It allows him to hear the war drum that forces him to kill. The acute silence makes the narrator so uncomfortable, he must make the old man scream. The narrator thinks that only killing the old man will make all of the surrounding noises disappear
Yessssssssss this is correct!
I believe the answer is: B. To show that Grendel cannot rely on nature for protection
In the story, Grendel perceive that he is blessed by protection from the nature which would always help him in all of his troubles. But when he somehow got his foot stucked in a tree in front of a bull and when he cried and scream for help from the nature, he did not receive any answer.
non sequitur is the correct answer