water and Grendel

According to the dragon in John Gardner's Grendel, life has no meaning. Life is all "a swirl in the stream of time. A temporary gathering of bits, a few random dust specks, so to speak" (Gardner 70). His thoughts suggest that the world eventually come to nothing, and that nothing will have no meaning either - just a "mere ripple in Time's stream" (Gardner 71). 

The nihilism the dragon presents can also be seen in Red Horse, an old man with whom Hrothulf converses. According to Red Horse, "the total ruin of institutions and morals is an act of creation" (Gardner 118). This is a belief reflecting nihilism, in which destruction of political or social institutions is necessary for improvement. Unlike the dragon, however, the old man promotes the idea of revolution and anarchy with the thought that this will allow for a new existence. It wouldn't be the inferior versus the superior, but rather two equally powerful forces fighting for freedom. On the other hand, the dragon finds that an act of destruction "not a real ending of course, nor even a beginning" (Gardner 71), but that it is rather an accident of time. 

Juxtaposition of destruction and creation is a common thread in Grendel. The Danish priests refer to their God as the Great Destroyer, hoping that the Destroyer will "defend the people of Scyld and kill their enemy, the terrible world-rim-walker" (Grendel 127). In destroying Grendel, the Destroyer would also be allowing the Danes to continue with their existence. Because Grendel, the so-called world-rim-walker and evil enemy against the Danes, poses as the Destroyer, he highlights the connection between destruction and creation, as Red Horse implies as well.

In David Foster Wallace's This Is Water commencement speech, he unknowingly presents an argument to counter that of the dragon. Wallace presents his belief that there is no one meaning to life. Instead of one true purpose, he proposes that the individual has the choice to make his or her own purpose. 

Grendel represents an individual who doesn't live his life through his own self-created purpose; instead, he is influenced by the Shaper and the dragon who create a purpose for him. The Shaper sings the song of Cain and Abel whose feud "split all the world between darkness and light" (Gardner 51), with Grendel representing this darkness. Grendel, eavesdropping on his performance, takes his story for truth and begins to mold his life around the idea that he's an evil force. The dragon further reinforces this belief by telling Grendel that he is "the brute existent by which they learn to define themselves" (Gardner 73). By giving him this role of creator, he limits Grendel to act in a way that implies the Danes will act according to his actions. 

Near Grendel's death, it seems as though a wave of realization washes over him, as "the long pale dream, my history, falls away" (Gardner 169). It could be assumed that at this time, he realizes that he's been so engulfed in fulfilling the Shaper's and the dragon's purposes of him that he's dived headfirst against a foe that would be his downfall. This moment of enlightenment has him longing to regress back to his childhood, seen as he cries out for his mother during his final moments. His desire to return to the childlike Grendel, before he met the Shaper or the dragon, can also be found after his attempts to split Wealtheow, when he hopes to kill himself "for love of the Baby Grendel that used to be" (Gardner 110).