Choose one from the following questions to write an essay (250-300 words). Cite texts to support your argument.
1)What did Kafka try to express through the metamorphosis of Gregor Samsa?
2)What is the central theme of "First Sorrow"? Compare it to the same theme in "A Hunger Artist."
3) Compare and contrast Kafka's punishment fantasies in "In the Penal Colony" with CJ Chen's aesthetic of horror.
4) In Winesburg, Ohio, communication is failed because the feminine qualities of tenderness, intimacy, creativity, and vulnerability are devalued in a patriarchal culture in which femininity is regarded as weakness. Analyze any story that manifests this thwarted feminine dimension of life. How does Anderson suggest that an integration of the feminine qualities is necessary for the artist?
28 comments:
Q1
In my opinion, this work implies a lot of important issues, and most of them center on Gregor's relationships with people and his belief toward things.
The attitude of Gregor’s family signifies that people care more material things than the spiritual ones. Before Gregor's matamorphosis, he already lived under big pressure of paying off debts and supporting his family. It seems that his existence is simply to earn money for the family, as we can observe from the attitude of his family in his first transformed day. After Gregor's matamorphosis, his family treats him without mercy and fairness. They can't accept Gregor's physical change, though deep inside he has a human heart. Toward the end, Gregor turns out to be a shadow or disaster in his family, as a result, when Gregor dies, his family somehow feels a sense of relief, as the story reads:" It was like a confirmation of their new dreams.” I think it’s an irony that those people who should support Gregor end up becoming those who hurt him the most. Although his family doesn’t change forms, their matamorphosis is the most profound one. As far as I am concerned, Gregor’s metamorphosis from man to cockroach represents his oppression in the reality and the incoherence between his mind and body.
It's a story shows the struggle in a thoughtful man. It's a tragic; when I read this story, I can feel Gregor's sense of helplessness and lost.
In Kafka’s The metamorphosis, the protagonist Gregor transformed into one of the ugliest and unpleasant insects on earth without knowing the reason one morning when he woke up. Due to his transformation, his family has transformed greatly psychologically speaking, too. However, the ironic difference is that, while Gregor was turned into an ugly insect, his heart still maintained kind and humane while his family whom still was humans transformed into being heartless, cruel and inhumane.
Due to Gregor’s transformation, the ugly side of human nature is shown clearly. Before turning into an insect, Gregor was the economic resource of his family, working hard to pay off his father’s debt. For him being a good son, it seemed like everything was good and that he had a nice family. However, as soon as Gregor became “useless”, as in not being able to make money for his family, these family members who used to live under his hard work, turned their back on him instead of giving the love and support that he needed and deserved. And when Gregor’s boss found out his responsible employee-Gregor who was never late was late the day he turned into an insect, the first thing came to his mind was not worrying about his safety.
I believe Kafka wrote this story to criticize the indifference and ugliness of human nature in the modern Capitalism world. In the modern society, people focus nearly all their lives on making money, pursuing for material things and humanity seems to be reduced day after day. I personally like this work a lot because I sense when this world is all about making money and pursuing for material things, what could be left among us? This story may be an exaggeration, but I think you never know how even the closest people to you would treat you if one day you can no longer ‘function’ in this society’s standard. Consequently, my viewpoint on the modern world is the same as Kafka: it is sad, dark and cold.
Q4
In the story “Mother”, we can see clearly that the feminine qualities are devalued in such a patriarchal culture. In the story, Elizabeth’s husband seems to hate her so much that he “tried to put the wife out of his mind” because “when he thought of her he grew angry and swore.” He preaches to his son not to act like a “gawky girl” and tells him that he is not a fool and he is not a woman. He thinks reporter should not be a man’s job and man should be more ambitious. From what he says to his son we can see how he devaluate women.
Besides, Elizabeth is a very depressed woman who is hated by her husband and she is also a depressed mother who has a stiff relationship with her son, George Willard. We can see clearly from the description “The communion between George Willard and his mother was outwardly a formal thing without meaning” the relationship between Elizabeth and her son is very uncomfortable that they frequently sit together for long periods of time without talking.
Contrast with her life after marriage, she once was a girl who “had been what is called “stage-struck””; however, she gives up her dream for her family without getting anything she deserves. All she faces is ignorance and hatred. We can see from this part that Elizabeth is actually very artistic, full of the feminine qualities of tenderness, intimacy, creativity, and vulnerability, but reality forces her to abandon her dream.
