CB Independent Novel Analysis by

2018-03-12 18:13:52 UTC

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1947511 — 2018-03-12 18:25:52 UTC

Lifeless Tone

2018-04-01 19:47:44 UTC

In Gardener’s Grendel, Grendel, the monster from the epic poem beowulf, is the narrator. His perspective is limited, and unbelievably depressing, setting the overall tone for the novel as dreary and melancholy. In one example, Grendel related the sky to “jewels scattered in a dead king’s grave”, and considered the night to be “lifeless”, (Gardner 11). The tone created influences the authors already somber ideals in the novel to have crushing weight.

Dragon

2018-04-01 19:48:39 UTC

In Grendel, Grendel is told of the pointlessness of life by a great and all-seeing dragon. The dragon embraces the idea that life is pointless, and that any and all things creatures on the earth strive to achieve will come to pass. This perspective causes all mentions of the dragon to be synonymous with vanity and greed. To quote the dragon “My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek gold and sit on it.”

Grendel's Self-Conflict

2018-04-01 19:49:11 UTC

Grendel, the narrator of John Gardner’s Grendel, defines his perspective by the conflict within himself. He feels shame for his identity as a monster; when recalling a time in the past when animals scattered at the sight of him, he stated “I used to take pride in that… I was younger than. Still playing cat and mouse with the universe.” (Gardner 10). He considers pride in his strength and effect on others to be childish, as evidence of his self-loathing. However, his identity is inescapable, and such are the tendencies that come with it. And because men lack the understanding to accept him, he hunts them in return, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of hatred of man, murder of man, and hatred of himself for such murder and lack of acceptance.

Background

2018-04-01 19:50:17 UTC

John Gardner was born in 1933 in New York to a dairy farmer. When he was 12, he inadvertently ran over his brother with a tractor, and murdered him. Gardner grew up to be a professor that taught frequently about the epic poem Beowulf. Gardner is considered a post-modernist author although he himself rejects the title. He has also written some metafiction.

Grendel's Arrogance

2018-04-01 19:51:21 UTC

The finishing pace of the book is very quick after the battle begins, which causes Grendel’s death to be very abrupt. Such a immediate end to the monster that had been and felt so invincible the entire novel highlights his hubris. Grendel's arrogance grew so great throughout the novel, that he believed that he should slow his raiding Hrothgar’s Halls, for fear of wiping out the Danes out, and then having to move to find more men to torment. By creating a juxtaposition between Grendel’s perception of himself and his abrupt demise, Gardener condemns arrogance.

Grendel's Primal Nature

2018-04-01 19:51:47 UTC

While Grendel discusses the events of the Danes, the pace of the novel seems to slow down in times of peace. This conveys the lack of complexity of the lives of the Danes. Grendel sees them all making similar remarks to each other, and sees the patterns of the behavior and grows bored. Grendel even goes to the extent to say that he takes credit for the beauty of the shaper’s (bard’s) songs, as he caused the events they are based off of. His primal nature causes him to find joy and chaos and boredom in peace.

Grendel and Man

2018-04-01 19:53:07 UTC

Grendel shifts from feelings of pride to feelings of shame over the course of Gardener’s Grendel because of his relationship with man. The main conflict, being the Grendel’s battle with man, drives him to hate man and his own blood thirsty nature. When he first encounters he attempts to converse with them. The men responded by attacking him; he was ostracized, and therefore felt self loathing.

Grendel vs Anse

2018-04-01 19:53:26 UTC

Grendel mixed feelings about his instincts relate directly to the shame and pride Anse simultaneously feels in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. The difference between the too, however, is that Grendel’s actions are completely warranted, while Anse’s are not. Grendel was born a monster, and was attacked by man when young, and is an outcast; he has an excuse to terrorize man; Anse had no excuse to feed on the dreams of his children; he merely valued himself over every-single one of his children out of self interest. In my opinion, Anse is more of a monster than Grendel.

Humanity

2018-04-01 19:54:20 UTC

“And so in my cave,… I ground my teeth on my own absurdity.” (Gardener 108)
Gardener depicts Grendel reflecting on his day full of regret at a mistake he made. I exhibit a similar characteristic after I make a grave mistake. The human tendency to reflect and self-loath over mistakes, large or small, is heavily ingrained in Grendel’s character. Gardener uses this to humanize Grendel, regardless of his what he is.

