AP Lit/Comp Summer Reading Assignment
Over Grendel by John Gardner
Directions: The first major work you will read in AP Lit/Comp next school year will be the epic poem Beowulf. This summer you will read the novel
Grendel, written by John Gardner; the book is a modern rendering of some of the events from Beowulf. We will discuss both Grendel and Beowulf in class. After you read Grendel this summer, you will pick seven of the following journal prompts. You must write a two-hundred word response for each topic. As you write, consider the diction (word choice) and syntax
(sentence structure) you are using. Avoid using just simple vocabulary and sentence structures. Be sure to use at least one quotation from the book in each of your journals. We will collect the seven reading logs on Friday,
August 8.
1. Discuss Grendel’s relationship with his mother.
2. The definition of nihilism is “a viewpoint that existence is senseless and
useless.” Defend, refute, or qualify the assertion by some critics that the book reveals Gardner’s nihilism.
3. Explore the emotions of love and hate that Grendel feels for Hrothgar.
4. How do you think the reader is supposed to view Unferth? Defend your
answer.
5. Pick two or three comments from the dragon and Grendel ’s conversation,
and discuss them.
6. Discuss the part that you believe the stone gods play in the novel.
7. Compare/contrast Grendel with a human.
8. When school starts, you will read the epic poem Beowulf, named after the
main character. The stranger who arrives near the end of the novel is
Beowulf. After finishing the novel, explain your first impressions of
Beowulf.

9. Dis cuss Grendel’s acts of violence. Compare/contrast Grendel’s
acts of violence and oth ers’ acts of violence.
10. Explore the family dynamics and resulting implications between
Hrothgar, Wealtheow, their sons, and Hrothulf.
11. How and why did your opinion of Grendel change from the beginning of
the book to the end?
12. Grendel was first published in 1971. The Anglo-Saxon period lasted
from 449-1066 A.D. Examine Gardner’s portray al of the role women
played in the Anglo-Saxon period.
13. Discuss how the book’s setting s help to develop the tone of the
book.
14. When John Gardner was eleven, he accidentally killed his younger
brother by running over him with a piece of heavy farm machinery. How
are Gardner ’s probable feelings about this accident reflected in the
book?
15. According to Gardner’s interpretation, what role does the Shaper play
in Anglo-Saxon society? How does the Shaper impact Grendel?