49702048 Dalia
Q1
The metamorphosis of Gregor Samsa reveals the “common” phenomena under the capital society. As we see in the story, when Gregor Samsa was changed into a gigantic insect, the first one he concerns about was not his metamorphosis but his late for work. This indicates that in the capital society how much one can earn is very vital to one’s life; in other words, if one doesn’t have job and can’t earn lot of money, the person will be view as useless. It seems that under the capital society, money is the only way to valuate individuality. As Gregor Samsa was late for the work, his chief clerk came to him to rush him to work. The chief didn’t care about the health condition of Gregor Samsa; however, he only concerned about whether Gregor Samsa goes to work or not. In addition, the way Gregor Samsa interacts with family and people are not very intimate. Gregor Samsa doesn’t have closed friends; people he knew are casual acquaintances. Also, his family were not truly care about him when they found he become an insect. By the metamorphosis of Gregor Samsa, it reveals the relationship between people are remote and things are valued from the figures they present under the capital society.
49602029 Joanne
Q2
The characters and the place are the same in these two short stories (“The hunger artist” and the “First Sorrow.”) Kafka seems like to elaborate his thought by “Circus troupe,” I think it is a special technique of him. Kafka is a He is that sort of writer who sees clearly and understands thoroughly about human nature. Although he only had several years to write those works, most of these stories are definitely masterpieces.
Both of these two works are show the disaffection of common customs, it seems to want to ask all of us that what is the thing we really care about? Is the fresh impaction? Or is the general desire (food, sex, money, power…etc.)? The Hunger Artist expresses his art with the intense way─fast, in front of everybody.
People were surprise and had interest to him, but after a little leopard came, everything was different. No one care about him, even his death and his body. On the other hand, the trapeze artist is said to be dedicated solely to perfecting his art. No one care about his life, the only thing they concern about is the “interest” which is a fresh visual impaction. Any simple, fresh thing could easily substitute for these artists. I think Kafkais definitely left some subjects for us, which need us to ponder the answer.
I think Kafka was trying to express some specific issues related to modern people’s life and his own life experiences through The Metamorphosis. The role’s relationships in this novel are kind of similar to Kafka’s family background. The novel’s plot reveals the values of today’s society: if people do not have a good job or cannot earn much money, they would be valued as useless and ranked lower. At first Gregor is able to get along with his family well, but after his metamorphosis, all the situations have changed.
At the first morning when Gregor becomes an insect, his manager comes to his home to find out the reason for his being late on work. The manager does not care about what has happened to Gregor at all but criticize him that Gregor should not be absent, because it makes their company lose much money due to Gregor’s absence. Also, his family members do not treat him like before and are not willing to talk to him anymore. They do not even care that it is Gregor who brings home the bacon to keep them alive, instead they do not give him food after Greogor’s metamorphosis and even attack him by throwing things as killing a disgusting insect. What they would truly care about Gregor is, money. It is kind of ugly but surely it is the main value through all the capital societies we live, and that might be one of the points that Kafka want to express though this novel.
In “Paper Pills,” the young dead wife of Doctor Reefy suffered from unhappiness before she married him. After her parents died, she inherited their fortune, and a bunch of suitors began to show up. Among them, there were two man who are alike and unlike each other. One talks about virginity all the time, and makes her sick. “Beneath his talk of virginity she began to think there was a lust greater than in all the others. At times it seemed to her that as he talked he was holding her body in his hands.” She felt disrespected by all the words that man said, but she didn’t say due to her tenderness. Therefore, she ended up pregnant with the other guy who tried to drag her to the dark and kissed her every time they met. We could know that the father of the child didn’t take the responsibility otherwise the girl wouldn’t go to Doctor Reefy. “After the tall dark girl came to know Doctor Reefy it seemed to her that she never wanted to leave him again. She went into his office one morning and without her saying anything he seemed to know what had happened to her.” Doctor Reefy knew the pain of the girl and her vulnerability, also, her needs of intimate relations, which touched the girl.
In “Mother,” it deals with the marriage issue. Elizabeth suffered from unpleasant marriage. All these years, her hatred toward her husband didn’t decrease but became something normal. She cared nothing but her son George. She constrained herself from her dislike of her husband. In other words, she sacrificed herself because she used to be a fan of adventure and excitement and she gave up all of that. Not until her husband had a serious lecture to her son about his future did she break out her anger. We can see that woman can lose lots of things during marriage, and they are usually considered as the weak ones.