Grendel's Purpose

2018-04-01 19:58:27 UTC

”Balance… wrecked?”
(Gardener 91).

Gardener uses a series of clever phrases and images to convey Grendel’s feelings regarding his destructive capabilities. In this example, it is clear that Grendel needs Hrothgar, because he bases his identity off of him. It is that Grendel couldn’t destroy the Danes; it’s that his life would serve no purpose, just as the dragon told him.

The Ram

2018-04-01 19:59:28 UTC

The ram that Grendel faces in Gardener’s Grendel is an unresting force that he must constantly face. Even after Grendel splits his skull to great extents of grotesque destruction, the ram still moves up the mountain toward Grendel’s hill. The ram is symbolic of Grendel's perception of the world as mechanical, regardless of the rams certain demise, its stupid instincts for it up the cliff anyway. This also foreshadows Grendel's death, as even though he feels it prudent not to see the Greatish warriors at Hrothgar's Hall, he goes anyway out of instinct, and perishes.

The Shaper

2018-04-01 20:07:32 UTC

In the novel, Grendel comes across a harp player, known as “The Shaper”. Grendel calls him this because he believes that the Shaper shapes the perception of the Danes through his song. Not only does Grendel resign to the will of the story of the music, but he also wishes he could control events by influencing the lyrics of the shaper. This is clearly an impossibility. The Shaper is like a god in the mind of Grendel because of his musical influence on all history.

Grendel's Internal Conflict

2018-04-01 20:09:17 UTC

(Grendel 55)

Grendel finds the truth of his situation to cause a paradox within his thought. He pities himself for being an outcast, but yet desires that the bards of Hrothgars Hall will sing his current seat as murderer of Danes into history. The truth is, he loves the curse for the battle, yet hates the curse of fighting man and being an outcast.

Poor Losers

2018-04-01 20:15:06 UTC

As Grendel is bleeding out at the hands of Beowulf, Grendel feels self pity and denies losing the battle. In his mind, “‘Poor Grendel’s had an accident,’” ; “Poor,” conveys Grendel’s sense of self-pity, and “accident”, shows his denial of defeat, his appeal that his defeat wasn't intentional (Gardner 174). I have had similar experiences with poor losers. When I win or lose in an activity, they or I may deny defeat in order maintain pride. Grendel is practicing this trait in his dying breath, reduced to the characteristics of the species he spent his entire life pitted against.

Grendel vs Cash

2018-04-01 20:19:18 UTC

After Grendel visits the Dragon, Grendel sees the vanity of man and becomes extremely frustrated. They kill each other to no end or avail and cut their lives short with acts of heroism. Gardener's conveyance of Grendel is very similar to William Faulkner's character Cash in As I Lay Dying. Just as Grendel lacks understanding go why men are so self destructive, Cash fails to see why his family won't listen to him and help themselves. In both cases reason is ignored.

Inciting Incident

2018-04-01 20:29:25 UTC

Gardener uses the inciting incident of the arrival of Beowulf to hook the reader by questioning Grendel's invisibility for the first time in the entire novel. Grendel acknowledges his own faults, and sees the possibility of his failure, making his decision to go to Hrothgar's hall build suspense. This made the final chapters events much more captivating to the reader.

Climax

2018-04-01 20:42:18 UTC

Gardener makes the climax of Grendel the battle between Grendel and Beowulf to underline purpose of the novel. As Grendel ran through the forest while bleeding out, all the objects around him "cries out cold objectless", (Gardener 172). This characterization helps define Grendel's frustration with the cold and mechanical world he live in. All the men he killed will simply be replaced with new babies. Everything will live and die, and with time everything will be swept away; even Grendel. Gardener uses this example to inform the reader of the pointlessness of existence in the long term.

The Pointless & Mechanical World

2018-04-01 20:57:10 UTC

Grendel's perception of the world is altered over the course of the novel, specifically by the dragon. The dragon tells him that life is meaningless, and that all creatures will follow his vision, equivocally stating that free will is non-existent. After this Grendel becomes depressed and frustrated with nature and mankind, both constant reminders of the dragons message. Humans continually fight to no end, and animals follow their instincts even to their demise, like the ram and the bull; man lives and dies without purpose, and creature's "freewill" leads to their downfall.

