Grendel QUIZ
1. How is Grendel structured? How does this structure impact the themes?
2. Grendel is fiction based on another fiction. How does this affect the meaning of Grendel?
3. Why does Grendel like what he hears from the Dragon?
4. Who is the Shaper?
a. Hart is his real name.
5. Who is the narrator in the story?
6. From what point of view is the story told?
7. Describe the voice of the narrator. What is his tone?
8. What is Grendel’s purpose in life? Why?
9. Describe the relationship between Grendel and his mother in the cave.
10. How does the author Gardner use humor in the story?
11. How long is the battle between Grendel and the humans?
12. When Grendel is trapped in the tree, what do the humans think that he is?
a. A tree spirit
13. What advice does the dragon give to Grendel?
a. Find gold and sit on it
b. The dragon’s name is Breca.
14. How does Grendel reach the dragon?
a. His mother tells him where he lives.
15. According to Grendel, how does Beowulf manage to defeat him?
a. Grendel contends that it is only an accident
b. Grendel suggests that he is not prepared for the fight.
16. Where do Grendel and his mother live?
17. What does Grendel throw at Unferth in the meadhall?
a. Apples
18. Where does the story end?
a. Grendel finds himself at the edge of the same cliff as in Chapter 1.
Name _______________________________________ Date _______________________ Period ______________
Folder#
QUIZ on Chapters 1-4 in Grendel by John Gardner
Short Answer- Write the character’s name who fits the description.
______________________________ 1. “a man I cannot help but admire, goes out the back window with his harp at
a single bound, though blind as a bat” (12).
______________________________ 2. “”She was as deadlooking as a red-gray old sea-elephant stretched on the
shore of a summer day” (56).
______________________________ 3. “He would build a magnificent meadhall high on a hill, with a view of the
western sea, a victory-seat near the giant’s work, old ruined fortress from the world’s first
war…”(47).
______________________________ 4. “She was pitiful, foul, her smile a jagged white tear in the firelight: waste”
(55).
MULTIPLE CHOICE Write the correct answer on the line provided.
___________ 5. Paraphrase what Grendel is saying in the following lines: “It was a cold-blooded lie that a god
had lovingly made the world and set out the sun and moon as lights to land-dwellers, that brothers
had fought, that one of the races was saved, the other cursed” (55).
A. Grendel only believes that Jesus saved the world.
B. Grendel is realistic and does not believe in god.
C. Grendel does not think that the world is divided into the saved and the cursed by god.
D. Grendel used to be a Christian, but is now questioning his truths.
___________ 6. Who is the storyteller?
A. Hart
B. The Shaper
C. A blind prophet
D. All of the Above
E. None of the Above
___________ 7. Describe the voice of the narrator.
A. Omniscient and honest
B. Irreverent and 1st person
C. Snide and 2nd person
D. Cunning and Objective
___________ 8. When Grendel is caught between the two trees, what do the men think he is?
A. A fungus
B. A tree spirit
C. Both A and B
D. None of the Above
___________ 9. “I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist” (22).
With which of the following philosophies does Grendel’s statement best align?
A. Nihilism
B. Christianity
C. Atheism
D. Existentialism
___________ 10. Why does Grendel terrorize Hrothgar’s meadhall?
A. Because he threw a battle-axe at him.
B. He was angry at the arrogance of such a wealthy king.
C. It gave him something to do, purpose for the 12-year war.
D. Grendel was sickened by their violence and felt it his cause to correct them.