Being an artist is often neglected and spurned by the others including their family, especially their father because it requires feminine traits, such as sensibility, intimacy, and without the burden and expectations of the family. Like George in “Mother,” his father wanted him to be “tough like a man” while Elizabeth tried to tell her son to do anything he liked, to fulfill things he wanted to fulfill because she didn’t get the chance to do her own, so she didn’t want her son to follow the same path like she did. “Something father said makes it sure that I shall have to go away.” It seems like going far away from one’s home is a road that every artist must go through.
In The Metamorphosis, Kafka presented an extremely impossible situation(a man’s transformation into an insect and his unusually clam reaction to the change) in a way that we can actually imagine it happening to ourselves in real life. With verisimilitude and excessive attention to detail, he rather cut off its possibility of being just a dream or a fantasy which forced the reader to look for deeper meanings within the story and further to reflect on the status quo relating to all of us in the modern society.
At the very first, Gregor seems to view his metamorphosis as nothing but a slight indisposition, something he remembered and had proved “purely imaginary” or “the morning’s delusion” that will “gradually fall away” before he can make it to his work again. When he notes the change in his voice, he also attributes it to “the precursor of a severe chill” which he takes as “a standing ailment of commercial travelers.” Still, his attention is directed mainly towards his surroundings, his job, and his family, not at all towards the fact that he is no longer a human being. One the one hand, Gregor’s seemingly unawareness of his physical change gives the impression that his focus is entirely on his work and his family to the extent of ignoring his own self. Gregor’s failure to realize the importance of his transformation can be seen, on the other hand, as a reflection of his former state that he has long been alienated from his own body and even his humanity without awareness. The truth is that the identification between his own self and human body is never established under the condition of his enslavement to the forces of materialism in the modern world.
Being trapped helplessly in a giant, cold shell which he takes no control over and driven to work long hours in a meaningless job around people who do not care about others, just like Gregor, modern people seem to live a dehumanizing and ineffectual existence. As a “normal” productive member of the capitalistic system, you must think of nothing but work only. However, once you are no longer able to devote yourself to the society and incapable of making money, you will become completely repulsive and insignificant, be isolated from everything you had, and even be deprived of the right to live. I think the metamorphosis is a powerful image that Kafka used to highlight such indictment of the alienation brought on by the modern social order.
The trapeze artist is a person adheres to the purity of art. At first, the trapeze artist didn’t come down the trapeze only because he wanted to improve his skill, but later, he enjoys staying in higher place. He never came down from his trapeze by night or day.
Even in railway journeys, the trapeze artist passes the time up on the luggage rack. Staying in higher place becomes a strange habit that cannot be changed. Most of the time he’s lonely, and this kind of life style had changed his personality. He becomes emotional; the manager agreed to give him two trapezes for his performance but he still burst into tears and said his demand again. His insistence on art has made his behavior go beyond normal and inconceivable.
Like the trapeze artist, what the hunger artist had done also extremely crazy. Human needs to get nutrition from food to maintain our body, but he refused to eat just because he wanted to keep himself to stay in the art of hunger. They both have their own interpretations toward art. They think the job they are doing is an art skill that they need to treasure and practice all the time. Thus they are always doing their performance, no matter they have custom or not. They insist on doing what they think is correct to maintain the art. Even though the persistence they insisted on had harmed them physically and mentally, they still trust art is something important and should be live by.
Q1
In my opinion, Kafka tried to express a relationship between human beings and the value of human beings, and also, a relationship between people at that time and capitalism. Kafka made Gregor Samsa transformed into a kind of “disgusting thing” to create a feeling of alienation between the main character and the universal. To me, Kafka was trying to convince the readers that the most important value of human beings are self-consciousness and self-approval, and these could be realized as “existence”. For example, Gregor Samsa couldn’t go work, so he was regarded by his boss as useless, only because he was unable to make money. Under a capitalistic society, what makes person valuable is the ability of making money. Gregor Samsa lost the ability, so it means he lost his own value at the same time.
The reason why human beings are different from other species is that they find the meaning and value of themselves for living. Once the meaning and value disappear, like Gregor Samsa in the novel, the inner side of human beings disappears, too. Just as Gregor Samsa, he lost his “normal appearance”, which meant that “looks like a mankind”, he was isolated by his family; he fell out of connection to outside environment and other people. Even his dearest family abandoned him at the end of the story. Finally, he chose to die.
