grendel is Nihilism. Nihilism is the rejection of moral and religious principles, and the belief that life is small and meaningless. In the first few pages of the novel, John Gardner states that “He cocks his head like an elderly, slow-witted king, considers his angles, decides to ignore me. I stamp. I hammer the ground with my fists. I hurl a skull-size stone at him. He will not budge.” (Gardner, 5). Here is a snippet of Grendel’s hatred towards life and even nature. Throughout the novel, Grendel proves to the reader that he doesn’t really care about anybody except for himself. In this quote, Grendel sees a ram and tries to make it leave, only to fail. The ram just stays where it is and ignores Grendel, even when Grendel yells and throws a large rock at it. As John Gardner states, “I understood that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes

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.

This starts the beginning of a theme with a major use of imagery that travels throughout the story. In Chapter 1 on page 9, Grendel starts to describe the cycle of the seasons as the “cold mechanics of the stars”, a chilly and unfeeling progression that locks him into a mindless, endless loop. He even describes himself as a mechanical beast at the same time. “When my soul can no longer resist, I go up, as mechanical as anything else, fists clenched against my lack of will...”. All of Grendel's senses are seen as calculated all except for three specific instances when the three animals come into play. This imagery is further elaborated upon later when Grendel meets three stupid animals, which all leads to the main imagery of the story. The ram, the bull, and the goat, whose foolish adherence to a set pattern of behavior elicits Grendel’s derision and more comparisons to unthinking

            There is a stage in everyone’s life where they feel they are not accepted by someone or something. Whether it is because of one’s age, appearance, or emotional and mental stability, a sense of disproval and isolation appears to be glaring through the eyes of society. Throughout Grendel’s life, he is shunned from humanity for he was viewed as something of destruction and harm. However, not one person ever took the time out to see Grendel’s true personality or really discover what he was all about. When facing the realities of the cruel world, Grendel found himself severely struggling with some psychological deficiencies. After performing multiple psychoanalysis tests on Grendel’s behavior, his

Although he describes her as a “life-bloated, baffled, long-suffering hag” (11), Grendel realizes that “she would gladly have given her life to end my [his] suffering… with useless, mindless love” (102). He also believes that “she must have some human in her” (11), furthering Grendel’s character as one that derived from humankind at the very least. The novel acts as a witness to the fact that Grendel did have a childhood. Although his childhood brought on some struggles, this is a part of all life, including that of people. He finds his purpose in life when “at an early age [he] is forced to deal with a brutal and meaningless reality” (Butts) and he begins he finds his purpose. Throughout Gardner’s novel, Grendel tries to learn “how best to deal with the world” (Butts). As Grendel grows up, he learns from and is influenced by many different people who act as his teachers and role models. These interactions are Grendel’s closest alternative to the relations that the average human has. Grendel has three unique influences in his life: his mother, the Shaper, and the dragon. Grendel views his mother with disgust and she provides the inspiration and motivation for him to do better with his own life. The Shaper’s influence brings out Grendel’s ability of

Throughout the book Grendel follows a clock like structure. As each chapter covers a month of Grendel's life, it also ends in the feature of a specific zodiac sign. This loop like structure melds perfectly with the overall theme of the novel, nihilism and existentialism. Nihilism being, total rejection of established laws and institutions and existentialism being, the individual's unique position as a self-determining agent responsible for the authenticity of his or her choices. This theme increasingly began to relate to the structure as the book progressed, due to each season and sign challenging Grendel’s overall philosophy about life, thus introducing the belief of nihilism and existentialism.

This book review covered the viewpoint of Truth and Perception on the book “Grendel”. From the book, I learned that people who do not feel who fit into the society want to practice such activities because they feel as though they do not fit, though this is just a perception. I believe a perception is a way of seeing society and your surroundings. Grendel underestimates himself thinking that because his reputation is a monster, he has to bring out his monstrous character to defend himself from people because they believe they do not fit in. This also relates to civil rights because like white people did not accept dark-skinned, Grendel was facing the same situation in another aspect. His perception of himself brings out the truth about himself,

In John Gardner’s Grendel, his theme can be interpreted in several manners. I see it as the author is trying to have the reader sympathize with Grendel. Others may think that Gardner is trying to make Grendel seem more monstrous; more evil. The author’s intentions are portrayed by explaining Grendel’s experiences prior to facing off Beowulf.

