Mankind's Cruelty
Kids can be so rude yet truthful. Before they have a chance to grow into gentle, compassionate, understanding men and women, children unfortunately, have a naturally rude self. This sense of self comes automatically with life. It is a matter of time before the family and the community molds children to reflect the current way of living. Some parents try and mask what their children have to say. Graduates from high school, even college, still remember some of the rudest things ever directed toward them were said in grade school. In the novel, Grendel, by John Gardner, the so-called monster observes the life of the Anglo-Saxon man. Man, yet who seems to be very developed and aged, lives only to please himself. These very early stages of human existence are self-centered. Unfortunately, natural instincts of man are destructively evil.
Man's natural self is evil which has been evident since his existence.
The Old English epic poem Beowulf is written in al...
An illustration of Grendel by J.R. Skelton from St...
Grendel (novel)He can not control his natural instincts. It is when one is born when evil and corrupt instincts begin. Only when civilization teaches him is when he learns manners and rational thought. Grendel watches how humans act which upsets but also confuses him because of their horrible and evil ways when he says, "They betrayed, one shooting the other from behind for some reason, or stealing the other group's gold, some midnight, or sneaking into bed with the others groups' wives and daughters" (37). Grendel is not used to this behavior, he has never acted like this before. Man's evil is astonishing to him, which it should be. Unfortunately, this behavior is natural which scares Grendel. He now is listening to the men talking, "They talked in something akin to my language, which meant that they were, incredibly, related" (36). Man is speaking...