Grendel's Journey

When shown that our world is but a loop, we choose to continue. When shown that everything we do is simply the same struggle, over and over, forever the same waste of time, we don’t break away. We still go down this path of the least resistance, because we believe that that’s the way the world is.
No matter what we as human beings do in life, we seem to be forever trapped in cycles, whether it be a cycle of work, a cycle of love, or any other type. But why do we follow monotonous cycles in life and even conform to such cycles? Why do we choose to lead unfulfilling lives? Although such questions are not easily answered through one’s own life experiences, the use of other means, such as the book Grendel, written by John Gardner, and the ten-episode

As we know, Grendel is the story of a lone monster trying to find his way in a world that despises him. Throughout his journey, Grendel is thrown into situations where he is challenged, both physically and psychologically, until he finally discovers what he was looking for all along: peace, and in this case, peace through death. Ultimately, Grendel is meant to show us that cycles will always exist in our lives, may they be considered good or bad cycles, and the only true escape is to notice these cycles and break away. A similar connection to this story can be made when observing Over the Garden Wall, a story in which two brothers, Wirt and Greg, find themselves lost in a mysterious place called the Unknown, where it is said that long forgotten stories can be revealed. Along their

In Over the Garden Wall, fear is shown to be the most disastrous feeling to the protagonists in the Unknown, causing Wirt to give in to hopelessness and nearly get his brother killed in the process. Wirt’s fear of abandonment first developed after he believed that he had lost his chance with Sarah, a girl that he liked. This first initial fear was the very thing that brought the boys to the Unknown, and it resurged after he thought that Beatrice had tricked himself and Greg into a trap. “I shouldn’t have trusted anyone” (Episode 6 McHale). Wirt’s fear of abandonment causes him to want to trust no one, even to point where he tells Greg to leave him out of frustration. As well as this, in the episode Into the Unknown, it is shown that Wirt is a pessimistic boy with low self-esteem who has always felt like an outcast due to his unique interests, and this is why he reacts so violently to rejection and betrayal that he assumes have occurred. After Wirt’s first attempt at trying to talk to Sarah in an attempt to ‘enter the unknown’, he immediately bails at the first sight of risk, and this leads him to desire isolation in an effort to never be hurt