Grendel in a situation where he is feeling different emotions that make him act a certain way. Every time Grendel terrorizes human beings, it seems vile and full of hate, but that is not the intention. People fail to acknowledge why the relationship between Grendel and humans is full of hate. The awful relationship started off when they started off with a negative impression due to the lack of communication. Grendel became scared of the humans and the only thing the humans can do is defend themselves when they see an enormous monster. While Grendel knows of his evil deeds he is still confused about what his true identity is. This failure to figure out his identity is what Grendel seems to try and achieve throughout the novel. It is not easy for him because of the position he has in life. Grendel does not truly know his place in the world and he strives throughout his life to find the answer.

Failure is a part of life. While many see failure as a negative thing, I have started to see it as a situation that can make you a better person. Failure drives me to never make that mistake again. I first realized this when I took my first AP class and AP exam and received a score of 2. This journey all started sophomore year when I took AP World History. I quickly learned that I needed to actually read and take notes to be able to succeed in the class. It took a few poor grades on essays and tests for me to understand this. Despite this new revelation, I still struggled in the class. When it came time to start reviewing and preparing for the exam, I put an immense amount of effort, but not as hard as I should’ve been. Exam day came and

Whenever grendel is around people, he has a natural inclination to dislike them because they do not Grendel as he is. Grendel’s mother can speak and understand little amount of the human language and due to the unfair treatment from society, Grendel hates his mother. He thinks she is going to become like society and deep down, feels she will leave him too. This is why he is always picking fights with her, yelling at her, or showing disgust. Due to the isolation he creates, Grendel suffers from attachment issues and a lack of connection. This lack of connection to the public, leaves Grendel with his thoughts and self doubt. He is left alone. “I understand that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. all the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly - as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back. I create the whole universe, blink by blink.” ― John Gardner, Grendel

His bleak assessment of man’s state is heard in the icy statement, “The world is white” (148). Grendel believes himself to be the only one moved by the old priest’s words while standing in frozen company in the shadow of a funeral fire. Is he the only one moved by the Shaper’s death? Grendel sees everyone as stiff and frozen blue like ice. His own mother acts only to prevent him from deepening his pessimistic tendency revealed by the loss. She tries to get in his way. She attempts to block his view of the funeral procession. Grendel’s Nietzschean philosophy continues to take shape in the wake of the Shaper’s death. Grendel groans, "We 're on our own again. Abandoned" (149).

Grendel affiliates himself with an army that he has found through his portal. Prior to meeting the Dragon, Grendel himself hadn’t been challenged to think or rationalize his actions. Though after having multiple discussions with the wise Dragon, the reader leans that Grendel does in fact retains information and processes it in an educated way. Later on, the dragon states that, “You improve them, my boy! Can’t you see that yourself? You stimulate them! You make them think and scheme. You drive them to poetry, science, religion, all that makes them what they are for as long as they last. You are, so to speak, the brute existent by which they learn to define themselves” (Grendel 89). The dragon in the novel wants Grendel himself to feel like he is needed in this life and through this quote he is able to. Grendel through this quote is seen to help out humans which is the pathway the dragon pushed him towards. He himself believes that he has evolved into a new beast as if he had become something with a new identity. This creature changes into a new beast who destroys and kills everything in his path. Grendel in this part of the novel has just began his raid for the first time ever. Through these raids realizes that he has changed due to the dragon and ultimately learns that he has become something that is useful to society. With these attacks

"The mountains are what I define them as.... What I see I inspire with usefulness... and all that I do not see is useless, a void." [28-29] Grendel then sees that the world is how he views it, and his senses make up everything: reality is dynamic. This important conclusion leads him to begin to look around him and form thoughts and opinions on all that he sees, as well as placing him at the first step down the road of the cynical death he suffers. His first impressions

However, something that intrigued me with your writing is that you conveyed a theme that the Christians in Grendel are not truly following their word. Despite how the book preaches peace, the first time Grendel appears in your book, Hrothgar’s men stand in horror until they decided to try to kill Grendel. This perfectly segues into the second choice of your question. Accepting the world as what you view it as and scoffing at it. Around my life, I have seen people rejected by society alike how Hrothgar and his Danes rejected Grendel. I feel as if, you Mr. Gardner, convey that rejects of this fashion congregate with other rejects and learn more from their philosophy. This is where the “evil” Grendel came into the story. He is the pure definition of an