From another different perspective, I think Kafka might also try to express an opinion that many families could be bombarded with health-caring stuff, such as taking care of the elderly, or someone who is seriously sick, their love toward the patients would pass away by time. Even if the people on the bed are beloved families, people could still lose their patience and concern; eventually, people’s love decay.
Through what Kafka was trying to express, people could make an introspection of personal existence and personal value again and again.
49602009 Zark
By the metamorphosis of Gregor’s body, Kafka not only criticizes the alienation caused by urbanization and capitalism, but also emphasizes the existential problem of human.
From the straight and clear description in the very beginning of the story, we can find out that there are no further or previous details about Gregor’s body transformation. The metamorphosis comes up without any signs, and it seems like it can happen at any time or any place. It makes me think of my own apartment. I hardly know my neighbors’ names and rarely have any interactions between them. If I woke up one day and found myself turn into an insect, it must be just like a wasp living in a huge cellular.
After Gregor’s first time late for work, his parents and sister start to question and pay attention on this unpleasant incident. Even Gregor’s manager comes to visit him just because his absent for his work. In these sections, I think Kafka is challenging the things which people take it for granted and gradually become numb about. During that time, capitalism indeed affected most people’s value and made money the most important things of all kinds. Therefore, when a piece of gear was missing and made the whole money-making system ran even just a little slower, no excuses are allowed. That’s the reason why Gregors’s parents who are usually relatively indifferent to him become so concerned about him.
At the end of the story, Gregor come into a epiphany that only his dead can save his whole family. His family is also relieved and everything seems to be more beautiful than before right after Gregor’s death. The ironic ending points out that the meaning of being alive is also being isolated and can never wins understanding. Just like Gregor, nobody cares about whether he is still worry about his family till the moment he died.
The meaning Anderson gives to the characters of women and to the qualities of the feminine is an important source of unity in Winesburg, Ohio. In the prologue the stories, there is an old writer with a young thing inside (the woman inside) is actually a life force, passion in life, the anima (the feminine qualities in a male). Only the artist holding feminine perspective, the artist can observe a pervasive existence of a fragile, hidden "something" that patriarchal culture views as grotesques and tries to devalue. To be brief, that is the qualities to see the real truths.
In Mother, the way Tom Willard treats to his son is the exactly example that the patriarchal culture taught man to be¬-act like a man rather than “gawky girl.” And the way he think of his wife is like a projection to reveal how hard he fights to let shadow of feminine quality out of his territory. He considers his wife (the inner feminine qualities) as ghostly figure that he even “tried to put the wife out of his mind.” However, the shadow comes all along, he “fearing that the spirit of the hotel and of the woman would follow him even into street.”
As to Elizabeth Willard, before she yielded to patriarchy system (marriage), she is young, creative, and imaginative with dreams. But after being tortured, upset by the masculine culture, she end up in a weak, listless, hopeless situation which is ironic obeyed patriarchal standard of femininity.
In the story “hands”, Wing Biddlebaum is a guy who has some feminine qualities. He is tender and sensitive. The feeling between him and his students is like the feeling between women and their lovers. People can’t understand his tenderness. In other people’s eyes, he looks so weak that doesn’t like a man. Therefore, he was expelled. Men are not allowed to be weak in a patriarchal society; they should be powerful and insusceptible. Once someone doesn’t fit the image, the person would be push out of the society just like Wing.
The story’s background is industrial revolution; we can find most of people are utilitarian. In this situation, artists would not be respect because artists are always thought no money. However, Anderson describes many people who have artist personalities. The personality is similar to feminine qualities such as sensitive. If artists have no feminine qualities, they can’t be artists. They would be the same as other utilitarian. The world would become a big machine, everyone works for money. Emotion and connection are not important any more. It is impossible!
The patriarchal society looks down on feminine qualities, but they are necessary to the society. Anderson tries to make them ordinary in our life. If we observe carefully, maybe we can find some grotesque people like the story’s character. They don’t do anything wrong; they just not fit in the social standard. Anderson tries to tell us this.
Q1.
I think Kafka want to express that only by an act of rebellion against socially acceptable human behavior, one can be truly human.
