Time and Insignificance

One of the major themes in this novel is the power struggle within Grendel. He always wants to be in control and is unable to accept the human belief that they are in control. When listening in on one of their gatherings during his teenage years, Gardner writes, "The song swells, pushes through woods and sky, and they're singing now as if by some lunatic theory they had won. I shake with rage. The red sun blinds me, churns up my belly to nausea, and the heat thrown out of the bonfire burns my skin. I cringe, clawing my flesh" (14). Clearly, Grendel does not respond well to the idea that he may not be the one in power, or the winner. Grendel becomes angry when he discovers that the world does not revolve around him, much like humans do. Mankind, similar to Grendel, believes that he is the center of the universe and any belief contrary to that is simply unacceptable. Both humans and Grendel alike are, however, insignificant to the universe as a whole because of the small part of it that they represent. Unfortunately, this fact is unsettling. Humans want to believe that they have the power and are the center of the universe because it is a comforting thought. For example when a friend is going through a hard time, one would likely say something along the lines of "everything is going to be ok" in an effort to comfort and reassure them. One would never say, "your right, your life is falling apart" because that does not comfort the friend in need. Humans need to know that they have everything under control in order to feel at peace. Uncertainty is one of the most frightening things, and the universe is filled with it. Believing that they are the center of the universe gives humans a level of comfort and, ultimately, allows them to live without fear of the unkown and be productive members of society.

When I read your question I immediately thought of a novel I recently finished: Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut writes: "All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I've said before, bugs in amber." (Vonnegut 109) As you can interpret from the quote, all time exists as a sole entity. Every moment of time is linked indefinitely to every other, past and future. In reality, we are no more insignificant than the infinitely small particles that compose us. The question should not be whether our time of life is insignificant or not, but rather if time, or existence in general, is significant at all. To put this in perspective with Grendel, I will talk about the Dragon. The Dragon speaks: "In all discussions of Nature, we must try to remember the differences of scale, and in particular the differences of time-span. We are apt to take modes of observable functioning in our bodies as setting an absolute scale. But as a matter of fact, it's extremely rash to extend conclusions derived from observation far beyond the scale of magnitude to which the observations was confined. For example, the apparent absence of change within a second of time tells nothing as to the change within a thousand years. Also, no appearance of change within a thousand years tells anything concerning what might happen in, say, a million years; and no apparent change within a million years tells anything about a million million years. We can extend this progression indefinitely ; there is no absolute standard of magnitud. Any term in this progression is large compared to tis predecessor and small compared to its successor." (Gardner 66) The Dragon (who I have likened to the Tralfamadorians in Slaughterhouse-Five with his ability to see all moments of time) states that one small instance of time makes no comparison to some larger instance of time, and that that larger instance of time also makes comparison to an even larger future instance of time. Simply, a human lifespan is no more significant than a span of, say, a million years. Time is just time, it exists as one sole body of existence, and every moment is just as significant as the last. I think that Grendel's last statement in the story displays the nihilistic view that all time is worthless. "Poor Grendel's had an accident...So may you all." (Gardner 173) What I believe that Grendel is realizing here is that life, and existence and time as a whole, is nothing but a vast collection of accidents. Every event spurs another, then another, and another, and so on, where in the end, none of it really matters. As it turns out (according to this belief) our lives are nothing but one insignificant piece in one massive and totally insignificant pile of dominoes.

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