Journal 3

     In the book Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel is quite different from the typical animal. Unlike most animals whose “squeezed shut, like the ram's, by the roots of horns (p.6)," Grendel can speak. In fact, this is extremely uncharacteristic of his kind. His mother can’t even speak, though he thinks she could at some point she was able to. "Talking, talking. Spinning a web of words, pale walls of dreams, between myself and all I see." Since the beginning of the book, Grendel is fascinated with language. The story is truly amazing because it shows his growth as time goes on. At the beginning of the novel, we see really simple text, but as we move towards the end, his style and the poetry of the story really take flight. In the very beginning of the story when Grendel gets stuck in a tree, he tries to talk to the humans, but is unable to. He can understand them, but they can’t understand him. As the story goes on, however, Grendel is able to communicate with Unferth. Unferth cannot understand everything he says, but catches the most of it. As we can see, just between these two points, his language has developed in the story as well as in the novel itself. The importance of language is shown through the Shaper’s poetry. While Grendel did not believe everything the Shaper said, he still longed the poetry and hope-filled stories. When the Shaper, a personification of the beauty of language, dies, Grendel is lost. He has no chance against Beowulf and is defeated.