Chapter One Journal “Dark chasms!” I scream from the cliff-edge, “seize me! Seize me to your foul black bowels and crush my bones!” I am terrified at the sound of my own huge voice in the darkness. I stand there shaking from head to foot, moved to the deep-sea depths of my being, like a creature thrown into audience with thunder.At the same time, I am secretly unfooled. The uproar is only my own shriek, and chasms are, like all things vast, inanimate. They will not snatch me in a thousand years, unless, in a lunatic fit of religion, I jump. (10) |

Critical Response The words used are informal, giving us a feeling that the character is trying to relate to use. Most of the words are denotative, giving us a specific meaning to hold onto, while some are less clear which gives more mystery to the passage. The diction is mostly concrete, speaking of the chasm and his voice, not of other abstract ideas mentioned previously in the chapter. The words are also cacophonous, not sounding pleasant together and further expressing the distress Grendel seems to be experiencing as the monster he is. The words are mostly monosyllabic, making it easier for us to understand. The diction used clearly expresses the idea that Grendel pretends to be intrigued by the idea of the dark chasm seizing him, he also understands that this would only be possible if he gave in and jumped. | Personal Response I think this quote relates to me because I too, often talk to inanimate things as if they could hear me, while still realizing they can’t. I mostly do this when I am lonely, which relates me to Grendel in this instance. He seems like the lonely type. In a way I pity him, in a way I don’t. I’m sure if he tried hard enough he could find some friends, and stop talking to dark chasms, threatening them to kill him. I like this quote because Grendel realizes the frailty of him compared to a deep chasm, and that if he wanted he could jump off and be gone forever. |

Chapter Two Journal I understood that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly – as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back. I create the whole universe, blink by blink. – An ugly god pitifully dying in a tree! (21-22) | Critical Response The quote consists of medium sentences which detail what Grendel has realized as he slowly dies in a tree. The type of sentence varies from compound-complex, periodic, and balanced. This adds variety to the quote and substance to the realization. Its order is most similar of natural order, because Grendel is talking about himself, realizing that he has created all things himself. The sentence beginnings hold some repetition, repeating that ‘I understood’. The way the ideas are set out in the sentences holds to make the realization more profound. The last sentence seems to be his signature of his own thought, as if he was certain he was going to die in the tree and wanted to leave a last bit of himself in the world. | Personal Response This quote was interesting for me because it seems like a cruel understanding of the world. The world is no longer anything, and you are the only thing that exists. There must be a deeper meaning to this that he is trying to get at and yet I can’t seem to find it. Or maybe I do understand it. He creates the universe by pushing blinding against all that pushes him. It doesn’t make a lot of sense in passing, if you don’t pay a lot of attention to the quote, but if you really read it you start to understand it. If he was not there, then the universe would not exist to him. He would be gone, and therefore so would the world around him. It is only a creation of his mind. |

Chapter Three Journal Thus I fled, ridiculous hairy creature torn apart by poetry- crawling, whimpering, streaming tears, across the world like a two-headed beast, like mixed-up lamb and kid at the tail of a baffled, indifferent ewe – and I gnashed my teeth and clutched the sides of my head as if to heal the split, but I couldn’t. (44) | Critical Response The author is very subjective in this quote, as Grendel uses a lot of metaphors describing himself. By being very opinionated, Grendel establishes clearly what he thinks of himself. It would be a different, more objective description if the author described Grendel from his point of view. The author instead uses Grendel’s point of view, which leaves us with a semi-hateful description of him and how he cannot heal the split that the blind man’s poetry has left him with. | Personal Response This quote related to me because I have often been ‘torn apart by poetry’. I also caught the self-deprecating metaphors Grendel used and how he could not heal ‘the split’. It seemed as if he was in physical pain by the revelation he had had, that someone could make up some poetry and it would suddenly be the truth. It got to me and I couldn’t help but think that this probably happens more than we think. |

