Spiritual Growth in Gardener's Grendel and Hesse's Siddhartha A mythical beast who finds meaning in killing and a questioning wanderer who cannot find meaning in killing be: Both John Gardener's Grendel and Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha grow up and develop spiritually, yet their authors use very different styles to convey these changes. John Gardner's revolutionary style is not encompassed by a single genre; instead, he mixes first-person narrative and different literary styles to give the "Ruiner of Meadhalls" a unique voice. The use of first-person narration is essential to convey Grendel's spiritual growth. Were it not for Grendel's often self-deprecating tone, which varies from mocking - "great shaggy monster intense and serious, bent like a priest in his prayers" (72) - to bitter and cynical - "I, Grendel, was the side dark . The terrible race cursed by God" (51) - It would be impossible to identify with Grendel. Even Grendel's bouts of madness - (whisper, whisper. Has Grendel occurred to you, my dear, that you are mad?)" are easily understandable. Grendel varies from the simple, childish tone of "'Why can't I have someone to speak A? The Shaper has people to talk to" (53) to the dense philosophical metaphors and complex diction of Grendel's conversation with the dragon. Gardener gives Grendel a deliberately innocent voice to illustrate both the monster's feelings of lost youth and his progression into a monster. be more sentient." I think I was almost prepared, in my dark, demented state, to see God, bearded and gray as geometry, frowning at me, wagging his bloodless finger. (53)The nihilistic dragon does not agree with the humanization of Grendel, contemptuously considering men a......middle of paper......world, not to despise him, not to hate us, but so that we may view the world, ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect.' (147)Siddhartha progresses from an aloof and slightly arrogant young man, not unlike young Grendel, to a wise and contented man. The central difference between John Gardener's Grendel and Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, both stories of spiritual growth and development, is not thematic. Instead, vast differences in tone and language make it easy to empathize with the self-deprecating monster and the simple, detached soul-searching wanderer. Despite their stylistic differences, both works stand out as examples of philosophical and spiritual evolution. Works Cited Gardner, John. Grendel. 1971; rpt. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. Hesse, Herman. Siddhartha. Dover Publications, 1998.