It’s obviously seen that Gregor’s metamorphosis, which keeps him away from the alienation of modern society, has made him reclaim his humanity. In the story, the decay of humanity is behind the dehumanizing capitalist system as if the dirty uniform was covered with shinning buttons. The image of the uniform, which Gregor’s father puts on, symbolizes the economic order, making people losing their individuality and ignoring their humanity. To be more specific, when Gregor’s families take over those dehumanizing jobs which Gregor does before, they become isolated gradually with each other, even finally being apathy. For example, Grete doesn’t care anymore about the food for Gregor in the almost end, she become apathetic toward him. As the climax of the story, when Grete plays violin, no one appreciate to the art. It seems that Gregor, an insect living in a filthy room, is more human than they are.
For me, Kafka not only wants to convey the message that Gregor reclaims his humanity only by becoming an insect but also reveals that the modern society lacks love and attention, the spiritual foods, as the hunger artist claims. Those dehumanizing jobs make people alienating from each other; it seems that all they care about is duty itself. For example, the three lodgers can symbolize simple people under modern society; they seem to care more about the cleanliness and the order than human beings.
For Gregor, only by moving out of the human domain, rebelling all the behavior he does in the past, he can become a truly human. It also reflects to CJ Chen’s opinion that only by being “Other”, people can avoid blindly following the main stream and becoming only a tool of the whole Status Apparatus.
Q4
George Willard was a teenager who was questioned for not being masculine in the story . The Willard family lived in a conservative village where stereotypes of men and women were deeply rooted. Take Tom Willard, the father of George Willard for example; he pursued money and status in his life. In his perspective, men should have great ambition in politics just like he did:
“Tom Willard had a passion for village politics…… He dreamed of going to Congress and even of becoming governor.”(16)
That resulted Tom Willard had a dislike for his son’s habit of being alone and talking to himself when he heard his friend mentioned about it:
“Will Henderson has spoken to me three times concerning the matter. He says you go along for hours not hearing when you are spoken to and acting like a gawky girl…” (19)
Tom Willard here represented a typical male chauvinism in a patriarchal society. In the next part of the story, he even associated “fool” with “woman”. On the other hand, George’s mother, Elizabeth was a creative woman. She wouldn’t like to see her son follow his father’s steps, so every time when George shows unwilling attitude toward how his father expected for his future career, Elizabeth thrilled for her son’s rebellion. She thought there was a secret bond between her and George for her son’s feminine quality, which made them learn how to think differently comparing to others, and knew the way to appreciate art.
Q4
In patriarchal society, males’ identities are reinforced through constructing the boundaries between masculinity and femininity. Therefore, the feminine qualities are regarded as weakness to submissive to the patriarchal authority, because the fear of loss of power, especially in heterosexual society. Taking Sherwood Anderson’s “Winesburg, Ohio” for example, in the short story of “Hand” the fear are presented by Anderson. There were feminine qualities in Wing Biddlebaum, and that became the reason to make him be expelled. His femininities were seemed to shake the male identity, because the devalued feminine qualities existed in a male body. In Michael Ryan’s “Literary Theory,” he uses film “Disclosure and Basic Instinct” as an example to explain this fear. Ryan says that “In films like Disclosure and Basic Instinct, for example, which are about such heterosexual male panic, one of the crucial motifs is the inability to see straight, to mentally represent the world in such a way that objects are clearly identifiable and categorizable. But if women can be men and men women, that becomes a vexed and flawed undertaking(pp.135-136.” The panic of loss of power is the result of the homophobia.
The repression from society restricted Biddlebaum’s life, and once he let the quality show up that he got panic or even terrified. Anderson uses “hand” as a symbol of feminine qualities, because hand is a sensitive organ, expressing the feeling. Besides, hand is also associated with the craftsmanship and agriculture. The feminine qualities are not really weak. At the contrast that is good and necessary for artist, because those qualities provided the potentials to sense the world, getting close to the creativity, being intimacy to the world.
Q1
In the metamorphosis, Kafka tries to express the alienation of human beings under the capitalistic society. I think it is ironic that Gregor seems not to discover it until he transforms into a gigantic insect which is excluded from the society. In fact, Gregor has lived like an insect before the metamorphosis. In the following, we will explain it more specifically.