Chapter Four Journal I listened, felt myself swept up. I knew very well that all he said was ridiculous, not light for their darkness but flattery, illusion, a vortex pulling them from sunlight to heat, a kind of midsummer burgeoning, waltz to the sickle. Yet I was swept up. “Ridiculous!” I hissed in the black of the forest. I snatched up a snake from beside my foot and whispered to it, “I knew him when!” But I couldn’t bring out a wicked cackle, as I’d meant to do. My heart was light with Hrothgar’s goodness, and leaden with grief at my own bloodthirsty ways. I backed away, crablike, further into darkness – like a crab retreating in pain when you strike two stones at the mouth of his underwater den. I backed away till the honeysweet lure of the harp no longer mocked me. Yet even now my mind was tormented by images. Thanes filled the hall and a great silent crowd of them spilled out over the surrounding hill, smiling, peaceable, hearing the harper as if not a man in all that lot had even twisted a knife in his neighbor’s chest. (48) | Critical Response This quote contains many examples of similes and personification, which helps to describe the point the author, is trying to make. The harper’s tales are so convincing that it is as if ‘a vortex’ was pulling them into the tale. Even though Grendel see’s through this, he is still ‘swept’ up into the story. His heart is ‘light’ but at the same time ‘leaden with grief’ because of the story the Harper tells of his bloodthirsty ways. This is an example of paradox. He compares his disgust of this to ‘a crab retreating in pain’. But now he is ‘tormented by images’. The quote goes on to describe the people’s fascination of this harper, and how they seemed to have forgotten their enemies because of him. This serves to show us how easily fooled the people are, and makes it more convincing that Grendel would be just as easily ‘swept up.’ | Personal Response I chose this quote because I found it funny how easily everyone seemed to be convinced of this harper’s story, including Grendel himself. It reminds me of a lot of what people seem to believe without backing it up, such as stuff from the internet, or stuff that the media tells us. An example of something like this would be last year, when one girl and her mother went to the news with a story about how the GHSGT Social Studies section was too hard, and the news did a whole coverage on it. Everyone in our class who I knew believed this story was a complete overstatement and did not tell the whole story. That’s what this quote reminded me of. |

Chapter Five Journal “I think you’re lying,” I said, confused again, aswirl in words. “I noticed that. You’ll never know. It must be very frustrating to be caged like a Chinaman’s cricket in a limited mind.” His cackle lacked spirit, this time. He was growing very weary of my presence. (72) | Critical Response In this quote you can see a distinction between the diction of Grendel and the diction of the dragon. While Grendel speaks informally, using concrete words, the dragon speaks condescendingly, using abstract similes. The words flow smoothly, mostly polysyllabic. They are cacophonous yet again and this helps to show us that neither character is enjoying the presence of the other. | Personal Response I chose this quote because it served to show the confusing quality of the entire passage. Grendel is aswirl in words, not understanding most of what the dragon is telling him, either because of feeble mindedness or because the dragon uses poor examples. Either way, he doesn’t understand. I related to this quote because I often wonder if I don’t understand something because my brain cannot handle the theory or maybe because it just hasn’t been explained to me properly. |

Chapter Six Journal He lives on, bitter, feebly challenging my midnight raids from time to time (three times this summer), crazy with shame that he alone is always spared, and furiously jealous of the dead. I laugh when I see him. He throws himself at me, or he cunningly sneaks up behind, sometimes in disguise – a goat, a dog, a sickly old woman – and I roll on the floor with laughter. So much for heroism. So much for the harvest-virgin. So much, also, for the alternative visions of blind old poets and dragons. (90) | Critical Response The sentence structure in this quote is filled with a variety of length, from telegraphic to medium. This helps get his point across, along with the use of repetition with ‘so much for’. It helps show us Grendel’s scorn over the matter, and how funny he finds it. The quote has a mixture of declarative, loose, periodic and sentence fragments. These sentences weave together the cruel manner Grendel seems to be developing, as he taunts Unferth relentlessly by never killing him, never letting him ‘die heroically’. | Personal Response I chose this quote because I thought it was funny. It also reminded me of another book I’ve been reading, where in a situation similar to this the refusal of one to not kill another is out of compassion, but because of miscommunication it is construed as hostility, and leads to war. This paragraph reminded me of this. Of course in this situation Grendel is taunting Unferth and it drives Unferth crazy, even to the point of disguising himself so he may be killed in a heroic manner. |

