Grendel's self image changes throughout the story because the effect that some characters that they take upon Grendel’s personality. Grendel’s mother has had an effect on him through the story, he's had a soft spot when it comes to his own mother. For example, “ Of all the creatures i knew, in those days only my mother really looked at me” (Gardner 17). Grendel is hideous, no one really pays attention to him. He's too ugly too look at, people get scared when they see him because of the way he looks. Although, he feels loved by his mother, that's always there for him when hes has no one to turn too. He says “ She loved me, in some mysterious sense I understood without her speaking it” (Gardner 17). She the only person that helps him when he's