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Grendel And The Sympathizer: A Character Analysis

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Both Grendel in Grendel and The Captain in The Sympathizer are conflicted in their own ideas as society’s influence on their beliefs corrupts and alters their mentalities. They find themselves in situations in which they cannot choose between themselves and the world. Although both characters are fundamentally different from others in each respective story because of their unique dual natures, they cannot escape the clutching forces of assimilation to the expectations of the world and society. Grendel and The Captain are able to create their own foundations in their own beliefs, but they are challenged in life through the exposure to the world and its expectations. The major problem explored throughout Grendel and The Sympathizer revolves around how each of …show more content…

Grendel is a being of which can recognize, understand, and interpret the world along with the animals surrounding him. Grendel is immediately described as a unique being in Grendel because of this ability of sentience until the humans are introduced into the story. It is important to understand that Grendel is conscious of his own awareness and believes himself that he is not another monster existing purely to wreak havoc: “I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against” (Gardner 22). Grendel adopts the ideas of Solipsism early in his life, which is quite intriguing as Grendel experiences the world in a cognitive manner. This ideology gained in this process of interpretation shows In The Sympathizer The Captain is faced with similar situations to Grendel. The Captain is bifurcated by nature. He is both Vietnamese and Caucasian. He is both a communist while fighting with the democrats. Yet, The Captain is able to reside in the fact that he is a single “man of two faces” (Nguyen 1). The Captain seems to not have many qualms of

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Up until the end of Chapter 7, Grendel’s actions are influenced by the dragon.   He believes nothing matters, there is no good or bad, and everybody eventually dies. The people of Heort know Grendel as a monster and a killer and he lives up to his reputation.

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(Gordon and Wang). Grendel’s feeling a sense of intimidation. However, Grendel views himself as being undefeatable; he doesn’t believe Beowulf can hurt him. An analysis says, “Grendel’s existentialism is a violent one, which allows him to succumb to the urges that have boiled in his heart from the first moment humans mistreated him.” (Gordon and Wang).

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When Grendel is first presented, he is described as

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Grendel and his mother were never able to communicate fully, “ (She never speaks.) [...] She’ll tell me, in time, I thought. But she told me nothing. I waited on (Gardner pg.12)”, and even the dragon, who is the most prominent person in Grendel’s life, gave Grendel a philosophy that further increased his isolation, “and the dragon gives him a version of reality which he comes to take as correct.

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Grendel is seen as a monster to others and from them he adopts aggression. He can be seen as an example of nature as his life is unaffected by his mother. The surroundings he is in tones his anger and causes him to naturally seem beast-like. Grendel is hated by society and thus is forced

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In Beowulf, the characterization of Grendel directly opposes his portrayal in Grendel. Because the point of view of Beowulf is third person omniscient, Grendel’s thoughts and emotions are not explicit. His philosophies present in Grendel do not appear in Beowulf. The citizens of Herot view Grendel as a wild, evil beast: “Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend/Grendel who haunted the moors, the wild/Marshes, and made his home in a hell” (Beowulf 101-103). The author of Beowulf created Grendel to be a malevolent and powerful being.

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“Grendel should be home now, what is wrong with that child,” the mother of the descendant of Caine thought. Just then Grendel burst through the ceiling, deep dark red blood gushing from his shoulder. He trails blood through the chalet towards his room where he collapses from his injuries on his bed. His mother instantly falls to his side trying to save him but it is too late for he has passed. “SO MUCH BLOOD.

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On Grendel's first search he internalized, "I understood that the world was nothing"(21). As Grendel awakened for the first time he saw mankind. " ... I found I understood them: it was my own language, but spoken in a strange way"(23).

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In the novel Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel’s largest internal conflict is whether or not he can overcome his predestined status of monster. Throughout the course of the story Grendel is influenced by both sides, human and beast, through the dragon and the Shaper. Although Grendel initially wants to align himself with the humans, no matter how he tries to communicate with them as an equal they will not accept his company, causing him to become lonely and angry. Grendel’s anger turns to violence, which makes the humans turn further against him and, as he is alienated from any sense of humanity he ever had, he eventually discovers that he has no choice and must fulfill his role as the enemy to humans. Initially, Grendel’s free will

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In most stories there is a very distinguishable character that carries the traits of a hero. However in John Gardener’s Grendel, the word hero becomes blurred. With the thoughts and perspective from the monster himself you see the world in a whole new perspective. During an attack one brave soul stands up and begins a conversation with the monster. His name is Unferth and according to the 9 noble viking virtues he is the real hero in the story.

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It is important to note that this supernatural being is one of Cain’s clan who was banished by the Creator for killing Abel. “Cain got no good from committing that murder/Because the Almighty made him anathema/And out of the curse of this exile there sprang /Ogres and elves and evil phantoms” (Heaney 109-12). In other words, monsters are created and ostracized on behalf of Cain’s action. Grendel is destined to be an atrocious demon, similar to the caste system where people are unable to move up a caste. Furthermore, the creature can be related to the character, Ralph, from the movie Wreck-It Ralph, where they both are rejected and mistreated only for being what they are.

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Throughout the novel Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel comes across as a ruthless monster who takes pride in murdering others. His actions give the impression that he is an evil figure, but in hindsight he is not as evil as he appears to be. Gardner makes the readers feel sympathy for Grendel because Grendel lives a lonely life, is consistently treated poorly, and attempts to make peace. If Grendel was truly evil, readers would have difficulty having sympathy for him. Therefore, Grendel is not evil and is no different than the rest of humanity.

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Grendel was someone who the Dane’s believed to be evil because the Lord’s love was unknown to him. He was carried by emotion and whims and felt jealousy and loneliness. This had given Grendel similar human characteristics to Cain in The Bible. He wanted to be accepted by humans but they only saw a monster, a sinner, a demonic superhuman of pure evil. He felt like he would never get accepted and never live a normal life, so he decided to attack Heorot out of pure jealousy that was shown by Cain in The Bible.

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On the outer shell, Grendel is a monstrous villain who hates mankind, but the reader soon realizes, in reality, he just wants to fit in. Since Grendel knows he will never fit in, he decides to destroy what he cannot have and he "[understands] that the world [is] nothing: [but] a mechanical chaos of casualties, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood, finally and absolutely, I alone exist" (Gardner 22). Instead of criticizing the villain, Grendel makes the reader sympathize with him by saying " [he] alone exist[s]".

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Grendel in both stories is described as a vicious "Monster", but is viewed differently. The character of Grendel, in the novel by John Gardner, portrays a different visualization than that of Grendel in the epic poem Beowulf. In the novel the story is told in first person point of view which gives Grendel human qualities while Grendel in Beowulf is told in third person point of view not giving Grendel his standpoint. In both works, the authors give two different perspectives of Grendel. Grendel in the novel is not seen as a "Monster", but as a human that has emotions and is very sympathetic about everything that comes his way.

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