Journal 10

Grendel as the Narrator

                The creature Grendel was the main antagonist the epic poem, “Beowulf”, and is the narrator of the novel “Grendel” by John Gardner. In the Beowulf poem, humans look at Grendel as being a symbol of evil, the son of Cain, or something demonic; an outcast in the eyes of God, but, as we see in the book “Grendel”, Grendel is not a monster, but a character that is lost and trying to find himself.  In “Grendel”, Grendel was unexpectedly a monster that knew just about nothing about the human world. Gardner’s choice to make Grendel the narrator opens the reader’s mind into a world portrayed by a misunderstood monster. One reason Grendel was chosen was throughout “Grendel”, one could actually see Grendel’s growth rather than assume how he grew up.  For instance, Grendel, in “Beowulf” Grendel was shown to have no fear against anyone and have the confidence that he is a God himself. However, Gardner shows Grendel’s insecurities and fear towards other animals leading up to the fearlessness that Grendel shows later in the story. Another example of growth is where Grendel has an eye opening incident with the Dragon. When Grendel first meets the Dragon, Grendel is scared at first, but later grows to not being afraid of anything, least of all the Dragon.  With Grendel being a narrator, the story changes our view of Grendel; he shows human emotions, like fear.

                Making Grendel the narrator changes how we view the epic poem “Beowulf”. Seeing as Grendel is a monster, the way we perceive the word ‘monster’ throughout the story “Grendel” is affected. Grendel becomes more human than ‘monster’ in our eyes.  Throughout the story, Grendel yells words from the human language that he does not understand. Towards the middle of the book, readers have not only seen Grendel do monstrous actions like take someone’s life, but, we also see him display humanity by sparing people’s lives. After Grendel talks with the dragon, the story changes dramatically; Grendel understands that everything has a purpose in life, even himself.  With the story being told from Grendel’s point of view, we see a different side of Grendel that we wouldn’t have seen in “Beowulf”.

Anglo-Saxon Boast: Me and Madison

Grendel Pictures

Riddles

Sometimes treated with love and care,

at other times riddled with fang-brands,

I am the two-headed wedge that bares the pair’s number,

the paper’s partner and  imagination’s vehicle.

I am a part of every artist, aspiring or adept,

I stop moving, they stop breathing

Loved by many, near and far,

all across the reaches of the whaleroad,

I am the picture-story of the worlds of your creation,

I come in many cuts from many cultures

and feature figures from herculean-heroes and children-of-Loki

to hags-of-hell and four-leg-walkers,

I tell the tales of those without tongues

Through pictures without sound

Journal 8

Journal 8: Grendel Parody

                Grendel is considered a parody because it is a different version of an already told story. Grendel parodies the epic poem Beowulf. Grendel takes the monster from the poem Beowulf, and tells the story from the monster’s point of view as well as adding more history and character development to Grendel’s character. The same characters from Beowulf appear in Grendel and the same basic story that Beowulf has is told in Grendel, though it’s been changed to suit Grendel’s point of view. Grendel’s role in the story is still as the destroyer of the mead halls that Beowulf must defeat but instead of a faceless creature, Grendel is a thinking, caring creature that is more human than he thinks. Instead of the heroic, awesome larger-than-life man that Beowulf is portrayed as in the original poem, in the Grendel parody, Beowulf is cold, mechanical, and someone that Grendel is unsettled by. Other characters that Grendel interacts with are different in the parody than they are in the poem, like Unferth, who has a larger role in the parody than he does in the original poem. Grendel is a parody because it sort of mocks the original literature it was based off of. Grendel has more differences than similarities between itself and the poem Beowulf, but the similarities are what make Grendel a parody.      

Journal 6

Journal 6: Anglo-Saxon Poetry Themes

                The Anglo-Saxon poems “Beowulf”, “The Seafarer”, and “The Wanderer” contain many similar themes. The epic poem “Beowulf” is about an undefeatable hero that goes to another land to help slay a dangerous beast and save a nation from destruction. “The Seafarer” tells the story of a lonesome traveler that sets out to sea to find his fate.  In “The Wanderer”, the narrator also sets out to sea to find a new life after losing his family. Even though the narrators of all the works are unknown, the poems still a prominent theme. The theme the poems “The Wanderer”, “The Seafarer”, and “Beowulf” share is isolation. All three of these poems are related by that same theme and their reoccurring ideas.

                One thing two of the poems have in common is that both “the Seafarer” and “The Wanderer” are elegies. Elegies poems are sorrowful poems that reflect seriously on the past and the future. In the poem “The Seafarer” a man self-isolates himself on the sea. During his isolation he is filled with sorrow, pain and fear. The epic narrative poem “Beowulf” shows self-isolation whenever he fights his enemies. Beowulf does this so that he can achieve greatness by showing he alone can kill any monster.  In “Beowulf” the monster Grendel is isolated to his own mind and land. In the poem “The Wanderer” the narrator is isolated because everything pleasing on Earth disappears.  The narrator of “The Wanderer” is filled with regret and fear that no one is left to enjoy life with him. The theme of all these poems is isolation.

                 

Journal 3

Journal 3: Grendel’s Language

                Grendel’s attitude towards language is that language is important. As Grendel grows older, his appreciation for language increases and his language and storytelling get more and more complicated. At first, his language is simplistic, which makes sense since he’s only a child in the beginning of the story. As the story goes on, the language changes from simple writing to complicated, with Grendel telling the story with poems and small plays and using kennings, alliterations, and other word plays.

                At first, Grendel doesn’t really worry about language. Grendel doesn’t bother with complicated language because he isn’t very philosophical at his age. Language isn’t important to him since he doesn’t really pursue intellectual thought here, but as he starts to question himself and be influenced by those around him, he grows, and his language grows with him. The Sharper and the Dragon are some of his great influences that help shape his language. Lingering around the humans also affects his language since he becomes interested in their culture. Language is a big part of human culture, particularly the Danes’ since they glorify their scribes and Sharpers for their wisdom and words.