Grendel: A Child Like Everyone Else [Grendel, by John Gardner]

Grendel's childhood can be looked upon as being a small part in a lone monsters life, or an experience which everyone on the face of the Earth sometime or another encounters. As a young lad, Grendel feels as if he is alone and by himself. He also feels that the only person he has to turn to is his mother, or parent; even then, there is a good amount of animosity. If anything, Grendel can be looked upon as showing the same emotional characteristics as a human child, minus the fur and the beastly appearance. Even though Grendel is the son of a troll-wife and is castigated as being hideous by…