Isolation In 'Grendel' By John Gardner

In the novel, Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel, the protagonist, suffers the pain of isolation. He is ignored by many animals, too incompetent for him. He is considered an enemy by some animals such as the bull and humans. He is only accepted by his mother and his imaginary friends. Grendel finds ways to make light of this. He curiously observes everything and appreciates it for some time. Until he realizes it's a pattern, a chaotic repetition of itself. Grendel finds many truths from observing yet is conflicted when the Shaper comes along. The Shaper tells tales that are so convincing and draw in anyone listening, including Grendel. Although he knows that the Shaper is wrong, he can't resist the stories meaning. As he is ashamed of himself

for nearly believing in the stories told by the Shaper, he causes mental unrest within himself. Eventually, with the help of the Dragon, he despises the stories and theories of man.
Grendel is a bearlike monster that is very similar to humans. Grendel is a very intelligent being. He makes rational decisions and occasionally a few emotionally driven, irrational decisions. He is curious just like humans, wanting to explore the entirety of the world, and to understand it. This is the beginning of his quest. His quest to understand his existence and what led him to it. Grendel starts by trying to understand other things of nature, trying to make sense of them and tie it into what he already knows. This leads him to humans, the most similar creature to him. He watches them, observing how they evolve. How they proceed through the days and seasons, and it helps to some extent.
Grendel watches as the men start to inhabit the place. At first, they are peaceful nomadic tribes. Occasionally, a battle ensued between the two tribes, but the men who survived always returned home. Soon the bands become larger and settle in strategic areas upon hills. They plant crops, domesticate animals and build a meadhall. The women stay to take care of the animals and the crops, the men go out and hunt for meat. When the men return, the women cook the food while the men drink mead and share tales amongst one another. The drunken men start to talk about what they are going to do to the neighboring halls. They do not act upon their threats for a while, until another drunken man dishonors the drunk who spoke the threat. Warfare starts after a meadhall is burnt to the ground and looted for its treasures. This is where Grendel notices how wasteful humans are because the humans killed many men and pent up animals, destroyed buildings and left it all to either burn or rot.
“Then once around midnight, I came tto a hall in ruins. The cows in their pens lay burbling blood through their nostrils, with javelin holes in their necks. None had been eaten. The watchdogs lay like dark wet stones, with their heads cut off, teeth bared. The fallen hall was a square of flames and acrid smoke, and the people inside were burned black,small like dwarfs turned dark and crisp”(Gardner 34).
They also left any survivors to suffer or beg to enter their invaders hall.
Grendel discovers what he thinks to be the answer to his existence.

He discovers this when he is stuck in a tree. He cannot escape from the hold it has on him and experiences excruciating pain. He screams and bellows for his mother, but she doesn't come to him. Soon a bull approaches him, in an attempt to defend his new-born calf that Grendel was venturing for. Grendel tries to scare away the bull by howling at the bull but it ignores Grendel and gets ready to charge. The first charge rips through Grendel's knee before the bull smashes it's head into the tree. Grendel realizes that the bull struck too low. After the second charge, which also tears through Grendel's knee, he notices a pattern going on. The bull is charging low and will always charge low because it attacks on blind instict.
“He'd struck too low, and even in my terror I understood that he would always strike too low: he fought by instinct, blind mechanism ages old. He'd have fought the same way against an earthquake or an eagle: I had nothing to fear from his wrath but that twisting horn. The next time he charged I kept my eye on it, watched that horn with as much concentration as I'd have watched the rims of a crevasse I was leaping, and at hust the right instant I flinched. Nothing touched me but the breeze as the horn flipped past.”(Grendel

21).
By this he understands that animals act in chaotic repetitive cycles of instinct. By this he found out that he was surrounded by unintelligent beings. He is unable to communicate with anyone, not even his mother as she has lost language also. The only being that he would have a chance to communicate with, humans, has declared him an enemy and hates him.
The Shaper's stories were all full of lies according to the Dragon. Grendel goes to the Dragon for advice since the Dragon sees and knows all. Him and the Dragon have a philosophical debate over the humans and the Shaper. “Grendel and the Dragon have an extended philosophical argument over the nature of human destiny as presented by the Shaper; ultimately, the Dragon strengthens Grendel in his nihilism and disbelief”(Payne). When Grendel asks the Dragon about the Shaper, he says that the Shaper's tales are just as valid as the arguments drunk men have. They have some facts and find ways to tie them together into a tale. The Shaper knows no more and says no more than the next man. Yet the Shaper gives the illusion of heroic victories and deadly battles that were in honor of Hrothgar without raising a single doubt.
“An important minor theme in this novel is the significance of poetry in preserving and defining what is best in mankind. Grendel is enthralled with the Shaper, the old poet at Hrothgar’s hall who immortalizes the deeds of great heroes in his songs each evening. Men live on after death in the songs of the poet; great poets, Grendel discovers, create reality”(Mazzeno).
At the end of the story Grendel is faced with an opponent whose strength is greater then his own. The Stranger is their to get rid of Grendel, but Grendel is eager to fight this man, knowing he might die in the process. Grendel raids the meadhall despite warnings from his mother. At first there is no sight of the Stranger, but he grabs Grendel by the wrist and starts to assault him. Grendel slips in a puddle of blood giving the Stranger the upper hand. The Stranger pulls Grendels arm out of it's socket and uses it to control him. He then slams Grendel into a wall multiple times before ripping his arm off completely. From the point of view of the Danes, the Stranger is the hero who saved them from the monster Grendel, yet Grendel sees that the Stranger fights dishonorably and is insane. Also it was the humans who attacked Grendel twice before Grendel starts his raids. This raises the question, which one is good and which one is evil? Grendel sees himself as evil and death itself, while the Stranger is looked upon as a heroic figure.
Due to the pain of isolation, Grendel is ignored by many animals and is considered an enemy by others. He is only accepted by his mother despite her not being able to speak. Grendel realizes the meaning of life as a chaotic pattern of blind instinct. Grendel comes to despise the Shaper's tales with the advice from the Dragon. Instead of getting confused when hearing one of the tales, he gets enraged from it.