Progress of Nihilism

Each and every day people in the universe resort to wicked, nefarious acts all because of nihilism, or the ideology that life means nothing. Nihilism is also a common topic for writers in the modern era of writing because it clearly demonstrates a deviation from the normal everyday life. In Grendel by John Champlin Gardner, the author molds the theme of nihilism into two of the main characters, Grendel and the dragon.

The first character that illustrates nihilism is Grendel. Grendel is a complete, full-scale nihilist. He portrays himself as a character that has a dislike for everything except his own actions. Gardner writes, “I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against… I create the whole universe, blink by blink” (22). Immediately Grendel is identified as the only creature that matters. He lives solely for his own purpose, and has no meaningful ties to anyone in his life: he even is disgusted with his mother who he describes as a complete and utter different being. Grendel also acts harsh when he is elaborating on the scene with Wealtheow. He conveys, “I would kill her, yes! I would squeeze out her feces between my fists… I would kill her and teach them reality” (110). Grendel sees no problem in murdering innocent people, even if it is a senseless act. Not only does he think about killing her, but also he paints a picture of a malicious rape scene in the reader’s mind. This signifies his truly thoughtless view on life. Wealtheow is innocent, and the only reason he wants to kill her is because the king likes her. It is very apparent that Grendel has this strong sense of nihilism embedded in every thought that comes across his mind.

The dragon also can be thought of as a nihilistic being in the novel. The dragon is omnipotent and omniscient, but has no real purpose in the novel with what he talks about to Grendel. Everything the dragon says is fabricated just to make Grendel believe