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”.