John Gardner's novel Grendel begins in the twelfth year of Grendel's terrorizing of Hrothgar and Heorot, and perhaps the best phrase to describe his tone is defiant rage. 

Grendel is mad at everything: the time of year, an old ram standing on a cliff, the weather, and particularly the fact that he is beginning the twelfth year of his "idiotic war. The pain of it! The stupidity!" One of his first actions in the novel best expresses his rage. Grendel says:

"I...

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