Misunderstood In Grendel

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At some point in their lives everyone has been misunderstood. No one would know this better than the creature Grendel. Grendel is the monster that the heroic Beowulf slayed in the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf. He is also the protagonist in the novel, Grendel by John Gardner, which tells the Beowulf story from Grendel’s point of view. In the second chapter of the novel, Grendel decides he will go adventuring outside the his mother's den and enters the world of man. Whilst on his trip outside Grendel encounters humans who misunderstand everything about him. I too have experienced being misunderstood, because to err is human. Many times people misinterpret the things we say or do, which is exactly what happened to me. Like the creature from John Gardner’s, Grendel, I too have…show more content…
I completely understand exactly what Grendel went through and how it felt to have people get the wrong impression of you. The fall semester of my sophomore year I was nominated by my teachers to compete to be the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) Ambassador from Wayne County High School. Out of twenty or so of my peers my entry essay had the highest score, so the following May I went to Berry college in Rome, GA for the HOBY Leadership Seminar. While at HOBY they split us into teams that we remained with until the seminar ended. In all honesty I wasn't so thrilled to be there. I am really grateful for the experience now, but that weekend was the first time I had been away from home on my own. That said, I was quiet and nervous until the last day of the seminar. Due to my shyness around them, most of my teammates thought I was cold and disconnected and I am not that way at all. One of them even called me a “Negative Nelly” all weekend because my humor is dark and he did not understand it at all. He thought I was just being mean. In all honesty I was just trying to interact with him because I felt like I wasn't being social at

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