People believe in things. They believe strongly. And when those beliefs are broken, they often feel personally betrayed by that. This is the idea expressed in John Gardner's Grendel. In this story, Gardner illustrates what can happen when everything a person believes is challenged and how they may react to that.

Grendel, in this story, represents the common man. He is not overly intelligent, but nor is he stupid. He illustrates human emotions and thought processes. The Shaper, as well as many of the "human" characters represent the belief in God, and the dragon represents the idea of atheism. In the beginning, Grendel believes in the power of the Shaper. He is moved by ... Showed first 120 words of 855 Size (words) ...

... Continuing with another 115 out of 855 Size (words) ...ignorance. There are several choices to make in that situation. One is to simply move on in your life, and the other is to make it your mission to bring everyone up to your level, no matter the emotional pain it causes them. The latter is the route chosen by Grendel, as well as many others in society. Terrorists are an extreme example of this. They feel that they are the only ones aware of some sort of corruption in society and use violence to bring this taint to the attention of everyone around them. To many, this may seem like a ludicrous mind set, but to those ...Essay still continues 100 more words...