Grendel (novel) - Themes and Issues

Themes and Issues

• Throughout the novel, John Gardner experiments with the style of writing. While most of the time Grendel narrates from a stream of consciousness style, occasionally script-like text appears, or poetry in the style of the original Beowulf.
• Gardner references several authors, directly quoting from some other authors and philosophers in characters' dialogue. One example is that the philosophical ideas of Alfred North Whitehead are mentioned by the Dragon.
• The novel itself is structured so that each chapter coincides with a different astrological sign, and Gardner includes an encounter or theme to tie the chapter to the sign and its associated aspects, beginning with the encounter with the ram in Chapter 1 to represent Aries. Also, as Grendel is in the twelfth year of war, each chapter can represent one year of his life.
• Each chapter can also be read as an exposition on a particular branch of philosophic thought, beginning with solipsism ("I exist--nothing else.") and including the existentialist philosophy of Sartre.
• Beowulf's name is never given; the reader has to infer this from clues in the novel.
• The language used in the book is very modern, with some names changed into the Modern English equivalents of the Old English. For example, Hart serves as Hrothgar's mead hall in this novel, which is derived etymologically from Heorot, his meadhall in the epic poem.
• One of the major themes in John Gardner's Grendel is the belief of nihilism. Grendel inherits the concepts of nihilism at a young age when he faces the bull but is unable to completely submit to the concept as he still wants to believe in something, a purpose to his life. In Chapter 5, Grendel talks to the Dragon who portrays nihilism in its purest form as the dragon is able to see past, present and future. Grendel is unable to comprehend the dragon's rant and keeps falling asleep pointing at the limitations of Grendel's mind.