Before becoming an insect, Gregor works as a commercial traveler from which he can not get any pleasant and sense of accomplishment. Just as he says “Traveling about day in, day out. It’s much more irritating work than doing actual business in the office, and on top of that there’s the trouble of constant traveling, of worrying about train connections, the bed and irregular meals, casual acquaintances that are always new and never become intimate friends.” (89-90) From this statement, we can not only discover the pressure of his work but his aloofness with other people. Besides, he also undergoes a lot of pressure on family financial burden as well. In my opinion, his previously daily life is just like a routine containing no emotions or interacting with other people. His body and spirit has been separated already and that is the reason why I think somehow he has been an insect before metamorphosis. To be short, transforming into an insect is just a way to let him perceive the alienation of human beings clearly.
After Gregor becomes an insect, he can not go out to work but stay in his room alone. Although his sister would observe what he needs in the beginning, gradually, she doesn’t care about him. It makes me think of a cruel truth that when people lose their power or do not have any value anymore, they would be stayed aloof from friends, or people who used to be closed. This kind of isolation more highlights the alienation of human under the capitalistic society.
Only in other’s position (insect), Gregor can find out the coldness of the society. Maybe Kafka also wants to express that only by being “other”, we can see the reality that we always ignore.
The Metamorphosis is a short novel by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. Gregor Samsa was the protagonist of the story. He worked hard as a travelling salesman to provide for his sister and parents. One day, he woke up in the morning and found himself transformed from a human into a monstrous insect. Rather than shocked by his transformation, he actually worried about his work that he will miss his train and be late for work. His reaction to the transformation revealed that the people that time were not concerned with human; they only valued money and other things which can show one’s position in society. Also, his family’s reaction to his transformation also revealed the cold and detached, they thought he is disgusting and just locked him in his room, they didn’t even care about his feelings.
After the transformation, Gregor was unable to work, causing his father to work at a bank to provide for the family and pay owed debts. Ironically, the novel ended up with Gregor's parents, newly optimistic for the future and without a thought of their deceased son, comment on their daughter's vivacity and beauty, realizing she has grown into a woman. In the end, it seems like none of Gregor’s family member is interested in his death, just like Gregor never be born.
Kafka’s style is simple and matter of factly. He described every little part in the novel; the reader will feel so real and also amazed at his sensitive. When you read the novel, you may be shocked because of the reaction of the characters, and their thoughts are Inconceivable to us. By this short novel, I think Kafka wants to criticize the values at that time and break the stereotype between two genders.
When the first time I read the story, I am curious of why Gregor feels so reasonable as he becomes an insect? Kafka is really a genius. In the very beginning, he describes Gregor dreamt that he was transformed in to an insect and when he awoke he really became an insect. To some degree, we are reasoned with the transformation of Gregor. We may reasonize it as an uneasy dream and won’t happen in the real life.
The metamorphosis of Gregor is quite a ridiculous situation that it might be impossible in the reality. But the situation after Gregor becomes an insect is thinkable and doubtable that if the metamorphosis could happen to us. Kafka is trying to reverse the humanity by the transformation of a man. Indeed, we can see how difficult situation Gregor suffered as an insect. While he is a human, he functions like a machine. He never gets changed about his life. Then the change is extreme to make him transformed into a gigantic insect. The only difference between a real insect and Gregor is that even though Gregor becomes a bug, he can still think in human’s way.
Much to my surprise, Gregor’s family is eager to abandon him no matter how considerate Gregor is. I am firmly believed that Kafka resorts to making an indictment of the world what normalcy is. Why a man-transformed insect can be left behind merely because “it” is no longer a man; even “its” parents and sister do the same thing. Obviously, through the story of Gregor we find the instability of the ethical standards and the reversion of the grotesque. Also, Kafka is questioning the capitalism the idea of the numberized society. Could everything in the world need to be numberized? After Industrial Revolution, we humans numberize things and resort to being effective and efficient like a machine. Because of such ideas in mind, humans are forgetting the spiritual needs little by little. We are indifferent to our world and live like a zombie which knows nothing but eating.
Q2
In the First Sorrow, the trapeze artist insists on his art which is an extremely difficult performance and only few people can achieve. The trapeze artist through this performance to express his belief and fulfill his spiritual needs. Living in high altitude may seem grotesque; however, it is the way the trapeze artist let people know his art. People may hardly understand his wired behavior and insistence; moreover, his performance may be regarded as a joke.
Like the hunger artist, they are regarded as freaks and paraded in front of audience. Both of them use their own way and hope be understood by others, but people can't realize their task. They are popular at that time and also make a lot of money for the manager and circus owner; however, they are actually alienated to this world and society. They are marginalized , like hunger artist, on one notices his death and then puts a leopard into his cage as substitution.
