Nihilism

meaning and purpose to our lives. Our lives are simply meaningless and lack the capacity to become anything new. Nietzsche stressed that without a sole purpose of living, we would create a new world built on weakness and comfort. He also foresaw that nihilism might lead to radical nationalism, causing horrific wars. Nietzsche’s aim was to create a new society and system of values which are centered around out needs. For Nietzsche, this new society and system of values should be brought out…

believed in nihilism, which is a philosophy that rejects all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless. This perspective on the world is continued, in the novel Grendel, by John Gardner, as the main character Grendel goes through different philosophies, from solipsism to nihilism. Grendel displays a nihilistic philosophy throughout the novel and ultimately this philosophy leaves him purposeless and plagues him with habitual boredom, therefore Grendel’s nihilism…

author draws out influence from sources such as poverty, the Bible and Nihilism. And these intellectual ideas and the physical condition affect the characters, the plot and many other aspects of the novel. In the novel Crime and Punishment, the Bible influenced the author to create characters that are similar to biblical characters. For instance one of the characters in the novel Crime and Punishment that is influenced…

life and the unreasonable theories the humans come up with to explain how the world works, the Dragon is to one to give Grendel the push to embrace his monster identity and make murder his reason for living. The Dragon’s philosophy is existential nihilism, in which one believes life is meaningless and pointless. At the beginning of his lectures, the Dragon talked to Grendel about how all life on Earth will eventually die, so anything they do in life will not have any importance or impact in…

(Gardner 80). While, Grendel may feel he is finding meaning in his world, in actuality, he is actively becoming more distant from any meaning other than being evil for the sake of being evil. Although Grendel enjoys nihilism for a while, Beowulf’s arrival is the end of nihilism. While the Dragon made Grendel believe that nothing has any meaning, Beowulf teaches Grendel that “the world will burn green, sperm build again." ( Gardner 170). This part of the novel is significant because it teaches…

The Nurture Assumption by psychologist Judith Rich Harris outlines her discovery that the main influences on human children are their peers. The Grendel in Grendel by John Gardner may not be entirely human, but in this novel, we see that Grendel is vastly influenced by the other characters. Throughout Grendel’s life, his character and actions are affected by what he learns from his limited interactions and human observations. Grendel is negatively influenced by the dragon and the humans. The…

In this paper I will be sharing a handful of theories that I have studied. I will also compare and contrast some of the theories. The first theory that I came across was the theory of Moral Nihilism, also called ethical nihilism. Moral Nihilism is the belief that there are no moral truths. Moral nihilism would be consistent with an atheistic, materialistic worldview with no transcendent being who informs us about what is right and wrong as a revelation of his character. People who hold to this…

“The Open Boat” Research Paper In the short story “The Open Boat”, Stephen Crane depicts the tale of four crewmen, hours after a disaster that destroyed their ship and left them sailing in treacherous waters aboard a life boat, trying to make it back to shore alive. The characters in the story share the same drive for survival and work beyond exhaustion to achieve their seemingly impossible goal to sail the boat onto a Cuban beach while being assaulted by the forces of nature. The Correspondent,…

meaningless violence and destruction. Berserker, momento mori, and comitatus are continued in both the novel and the epic. Nihilism, as well as existentialism, Anglo-Saxon culture, and a host of other philosophies are boldly explored in Grendel, a novel by John Gardner, and Beowulf, an epic poem. There are countless philosophies and thoughts in Grendel, the two he satirizes the most are nihilism and existentialism. The “evil” monster Grendel begins life, as an existentialist. He leaves his…

The world is full of different philosophical views on life. Nihilism and existentialism and the two viewpoints discussed in the novel Grendel by John Gardner. Both viewpoints have origins tied with philosopher Soren Kierkgaard, but to say that nihilism and existentialism are the same thing would be incorrect. Existentialism posits that the individual takes ultimate responsibility for his/her existence, and that their actions determine their fate. On the other hand a nihilistic person would say…