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Themes. Meaning of Life/Lack of Meaning Grendel’s search throughout the novel Each character seems to have own perspective The Power of Art/Stories/Music Shaper as storyteller and prophet Grendel’s love/hate relationship with the stories Isolation/The Need for Community
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Themes • Meaning of Life/Lack of Meaning • Grendel’s search throughout the novel • Each character seems to have own perspective • The Power of Art/Stories/Music • Shaper as storyteller and prophet • Grendel’s love/hate relationship with the stories • Isolation/The Need for Community • Grendel is willing to be the “monster” to have a place in the human world • Good vs. Evil • Definitions of good and evil • Coexistence/Overlapping
Philosophy • Solipsism • the theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist • “I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist…I create the whole universe, blink by blink.” Grendel p. 22 • “I exist, nothing else” p. 28
Philosophy • Existentialism • Life is meaningless, a series of chance events; therefore, one must put meaning into his/her life. • Morality is up to the individual. • “I understood that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears.” Grendel p. 22
Philosophy • Nihilism • “Nothing comes from nothing” • Life is meaningless, a series of chance events; therefore, one must live as one wishes. • Morality is inconsequential. • “Why? Ridiculous question. Why anything?” Dragon p.72