“Once such ideas began to torment him, would they ever quite leave him alone?”. After the trapeze artist calms down, his manager think of his future and his very existence. The manager worries about the trapeze artist will be isolate in the near future and his art still can not be understood. The trapeze artist will be tortured by his insistence and the sorrow will be more and more.
Q4
Anderson suggests that an integration of the feminine qualities is necessary for the artist, especially the compassion. People are afraid to be invaded by something, such as Jews, gypsies, Bolsheviks, homosexuals, unconsciousness, sexuality and the feminine, because it will ruin ego construction. However, “that in the beginning when the world was young there were a great many thoughts but no such thing as a truth. Man made the truths himself and each truth was a composite of a great many vague thoughts. All about in the world were truths and they were all beautiful….It was the truths that made the people grotesque.”(6) On account of the compassion, the artist can experience and appreciate other faiths sincerely.
In “The Book of the Grotesque” what makes the old writer more alive is something inside him- “it was a woman, young, and wearing a coat of mail like a knight.”(5) The writer’s Muse here is no longer a sweet woman, but a powerful and brave female knight. I think the knight has the strong power of listening, feeling and dreaming. The old writer likes listening to others’ stories and he is easily moved, and furthermore he writes others’ stories with dream. On the other hand, in “Hands” Wing Biddlebaum, a marginalized man, uses his hands to show his expression and repression that are viewed as two of feminine qualities. As a school teacher, Wing Biddlebaum expressed himself by the caress that was in his fingers. An intimacy grew up among people by touching. But a man touched the other man was a horrible thing at that time, Wing Biddlebaum was threatened to keep his hands to himself. Later, when he talked, his hands, like “unto the beating of the wings of an imprisoned bird,” (10) were hidden in his pockets to repress his desire of expression. Although he was full of frustration, I think he was more vital than any other man because his hands, after the tragedy, still expressed himself while hands of any other man expressed nothing. With an integration of feminine qualities, people will appreciate all the grotesques are understandable and lovable.
1)
Kafka wrote the metamorphosis of Gregor Samsa on few intentions. First, the whole incident is to express the hypocrisy of human nature, which is demonstrated firmly from the main plot. Gregor realize a lot of his assumptions towards others were wrong; things are much more unbearable once he knew the truths. For example, his father is not that poor, and was hiding money so Gregor could be continually taken advantage unnoticed.
Secondly, the metamorphosis also criticizes the machine-like life people are living; the rat race to be rich. People worry too much about work and reputation, and ignorance grew from time to time. Thus, the original function of family, kin or any form of relationship is distorted. This environment doesn’t make people become independent or tough, instead it was the opposite. People become so vulnerable as they lost their emotional connection, and stress builds up to perplex an empty watermelon life, which is perfect from the first look, but when it is cut and everything negative is unleash.
Third, this is also a reflection of Kafka’s feeling towards his own life: harsh, lonely, rejected, twisted, and even being suppressed. It is not hard to understand when Kafka hated the way his father dominates his choice of life style, but more of the reflection is about the uneasy artist path. It is the sense of being not understand or even misunderstand by others that was expressed.
Nevertheless, the metamorphosis meets the special moment after all, right before Gregor die; the time of epiphany. This can be interpreted as the “moral” of this story: why blame others? They are just acting their own characteristic; it is the way how we interpret those outside voices, not them.
1. Kafka tried to express his opinions of Capitalism. With only one standard, everything is quantified, and a person’s value lies on how much he earns and whether he can support his family. “When the doors were locked,…, no one came in and even the keys were on the other side of the doors” (106). Gregor tried to suppress this discontent emotion that his families didn’t care about him anymore. No close relationship exists between people in this social system, even the families. As Gregor mentioned, “casual acquaintances that are always new and never become intimate friends” (90). However, he himself at first still thought to catch the train, instead of his insect body, to work. “He felt so hot with shame and grief” (112) due to his metamorphosis that caused inconvenience.
Kafka also pointed out the desire of authority. Gregor’s sister, who intended to possess the authority, brought him milk “not with her bare hands, true, but with a cloth and carried it away” (107). It was only her duty, not love. No one was allowed to “help” her, even her mother. Furthermore, Kafka criticized patriarchy that men’s position is always higher than women’s. The image of Gregor’s mother was weak, while father’s was strong. For instance, different from mother’s untidy clothes, Gregor’s father was “in fine shape; dressed in a smart blue uniform… his one time tangled white hair had been combed flat on either side of a shining and carefully exact parting” (121).
