Grendel by John Gardner
Chapter 2 Part 2

 

Grendel wakes in the darkness to catch his first glimpse of men. Surprisingly, they speak Grendel’s own language, though it sounds strange. The men baffled as to what this strange creature in the oak tree might be. At first they think Grendel is a kind of fungus, but then they decide he must be a tree spirit.They further resolve that the spirit is hungry, that it eats pig, and that they must feed it. Grendel overjoyed at the prospect of the food, and he laughs out loud. The humans take this laugh a sign that the spirit is angry, and they starts to attack Grendel.Grendel tries to communicate with the humans, but they do not understand his words. As Grendel watches them plan their attack, he realizes that the humans are no dull-witted animals, but thinking, pattern-making beings, and therefore more dangerous than any creatures he has far encountered.Just as Grendel feels he will fall to the humans, his mother arrives to save him.

I really liked how John Gardner describes the mother. It saids "She came roaring down like thunder, screaming like a thousand  hurricanes, eyes as bright as dragonfire, and before she was within a mile of us, the creatures(humans) had leaped to their horses and galloped away." The similie it is used helps image the mother.

Grendel wakes up in his mother’s cave. He tries to share his revelation about the nature of existence with her, but she only stares blankly at him. Grendel becomes more and more agitated at his mother’s unresponsiveness, and she reacts by rushing to embrace her son. Grendel is sickened with fear, and feels he is suffocating in his mother’s mass.