Grendel

Our Illuminated text illuminates the last chapter of Grendel, a novel by John Gardner, which we chose because it is the moment where the book is tied together and the ideas are all connected.

This is an illuminated text focused on the character Grendel's resentment towards the mechanical nature of the universe around him, as well as his hunger...

Hunger for food, hunger for knowledge, hunger for answers...

In the beginning of John Gardener's "Grendel", the titular character encounters animals that seem to be of clockwork, only acting on instinct. He expresses his repugnance for such behavior and questions the sky as to why things are the way they are. Receiving no answer, Grendel finds the next best solution - he consumes away his problems.

This Illuminated Text describes Grendel’s last moments alive (page 170). Grendel reflects on his views of the world in a romantic view of life as well as mocks the 23 pslam and echoes the dragon's words.
The original music was meant to portray the darkness and chaos of the scene. The heavy emotion of his dying soul is encompassesed by the eerie tones of the the viola with the haunting echo of the violin and sitar.

We illuminated an excerpt for the History of Love. We explored the relationship between Leo and the younger Alma at the end of his life. In our text Leo exploring what is real and what he is imagining. He is coming to term with the fact that most of the things he he sees are imaginary. Our text all discusses how Alma adores Leo and for her he would do anything.

My Illuminated text details the first part of Grendel meeting the Dragon, and has to do with Grendels ideals that the world is accidental. This part of the meeting with the dragon doesn't delve deeply into the philosophical, but stays material and realistic, which also goes with Grendels beliefs, and ultimately ends with the Dragon recommending Grendel to just get gold and sit on it, and to not worry about humans or things that seem impractical.

In the novel Grendel, a monster with the mind of a teenager attempts to comprehend the aggressive and dangerous world around him. He concludes that the entire world is mechanical, like the bull who attacks him, but his ideas are changed by the poetry of the shaper. The shaper's poems sing of great heroes and spread the message of living for idealistic purposes. However, the dragon, who knows all that will or has happened, states that life is simply meaningless and that there is no point in doing anything. The nihilistic ideals of the dragon clash with the heroic ideals of the shaper.