Journal 10: Grendel as a Narrator

In John Gardner’s Grendel, Gardner appointed Grendel to be the narrator. In Beouwulf, and Grendel, the humans depict Grendel as an evil-being, something demonic, and not from the heavens; but as we see in the book Grendel, Grendel is shown to be kind-hearted, naïve, a slightly confused. This point of view/narration reveals a side of Grendel that many readers would not have expected. By using Grendel as a narrator, Gardner allows the readers to get a view into a new world—Grendel’s mind. Gardner’s narrative choice is one of the best ways to get into character, as well as, get to understand a character without having to go through a second party. Throughout the story-line we see the growth of Grendel as a narrator and monstrous-human towards the beginning we see his fears and insecurities; the ram, his cries to the sky and animals around the forest.  We also see his reasoning for his random murders, his belief that humans that do not appreciate the life they’ve been given can be given a different alternative as dinner.  We really get to see behind the scenes in Grendel’s life, we get to view his philosophies and life.  We question why Gardner uses Grendel as the narrator and not some other character in the story, but who else can tell the story of Grendel, then Grendel himself.  Nobody but Grendel would be able to capture the emotional and psychological parts of Grendel, therefore making Grendel the narrator creates a greater advantage to understanding the story and the reasons behind some of Grendel’s actions. 

Because Grendel is a monster, the way he speaks to use is affected; in the beginning of the story, we see him inexperience. He yells and moans; words he does not quite understand, he imitates the language of the humans not knowing that no one understands him but himself.  We also see, in the beginning, the way he kills and preys on human life but towards the end, we see how he spares life instead of taking them. He now understands and has grown as a narrator ans as a “person”. He bings to put thought into his raids—kiilling those who pretends to be “heroic” with the exception of Unferth. Grendel spares Unferth’s life as mockery to the term hero; Grendel now understands Unferth’s true wants and to fool with him more he does not let Unferth when battles, he defeats Unferth mentally as opposed to physically knowing that Unferth just wants the title of hero.  We also see how he spares Wealtheow’s life only because he gained knowledge from the dragon; he learned the significance people and things have to life and the earth.  He sees Wealtheow as a “creator,” someone who brings life into the world, just as his mother did and chooses to spare her life as well knowing that if he were to end her life he would be ending more than one.  Grendel’s being a monster of course changes the way the book is written, instead of being written in the eyes and mind of a human it is written in the mind of something/someone mimicking a human which causes Grendel’s language to evolve. Grendel is someone who is trying to adapt to the styles, habits, ways of a human which makes the way the story is told and written much different than a reader is intended to know and/or understand.