Audio - all audio content related to John Gardner's Grendel.

So much depends on the first discussion of a book - it sets the mood for the rest of the novel and gives the students clues for what to look for was they read it (and mark it up) on their own.  We talk about how we view Grendel in this novel versus how we saw him in Beowulf, and we talk about his fight against a world with purpose - and we sneak in the Grinch too. 

The opening discussion of any book in a classroom is important - in the case of this novel, it is crucial.  For many of my students this will be the most difficult book that they have ever read - with its streams of conciousness, flashbacks, and heavy doses of philosophy.  Therefore we ease ourselves into it -- making sure that any of the students' qualms get addressed.  We do a close reading of the first few pages -- talk about the setting and how it fits in with our reading of Beowulf -- and we begin to delve into the idea of "men's theories" that is so important

The idea of cause and effect is one of the central themes covered in Grendel and we tackle it head on in this class activity and discussion.  First we go out to the lunchroom to "hunt wild animals," only to find there are none there.  Then we go back to our "village" and draw pictures of the animals we want on the board -- when we next go out to the hunting grounds we find an abundance of animals.  Next, I play Bruce Springsteen's "Empty Sky," talk about how Shapers mold our world and help us deal with the hardest parts of our life.&nbsp

There is, as with most of these discussions, an awful lot to talk about here.  First we talk about what happens in the most philosophical and "deep" of the book's chapters - Five.  Here the dragon talks to Grendel about his purpose with regards to men and tries to convince him that he does not really harm mankind - he makes them better.  Next, talk about Chapter 6 which has the surprising idea that the charm that the Dragon puts on Grendel is really not a good thing - but instead is a curse.

A class discussion of the most challenging (and rewarding) chapter in John Gardner's Grendel.  Grendel goes to see the Dragon, about the Shaper, and his place in the universe -- he gets much more than he bargained for.