How Does The Transformation Of Grendel Fit Into Society

In John Gardner’s novel, Grendel, Grendel has a lifelong struggle of finding who he is and where he fits into society. In his youth, Grendel is very new to the world around him and feels vulnerable. Soon however, Grendel meets man and begins to be influenced and shaped by their customs and ways.Through the continual influence of society, Grendel turns to and accepts his violent nature and begins to justify senseless killings, thus falling into man’s way.
In the early stages of Grendel’s life, Grendel is appalled by the senseless violence of man. Before he meets man, he realizes that he “alone exisit[s],” and that he creates “the whole universe, blink by blink” (Gardner 22). In his mind, he believes that he has complete control of how the world

progresses onward. He has not yet met any other being that possesses the ability to make any significant changes in the world or in him.

Soon afterwards however, Grendel meets man. While they first mistake him as being a part of the tree, they immediately give a violence to him when they assume that “the spirit’s angry” and that “it always has been… [and] that’s why it’s killing the tree” (Gardner 26). In his very first instance with man, they tell Grendel that he is inherently angry and murderous. This starts the evolution in Grendel to feed the violence within him. Before he interacts with man, he knew his place in the world and he would never kill without a justified purpose. Even after observing man for some time, Grendel “was sickened, if only by the waste of” (Gardner 36) the countless animals and men that they would kill and leave to rot. Grendel still has a sense of worth to the creature’s life around him, if only if it is to keep a sustainable food source. After however, he begins to become infatuated with man’s ways and their views. Scott Kenemore states, “Grendel's encounters with humans … present him with a colorful variety of worldviews and ideologies”.

With his mother being mute and not able to offer any sort of communication, Grendel turns to the society of man to find a new worldview. After observing the men in the mead hall night after night, Grendel begins “to be more amused than revolted by what they threatened” to do to neighboring bands (Gardner 32). From continual exposure to the violence of man, Grendel begins to bring up a new side of himself that would have otherwise continued to be suppressed.
After Grendel’s conversation with the dragon and continued exposure to man’s influence, Grendel realizes a new power within him and begins to understand why men kill as freely as they do.

In the beginning of his talk with the dragon, the dragon accuses Grendel that “nothing interests [him] but excitement, violence” (Gardner 67). Grendel becomes very defensive and at this point in his life he believes that he is “trying to follow … [and] do [his] best” (Gardner 67). He still has not been completely changed by society. He is still close to his original self-view and has not turned completely to violence. After the dragon prompts him to let go of his previous views, he finds the violence within him and finally accepts that he “could walk … to the mead hall whenever [he] pleased, and they were powerless” (Gardner 76). His heart “became darker because of” his acceptance of his violence (Gardner 76). He begins to not hold back the violence that has begun to take ahold of him because he now knows there is no reason to hold back. Senseless killing has begun to be fun and exciting to Grendel. need lead in for long

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Grendel begins as an unseen observer of men, reporting to their actions and difficulties as threats. He comes in contact with them because he is forced to, and he then seeks to proceed from observation to communication and understanding… Grendel’s response to their violence results in the quick retreat of his attackers and, for the monster, an increasing awareness of his power, particularly his ability to toy with men. The joy which Grendel feels in the destruction of men is itself another indication of his growth and understanding. (Milosh 221)
Grendel witnesses intense violence and killing for so many years that he begins to see the justification in what men do without a second thought. Grendel view and ideologies continue to grow with the influence coming from intense reflection of all that he sees from man.
At the end of Grendel’s life, he has completely embodied the image society has created of him, and by that, acknowledges that there is no need to restrain himself from killing. As he approaches the mead hall to kill the men inside, he is “swollen with excitement, blood lust, and joy and a strange fear” (Gardner 167). Grendel has completely changed how he views himself and lost all disgust in senseless killings. He has accepted that there is no reason to hold back. Once, grendel was appalled in man killing animals for sport. Now, he has begun to do the exact same thing, without shame. In his years of observation and interactions with man, he has taken on their ways and violent tendencies. even with how far hes changed, there i still some part of hi, However, there is still some part the original views Grendel once had inside him, seen by his fear as he approaches the mead hall once again. He still knows he should restrain from killing, but he is still too influenced from his experiences with man to stop. Violence in now innate to Grendel and at this point he justifies all that he does and he “is also interested in applying some sort of coherent ethos to his actions,” according to Scott Kenemore. Grendel has adopted a full new set of views from what he held at the beginning of his life, due to the influence of man’s society.
Grendel finds his own violence and worldview through observing man through the span of many years. While he started out only using violence as a means to survive, over time, he began to use violence as a source of amusement and excitement. By seeing the ruthless violence time after time with man, he adopted their actions as his own and found a new power within him.