Truth

                Grendel has very mixed feelings when he hears the Shaper’s songs.  The first time he hears them, he is so overwhelmed that he begins to cry, yet he still goes back to see the Shaper.  Grendel listens to the Shaper because even though he has no beliefs in relation to religion, he still wants to find emotional and spiritual satisfaction.

                Throughout the story, Grendel is torn between the things in life that he knows are true, and the things in life that he wants to be true.  Grendel knows his world to be a “mechanical” place that has no pattern or laws, and he knows that all the ideas that the Shaper sings about are not true, but because he is isolated from all of the animals and humans, he wants it to be true. 

                Grendel wants to feel welcomed and he wants to believe what the Shaper is saying, but this all changes after he meets with the dragon.  The dragon tells Grendel how the Shaper is not telling the truth, and how the world and future is all set, and there is no such thing as a God.  Grendel does not want to believe him, but he has no choice.  After the meeting with the dragon, he comes to the reality, “It’s one thing to listen, full of scorn and doubt…it’s another to know what is.” (pg. 75) Grendel listens to the dragon, and finally realizes that what the Shaper teaches and sings is not true.