Chapter Seven Journal I changed my mind. It would be meaningless, killing her. As meaningless as letting her live. It would be, for me, mere pointless pleasure, an illusion of order for this one frail, foolish flicker-flash in the long dull fall of eternity. (End quote.) I let go her feet. The people stared, unbelieving. I had wrecked another theory. I left the hall. (110) | Critical Response In this quote, the author speaks in a very objective tone. Grendel slowly reasons with himself that it would be meaningless to kill the queen. This is fact, and it makes it seem as if Grendel knows that everything he has been doing is just a game, a game that sometimes absorbs him and drives him to madness. The last sentence seems to bring out the fact that Grendel is toying with the people. The author is still objective here, stating only fact. | Personal Response I chose this quote because it baffled me, the way Grendel was able to suddenly change his mind about killing the queen. Only seconds before he had been certain about it. The way Grendel realizes himself, and the fact that killing her would be pointless, a thing only for his own pleasure, reminded me of how many people do not stop to realize this and go ahead. Although the game Grendel is playing is pointless and barbaric, he at least realizes this. |

Chapter Eight Journal How, if I know all this, you may ask, could I hound him – shatter him again and again, drive him deeper and deeper into woe? I have no answer, except perhaps this: why should I not? Has he made any move to deserve my kindness? If I give him a truce, will the king invite me in for a kiss on the forehead, a cup of mead? Ha! This nobility of his, this dignity: are they not my work? What was he before? Nothing! A swollen-headed raider, full of boasts and stupid jokes and mead. No more noble than Red Horse, Hrothulf’s friend. No one would have balked at my persecuting him then! I made him what he is. Have I not a right to test my own creation? Enough! Who says I have to defend myself? I’m a machine, like you. Like all of you. Blood-lust and rage are my character. Why does the lion not wisely settle down and be a horse? In any case, I too am learning, ordeal by ordeal, my indignity. It’s all I have, my only weapon for smashing through these stiff coffin-walls of the world. So I dance in the moonlight, make foul jokes, or labor to shake the foundations of night with my heaped-up howls of rage. Something is bound to come of all this. I cannot believe such monstrous energy of grief can lead to nothing! (123) | Critical Response This quote shows examples of hyperbole, such as ‘swollen-headed’. This shows an example of Grendel’s rage at Hrothgar, and a feeling that Hrothgar owes him. The quote also contains examples of metaphor. By saying ‘I’m a machine’, Grendel is comparing himself to a machine, making it seem as if he has no control over his actions. When he says ‘blood-lust and rage are my character’, it is almost as if he is comparing himself to a character in a play, which is ironic as he is a character in a play. Another metaphor is used when he says ‘stiff coffin-walls’, and by comparing the world’s boundaries to stiff coffin-walls he illustrates the sense of containment Grendel feels when he cannot use his indignity as a weapon. Grendel also employs the use of apostrophe, by talking to us as if we were there with him. This shows the awareness of his audience, and gives the idea that Grendel is simply telling his side of the story. | Personal Response I think this quote explains Grendel’s reasoning behind his behavior, by delving into what exactly he thinks he is establishing. I think he is right, that Hrothgar would be nothing but a ‘swollen-headed raider’ without Grendel’s help. I also think that Grendel is being pompous. True, he may have caused Hrothgar’s development as a fundamental character, but the way he words his defense makes it seem as if he’s tooting his own horn. The part after that intrigues me. It’s almost as if Grendel knows he is only a character in a play. This is probably just a metaphor for life, but the author seems to be alluding to Grendel’s role in Beowulf, something he has not done previously in the book. This interested me, as did the rest of the quote. Grendel admits to his indignity. He admits he doesn’t believe nothing can come of his actions. It tells that he still does not fully understand what the dragon was trying to tell him. |

Chapter Nine Journal I do not usually raid in the winter, when the world is a corpse. I would be wiser to be curled up, asleep like a bear, in my cave. My heart moves slowly, like freezing water, and I cannot clearly recall the smell of blood. And yet I am restless. I would fall, if I could, through time and space to the dragon. I cannot. I walk slowly, wiping the snow from my face with the back of my arm. There is no sound on earth but the whispering snowfall. I recall something. A void boundless as a nether sky. I hang by the twisted roots of an oak, looking down into immensity. Vastly far away I see the sun, black but shining, and slowly revolving around it there are spiders. I pause in my tracks, puzzled – though not stirred - by what I see. But then I am in the woods again, and the snow is falling, and everything alive is fast asleep. It is just some dream. I move on, uneasy; waiting. (137) | Critical Response In this quote Grendel speaks in a very formal tone, which alludes to the seriousness he feels in the winter. The words are more connotative, suggesting that Grendel feels immobilized by the winter. The author uses abstract sentences, giving the quote a delicate, cold quality, reflecting the setting of winter. Yet again the words are cacophonous, such as ‘freezing’, ‘void’ and ‘twisted’. This gives the quote a slightly darker tone, making it more ominous. | Personal Response I chose this quote because it made me consider the effects the winter had on Grendel. It slows him down, making him think more of the past (the dragon), and the future (the waiting). He is apprehensive of what is to come, and acts as if he knows what will happen. The dream he appears to have is like a warning, filled with symbols all with different meanings. But what does it mean? Even Grendel doesn’t understand it. He ignores it somewhat, but it still leaves him uneasy. This made me wonder about what was to come. |

