Passage from Grendel
Passage Response
Grendel Ch.10, paragraph 7: Mechanical Goat
After opening with an almost poetic explanation of the sick shaper, John Gardner has Grendel encounter another “stupid animal.” First it was the ram in the beginning of the story, next the bull, and now a goat.
He lifts his head, considers me, then lowers it again to keep an eye on crevasses and seams, icy scree, slick rocky ledges – doggedly continuing.
There always seems to be a comedic aspect to Grendel’s frustration with these animals. He calls out to them, trying to get their attention away from their instinctive and mechanical ways. What is interesting is the way Gardner shows Grendel’s frustration through Grendel’s words. He mocks the goat, at first, jokingly. The same way he mocked and yelled at the ram and bull before.
“Ah, goat, goat!” I say as if deeply disappointed in him. “Use your reason! There’s nothing here!”
“If climbing’s your duty to the gods, go climb the meadhall.”
What differs from Grendel’s encounter from the ram and bull to the goat is how it ends. Before, Grendel just cursed the “stupidity of animals.” Now, when encountered with the same “mechanical” instinct, Grendel’s annoyance results in him killing the goat by throwing rocks and trees until it splits the goat’s skull open.
It splits his skull, and blood spray out past his dangling brains, yet he doesn’t fall. He threatens me, blind. It’s not easy to kill a mountain goat. He thinks with his spine.
The gory result of Grendel’s annoyance kills the goat, but it still moves up the mountain, moving completely on instinct. This is interesting because before, Grendel let the ram go in peace, grumbling and complaining about its stupidity without hurting it or taking any action. But now, he couldn’t stop from keeping the goat from climbing. Grendel even showed certainty that the goat would never make it to the mere above (reserved for him and the firesnakes). Even so, Grendel couldn’t stop himself from knocking the goat
Grendel Ch.10, paragraph 7: Mechanical Goat
After opening with an almost poetic explanation of the sick shaper, John Gardner has Grendel encounter another “stupid animal.” First it was the ram in the beginning of the story, next the bull, and now a goat.
He lifts his head, considers me, then lowers it again to keep an eye on crevasses and seams, icy scree, slick rocky ledges – doggedly continuing.
There always seems to be a comedic aspect to Grendel’s frustration with these animals. He calls out to them, trying to get their attention away from their instinctive and mechanical ways. What is interesting is the way Gardner shows Grendel’s frustration through Grendel’s words. He mocks the goat, at first, jokingly. The same way he mocked and yelled at the ram and bull before.
“Ah, goat, goat!” I say as if deeply disappointed in him. “Use your reason! There’s nothing here!”
“If climbing’s your duty to the gods, go climb the meadhall.”
What differs from Grendel’s encounter from the ram and bull to the goat is how it ends. Before, Grendel just cursed the “stupidity of animals.” Now, when encountered with the same “mechanical” instinct, Grendel’s annoyance results in him killing the goat by throwing rocks and trees until it splits the goat’s skull open.
It splits his skull, and blood spray out past his dangling brains, yet he doesn’t fall. He threatens me, blind. It’s not easy to kill a mountain goat. He thinks with his spine.
The gory result of Grendel’s annoyance kills the goat, but it still moves up the mountain, moving completely on instinct. This is interesting because before, Grendel let the ram go in peace, grumbling and complaining about its stupidity without hurting it or taking any action. But now, he couldn’t stop from keeping the goat from climbing. Grendel even showed certainty that the goat would never make it to the mere above (reserved for him and the firesnakes). Even so, Grendel couldn’t stop himself from knocking the goat