As said in class, Franz Kafka wrote this novel to portray the literal meaning of a metamorphosis. Rather than just using a metaphor to represent the insignificance of a bug's life, Kafka turned Gregor into an actual bug. Any person can judge another's life and conclude that he or she is living a meaningless life. But, the art of this novel gives the reader a perspective into the life of a bug and rather than just telling us what to think or what to feel, we, the reader, get to make our conclusions about Gregor and the life he is living. The purpose of this novel is not apparent at first, but I have come to get the understanding Kafka is making an example of what he has observed in his lifetime and what we should do to make our lives better.
Gregor is a man who works as a traveling salesman whose only job is to do his job no matter the circumstances. You would think with the as much commitment as Gregor put forth, he would get treated better than he did. One of the men from his company came to check on Gregor and find out his reason for not coming to work. It felt like the man came to catch Gregor and treated him as a culprit and not as a valued employee. Because Gregor is just another number in the company, his insignificance is exposed. Gregor's job may be Kafka's way of criticizing his society by pointing out the amount of importance which is set on a job and what many people get in return. Living life is sometimes not very apparent in everyone's life, which should be in order to be sane and not to become as insignificant as a bug, and in this case, Gregor.
Gregor's relationship with his family is not very good, according to our judgment. His only purpose is to provide the money for his family to continue living. Even after he dies and his family moves on, it seems as though they are happier. Gregor never really stood up for himself. He let himself become the person who everyone controls. When Gregor was turned into a bug, he became totally useless. Everyone had to do everything for him. The tides were turned and he was the one who needed help, yet his family feared him and in the end, did not help him out. For more than five years Gregor helped his family in any way possible despite his hopes and dreams, he had to work. I feel as though he did have dreams, and he is trying to live them through his sister, the violinist. Gregor tries and tries to be happy, but his insignificance as a bug continues to his death. Gregor lived a life that was not very pleasing to him, and would in no way possible be pleasing to me.
The Metamorphosis on the surface a very strange story, but when we dig a little deeper we can see Kafka’s art of portraying his life observations and showing us what we can do to not become a man like Gregor. We need to make our life more than just a job. We need to live and live for ourselves, rather than always trying to please everyone else.
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1 comment:
Manley--you said, "We need to live and live for ourselves, rather than always trying to please everyone else." As you often do, you read this as a kind of cautionary tale, treating it as a kind of warning against what can happen when people either don't treat each other the right way or, in this case, don't treat themselves the right way. I think this is one of the strengths of your approach as a reader, to bring your own values and beliefs to bear on the stories we are reading. Thanks.
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