John Gardner

the ideal portrait of society, John Gardner reveals the true colors of human comradeship; doing so through the characterization of a monster, Grendel. For millennia, authors, illustrators, and artists have opened the portal to an underlying evil world using monsters such as Frankenstein and Dracula. However, these characters may have merely been ugly humans with exaggerated actions, and society has been the heir to their characteristics. In John Gardner 's contemporary novel, Grendel, he presents a monster who wants to assimilate into mankind; however, what Grendel does not understand…

evil. It 's a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.” John Gardner’s Grendel also exemplifies this conflict, and there is frequent controversy over whether Grendel is considered evil or not. Grendel is not evil; he is merely led to perform evil deeds due to his absence of self-acceptance, companionship, and communication. To begin with, one reason for Grendel’s tendency to perform harmful actions is his self-loathing. Grendel does not want to live…

Evil? Many wonder about the beast of Beowulf and whether he is evil, or just a lonely beast in a world full of humans. The readers, as humans, see the monstrous acts performed by Grendel as cruel and inconsiderate, therefore calling Grendel what he is acclaimed to be, evil. Although, Grendel by John Gardner gives the readers a look on the inside of his life and experiences, told from Grendel himself. There is now a new point of view on the classic epic, showcasing the personal thoughts and…

Terrible tragedies impact virtuous people every day, seemingly without justification. Although these horrific occurrences have no apparent cause—these people may not have committed a wrongdoing or any otherwise immoral act to deserve such a punishment—they occur anyway, subjecting the unfortunate victims to unfair tragedy. The inability of humanity to find reason behind these unjust events relates to the philosophical school of absurdism, and in particular, the amorality of the universe, a key…

book Grendel by John Gardner. He eats people as his diet and enjoys it thoroughly. He does wrong, he is not well liked, he kills people and causes pain to them and their family, he believes nothing that the society believes and is not accepted within the community. By definition of evil, Grendel falls under evil “standards”. The monster Grendel is evil in that he deceives others, craves killing, and cannot do any good. Grendel tricks people into believing him. He tells Ork that “‘It is I,’ I…

What do you believe a monster is? In the novel Grendel written by John Gardner the main character Grendel is a monstrous creature who for twelve years has slaughtered the people of Hrothgar’s, the king of the Danes, hall. Grendel has grown up alone and has never felt like he belonged anywhere, so when he encountered the humans for the first time he wanted to fit in. After several encounters with them he reached a conclusion that he would wage a war that will last twelve years with them.…

imprint on each human being, and each thing that human creates. John Gardner’s Grendel, a reimagining of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, features fundamental philosophical ideas running through its core. In Grendel, Gardner explores topics such as nihilism, atheism, and isolationism to explain his view on the negative aspects of the human experience. Grendel’s overarching theme is the purpose of life. The titular character spends most of the novel determining whether or not he was meant to exist…

In John Gardner’s Grendel, he clearly shows that life has no true meaning. Customs that were thought to be significant such as traditions, morals, or religious views have no true, deep meaning to life. The life of Grendel is explained by Gardner to be meaningless because of the traits he possess of an existentialist creature. Existentialism is shown in multiple parts of Grendel that are clearly demonstrated in depth. Primarily, we are free from predetermined nature. Following, humans are free…

The change in point of view is the essence of Grendel by John Gardner. The entire book is a story we have already heard, from a different, more defining perspective. Gardner used this not only to affect the plot of the story, but also the themes. In Grendel, Gardner uses the point of view to alter the themes by changing the perception of events and the author's voice. There is more than one theme in Grendel, one of them being heroism, that Gardner affects by altering the perception of the…

In the story Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel’s last words are “Poor Grendel’s had an accident… so may you all” (Gardner 174). When Grendel said this, he was saying it as a curse to the men who killed him and the animals that were watching him die. Grendel did not always despise men ,but he was fascinated by them as the reader can see when Grendel says,” In time I began to be more amused than revolted by what they threatened” (Gardner 32). Grendel states this after watching the humans for a…