Journal 10

In the novel, Grendel, John Gardner used Grendel as a narrator. This technique really adds to the story. Though Grendel is a monster, we feel bad for him. He continuously tries to communicate with the humans and every attempt goes horribly bad. Grendel even eats humans for pleasure and yet, the way the story is told we feel sympathy for him. He simply can’t fit into the human world. He is lonely and suffering. Being that Grendel is a monster telling the story, the tone is naturally more morbid. The perspective we have is from a lower point of view than, let’s say, a derring-do story would be told. In a way, this can relate to the lower class or “common-folk’s” outcast in society. Though they are looked down on, they are the same as the heroes and lords. Grendel ends up taking on a nihilistic philosophy, believing that nothing matters outside of your own consciousness. This most likely would not have been the existing philosophy had the story been told from another point of view.image