Violence In 'Grendel' By John Gardner

In John Gardner's novel Grendel he has many examples of how violence is in our society everywhere.“The state is an organization of violence, a monopoly in what it is pleased to call legitimate violence” - Gardner. In Grendel he gives many examples of how Hrothgar abuses his power and uses violence to control his people. America, in many ways, is like Hrothgar’s kingdom.
Gardner’s view of government is similar to America’s government because in America citizens are controlled to think things, do things, and are kept in line by the government. In Grendel there is a character called the shaper. In the novel the shaper shapes how people think about stuff and can change any opinion they have, even if it’s about themselves. This is very evident

America uses this idea in pieces. America believes in “legitimate” violence on people who deserve it. Only thirty states carry the death penalty right now. The death penalty is typically used on adults who are mentally stable and commit large scale crimes. This is like Grendel because the state (or country) is always in control of the citizens. America is different from John Gardner’s view because the country doesn’t have one ruling king who decides everything we do. But, the US does have a president, who is technically the head of the state. The president is controlled by a system of checks and balances and that makes America more safe and easier for citizens to feel like they have some say in their

It always has been, on and off. In America there is racism, sexism, violence, hatred, and no care for natural things. As a world society is messed up in the sense that people go to war as their first instinct, and consider that needed or okay violence. The only violence that should be used is on people who do inexcusable things. Say a man shoots up a school, killing Thirty kids and teachers. Then, violence, (the death penalty) is okay in that case. Violence that is considered corrupt is war, abuse, animal cruelty, environment cruelty, rape, shootings, cops killing innocent people, people killing innocent cops, etc. The list of corrupt violence going on in the society could go on forever. So yes, there is an “okay” violence and a corrupt/inexcusable violence. Another huge inexcusable act of violence that some see as okay is genocide or killing for religion. Genocide is less common in the current time but in the past has been a huge problem in society. More so now, there is killing for religion. ISIS is a huge symbol of how our society is corrupt. Right now things are looking very bad, not in America alone but world