Nihilism in Grendel
“Nihil ex nihilo, I always say.”(Gardner 150) These are the words of the infamous Grendel from the novel, Grendel, by John Gardner. They represent the phrase “life itself is meaningless” which is taught to Grendel by different people throughout the novel. Grendel starts out as an intelligent and sensitive monster that lives with his mother in a cave. He constantly questions the world and the nature of his own existence. When he finds the answers, he is too weak to live with them. In the philosophical aftermath his spirit dies, and Grendel becomes a hollow, brutal creature. In the following essay, the explanation of this phrase, the way Grendel learns about nihilism, and how Grendel develops the concept of nihilism, as it is known, will be discussed. First, we attack the nihilism itself. What is nihilism? Nihilism is one of the main components of the book. It means that life, itself, is meaningless. What is meant by that phrase is that anything you do or decide to do means nothing. For example, if you make a huge decision that you think will affect you for the rest of your life, according to a nihilist it means nothing. To a nihilist, life turns out how it is supposed to turn out. Nihilism also
In Chapter Four, Grendel’s learning is furthered along when he comes in contact with the people of Herot. At first, he comes to the hall and offers peace and mercy. The humans immediately hack away at him with their swords. This really gets Grendel angry as he has just offered his peace. He then becomes a participant of the hypocrisy by fighting man himself. From Chapter Four: “I staggered out into the open and up toward the hall with my burden, groaning out, ‘Mercy! Peace!’ The Harper broke off, the people screamed. (They all have their own versions, but this is the truth.) Drunken men rushed over with battle-axes. I sank to my knees crying, ‘Friend! Friend!’ They hacked at me yipping like dogs…”, “… I crushed the body in my hug, then hurled it in their faces, turned, and fled.”(Gardner 52) This was the event that finally turned Grendel into a nihilist; it mattered not what he did, the humans were determined to hate him. In the novel, Grendel first learns this theory indirectly from the hypocrisy of man. In Chapter Three, Grendel is observing man for the very first time. He watches in horror as they fight and scream over land and treasure. After all of this nonsense and chaos, they still have the nerve to make speeches about how honorable or great the people and their king are, even though they still kill one another. This is an early sign in the book of the hypocrisy of man. From Chapter Three: “Terrible threats, from the few words I could catch. Things about their fat
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Approximate Word count = 1014
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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