Chapter Ten Journal So he sings, looking down, recalling and repeating the words, hands light on the harp. The king listens, dry-eyed, his mind far, far away. Prince Hrothulf stands with the children of Hrothgar and Wealtheow, his features revealing no more secrets than does snow. Men light the pyre. Unferth stares at the flames with eyes like stones. I too watch the fire, as well as I can. Colorless it seems. A more intense place in the brightness of snow and ice. It flames high at once, as if hungry for the coarse, lean meat. The priests walk slowly around the pyre, saying antique prayers, and the crowd, all in black, ignoring the black priests, keens. I watch the burning head burst, bare of visions, dark blood dripping from the corner of the mouth and ear. End of an epoch, I could tell the king. We’re on our own again. Abandoned. (148-149) | Critical Response The sentence structure in this quote is composed of both medium and telegraphic lengths. This helps not only in establishing variety but also in establishing facts and the sort of emotion Grendel is feeling. With a variety of declarative, compound-complex, periodic and balanced sentences, the author creates a well-educated tone. The quote uses natural order, and tells of the funeral of the Shaper. The sentence structure in this quote establishes the pointlessness that Grendel seems to be feeling. | Personal Response This quote reminded me of a book I once read where the king dies and he is burned in a funeral pyre. In that book, this was a great honor reserved only for kings and queens. The fact that the shaper is burned by funeral pyre made me wonder if this is a great honor in this book as well, or if it is just the norm. I liked the quote because of the way Grendel states that they are on their own again, ‘abandoned’, as well as his description of the Shaper’s ‘burning head burst.’ It makes the shaper seem like nothing but a human, easily combustible, and his stories become useless. |

Chapter Eleven Journal Hrothgar made speeches, his hand on the queen’s. Unferth sat perfectly still, no longer blushing. He was struggling to make himself hope for the stranger’s success, no doubt. Heroism Is more than noble language, dignity. Inner heroism, that’s the trick! Glorious carbuncle of the soul! Except in the life of the hero the whole world’s meaningless. He took a deep breath. He would try to be a better person, yes. He forced a smile, but it twisted, out of his control. Tears! He got up suddenly and, without a word, walked out. (164) | Critical Response In this quote, the author writes in a subjective tone. Grendel speaks of Unferth’s struggle within himself to be a good person, and is very sarcastic when he does so. He describes how Unferth feels, how he is twisted, and even makes fun of him. This is all in part because of Grendel’s taunting. The author is supportive by reporting what Grendel observes of Unferth – his stillness, his twisted smile, his tears, and his walk out. | Personal Response I liked this quote because I saw the sarcasm. It reminded me of how people always make their own inner struggle in order to make their life meaningful. If there is no struggle within someone, or around someone, then life is meaningless. The way I see it we make ourselves heroes by reacting to the struggle that we’ve created. Another thing in this quote I like was how Unferth seemed so distraught. I did not feel for him. In my opinion he deserved everything he got. |

Chapter Twelve Journal And now something worse. He’s whispering – spilling words like showers of sleet, his mouth three inches from my ear. I will not listen. I continue whispering. As long as I whisper myself I need not hear. His syllables lick at me, chilly fire. His syllables lick at me, chilly fire. His syllables lick . . . (169-170) | Critical Response In this quote the author uses metaphor and personification. These make the words that Grendel’s attacker is whispering seem like tangible things, chilling him. He also uses simile to describe the attacker’s word, comparing them to ‘showers of sleet’, which gives the appearance that the words are showering, washing over Grendel, turning him cold. Repetition is also used, to describe the sort of trance the words put him into. | Personal Response I chose this quote because it was the one I liked most. I did not particularly like this chapter. I would compare it to the moment when your heart sinks and you are hearing something you dread hearing. I get all cold when this happens. That’s the thing this quote reminded me of. I could see myself using a metaphor like ‘chilly fire’, in the case of getting bad news, if I ever were to write a story like that. |