Initial Pace

2018-04-01 21:34:34 UTC

The initial pace of the novel is fairly normal, fleshing out the setting, and Grendel's dark feelings and routine actions like raiding a mead hall or verbally abusing the sky. However, when Gardener cause Grendel to flashback to an earlier experience, the pace slows to folly convey his thoughts during different experiences. This helps draw a contrast between the current Grendel, aware of the pointlessness of his existence, and the prior Grendel, innocent and proud of his identity.

Grendel's Adopted Human Traits

2018-04-01 21:43:42 UTC

Gardener cause's Grendel to become impervious to almost all types of damage after he converses with the dragon, and so his perspective becomes solely rooted in desire, rather than necessity for survival. This causes Grendel to act with more human tendencies and less animalistic tendencies, as people in most modern societies similarly share life free from continuous threat of death. This causes Grendel's often depressed and nihilistic perspective of to be far more relatable.

Unferth

2018-04-01 22:23:35 UTC

Unferth, a Scydling hero that Grendel fights during the novel, embodies the true values of heroism that most Danes carried. Prior to his encounter with Grendel, he talked boldly of becoming a hero in songs and of courageously fighting Grendel. But after he fought, lost and was spared by Grendel, he became broken over his failure to follow his ideals. Gardener shows the irony of his dissatisfaction with being spared and the error in his arrogance; his pride outweighed his will to live.

Religion

2018-04-01 22:40:24 UTC

"Tedium...crazy",
(Gardener 138)

Gardener uses a series of revealing clauses to truly emphasize what Grendel feels at his depths. His life is tedious, nothing was ever meant to happen out of intention, and all humans are crazy for thinking otherwise. Given that the dragons foresight gives strong evidence for the lack of a greater entity in the novel, Gardener is mocking those who believe in religion, for in the mind of Grendel, it is "crazy" (Gardener 138).

Misunderstandin

2018-04-01 23:12:10 UTC

As Grendel hangs from a tree from his ankle, surrounded by humans, he held no intent of harming them. Instead, he attempted to communicate with them to no avail. They misunderstood him, and attacked him. Throughout the rest of the novel, Grendel feels like an outcast, and as a result is very bitter. As Grendel was very young at the time, his experience is similar to a teen in middle school. He was just trying to fit in, he was misunderstood, and now it may haunt him for the rest of his life; the relationship will go un-mended.

Mankind vs Macon Dead

2018-04-01 23:21:13 UTC

Gardener portrays the men of Grendel as vain, selfish and greedy. These characteristics are extremely similar to that of Macon Dead of Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. The themes of vanity in both groups are criticized in the novels, as both narrators find the tendencies to be troubling and meaningless.

Exposition

2018-04-01 23:48:36 UTC

Gardener uses exposition in the beginning of the novel to establish the core tendencies of humanity, and point them out as flawed and pointless. This is especially true because of Grendel's already persistent hatred for man kind and it's vanity. The exposition paints mankind to be barbarians, and pulls the reader in to continue out of desire to see them adapt and grow. They will mildly, but never out of their vanity or greed.

Commentary On Free Will (Direct Quote from Gardner)

2018-04-02 00:05:29 UTC

"We’re taught that one of God’s gifts to us is free will. Free will is the ability to make a choice without compulsion. We’re also taught that God is omniscient, that is, he knows everything that is going to happen. Omniscience and free will are mutually exclusive. If God knows what’s going to happen — God says I’m going to wash my car tomorrow; I can choose to wash my car or make God a liar — then our path is already chosen for us and we lack free will. If our path is pre-determined by God, and he knows if we’re going to Heaven or Hell, then why create us at all? What’s the point? He must be some kind of sadist. After all, what kind of loving being subjects his creations to an unavoidable eternity of torture?" (Gardner, The Art of Fiction)

Making Sense of the Universe

2018-04-03 14:48:36 UTC

The Shaper in Grendel's actions songs may be lies and falsehoods, but bringing reason to ones existence brings sanity; without it, the Danes would feel pointless and less motivated to carry on. Similarly, in my life when I don't see the purpose of doing something, I talk myself into believing that it could benefit me. In both cases, I and the Danes motivate themselves by finding purpose in life; we carry on because we deceive ourselves to do so.

1971

2018-04-03 14:54:23 UTC

With 1971 and the rest of the 70s came a resurgence of the fight for equality of woman, African Americans, gay and lesbian people that had proceeded in the 60s. A similarity can be drawn between Grendel and the minorities of the 60s and 70s. Both are total and utter outcasts in their contexts. Grendel practices acts of defiance, while the oppressed protested.

Shaper pt. 2

2018-04-17 05:30:30 UTC

Grendel's perception of the Shaper is incorrect, as the world Grendel lives in is filled with chaos. The
Shaper merely justifies the events that occur in it, as the Danes need purpose and understanding. By establishing old fables, tales and legends, the Shaper establishes a followed morale for the Danes to partake in. The irony is that the origin stories of the universe the Shaper creates are built on illusion, causing the morales of the Danes to be founded on delusion rather than truth. The Shaper makes the reality the Danes want to believe.

Nihilism, Self-Conflict, Self-Identity and Metaphor FINAL ENTRY

2018-04-17 05:31:28 UTC

In Grendel, John Gardner employs a host of devices and techniques to convey ideas of nihilism, self-conflict and self identity. Conclusions can be drawn on some of these topics from one of Gardner's most prominent devices, metaphor. Gardner's most prominent example of metaphor, Grendel's struggle with the ram, conveys Gardeners most discussed topic, nihilism. As the ram climbs the cliff side towards his cave, he throws rocks at it, a effort that biologically should have killed the ram. Instead, the ram continued mechanically, indifferent to Grendel in the universe. The rams blatant disregard for Grendel's efforts convey his lack of effect on the world around him, and therefore the pointlessness of existence. Regardless of his actions, he and his legacy will be swept away with time; the universe is indifferent to him. This dilemma effects Grendel's identity, as he realizes with no higher purpose in life, he and his greatest foe, Hrothgar of the Danes, are tied to one and other. With war on his adversaries, he would have nothing to live for.
Another metaphor Gardner uses is the Shaper's songs to the Danes. In the novel, by creating tales and songs of history, the Shaper would justify the present, for example singing about Grendel being the great evil opposed to god. Theses actions work as a metaphor for vain attempts of mankind to find point in the universe. It is clear to the audience that the songs are lacking any sort of truth, as the all seeing dragon told Grendel of the vanity of the universe. By portraying the Danes beliefs as so fool hardy, Gardner reiterates the meaninglessness of existence, in addition to humanizing Grendel. It's almost as if from Grendel's perspective, the human's are the only animals present in the story. Grendel is more human than they are.

Another idea discussed in Grendel is self-conflict. The self-conflict Grendel experiences is easily relatable to that which humans feel.
Just as Grendel feels self loathing for being a monster, humans experience self-loathing for their own distinct tendencies and short comings. Gardner uses this to humanize Grendel, even in times when he is literally eating people, a clever tactic to keep him, the narrator, as relatable. This makes his point of views more universal, and more trustworthy, as he shares the same faults that we have. Therefore, when he discusses a dark or extreme belief, the audience is more likely to be understanding
of.

Bias

2018-04-17 14:59:44 UTC

Gardner definitely holds a bias towards a more depressing style of writing. This is lines up with all the nihilistic arguments Gardner makes in the novel. In one section he writes"'Nothing,' he said 'a brief pulsation in the black hole of eternity" when referring to the purpose of life (Gardner 74). Because of his outlook, he makes the novel equally grim and saddening.

Works Cited

2018-04-18 05:39:59 UTC

1. Ferguson, Paul F., et al. “John Gardner, The Art of Fiction No. 73.” The Paris Review, 12 June 2017, www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3394/john-gardner-the-art-of-fiction-no-73-john-gardner.
2 Gardner, John “I'm an Atheist. There, I Said It.” John Gardner, 24 July 1970, johngardner.co/2012/im-an-atheist-there-i-said-it/.