Nevertheless, the uniform was not brand-new, beginning to look dirty. There were “many greasy spots on the garment,… the old man sat sleeping in extreme discomfort and yet quite peacefully” (123). One feels peaceful because he has already lost his humanity. Capitalism seems wonderful, but truth is in fact ugly. In short, Kafka criticized ugly phenomena in the authority of fatherhood and Capitalism through the eyes of Gregor’s metamorphosis.
The central theme of “First Sorrow” is revealing the seclusion and the loneliness of Kafka himself. In “A Hunger Artist,” the same theme is emphasized even more, which directly shows that an artist is very disappointed and lonely because his honorable art is only appreciated temporarily for fun rather than truly understood. “No one could possibly watch the hunger artist continuously, day and night, and so no one could produce first-hand evidence that the fast had really been rigorous and continuous; only the artist himself could know that, he was therefore bound to be the sole completely satisfied spectator of his own fast.” This passage in the story shows that Kafka felt that no one really ever appreciates what he is doing, and only himself appreciates his own art. From it, Kafka’s loneliness is clearly shown. In the end of the story, the hunger artist leaves his last words, “because I couldn’t find the food I liked. If I had found it, believe me, I should have made no fuss and stuffed myself like you or anyone else.” From my perspective, this speech from the hunger artist shows that Kafka cannot find interests in what people like and pursue in their lives, and that’s why he is lonely in the road of pursuing the art of honor. He expresses this thought by writing that the hunger artist cannot stand the food people eat and would rather die of hunger lonelily.
In the short story “First Sorrow,” the same theme is revealed in an odd way actually. In it, the trapeze artist is totally satisfied with his performance. He treats his job seriously and even doesn’t want to leave it at all. It is said in the story that the life upon the trapeze is very delightful, where “sun and fresh air came pouring irresistibly into the dusky vault, it was even beautiful.” From the descriptions like this, they imply that Kafka actually takes so much pleasure in his writing that he does not want to stop it at all. Nonetheless, at last the trapeze artist bursts out crying for a partner. He keeps harassing his manager for this request. The story has it that “Deeply distressed, the manager sprang to his feet and asked what was the matter, then getting no answer climbed up on the seat and caressed him, cheek to cheek, so that his own face was bedabbled by the trapeze artist’s tears. Yet it took much questioning and soothing endearment until the trapeze artist sobbed: ‘Only the one bar in my hands—how can I go on living!’” In my opinion, this passage shows that Kafka still longs for someone who truly understands him in spite of his lonely pursuit of his work. Besides, I think the title “First Sorrow” implies that Kafka had constantly faced and kept bearing the sorrow—loneliness in his life; it was supposedly his biggest sorrow. In conclusion, the two stories indeed perfectly show Kafka’s seclusion and inner loneliness, which is their theme.
Q1
Through the metamorphosis of Gregor, Kafka expressed the loss of humanity in the capitalist society. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor’s transformation reflects the effects upon humans from Capitalism at that time. The relationships between Gregor and his family have changes after Gregor becomes a gigantic insect. And Gregor also has changes on his mind because of his sudden metamorphosis.
At first, Gregor, who was a commercial traveler, made money to raise his family. As he transformed into an insect, he worries that would be late for work instead the situation of his transformation. He only cares the time as Kafka mentioned the figure of clock several times in the first part. And he fears that lose his job because of his lateness. Under the system of Capitalism, if he lost his job, he would be seen as a useless person.
And when Gregor’s family has found that Gregor doesn’t go to work, they also really care his absence from his job instead ask him if he is sick. Their connection as a family is without emotion. Besides, Gregor mentions that he always locks the doors of his room. It also indicates that the relationship between his family and he is remote. The situation of their remote relationship becomes more obviously later. When they found that he became an insect, their reaction is being distant with Gregor and isolating him. And his father attacks him when he frightened his mother. At first his sister would take care of him, however, later she “no longer took thought to bring him what might especially please him” because Gregor is no longer the one with authority. Finally she said that “I won’t utter my brother’s name in the presence of this creature, and so all I say is: we must try to get rid of it.” The family members are emotionless to him. It indicates that the human relationship is cold and detached in the capitalist society.
Gregor’s life before was only for his job. He lived like a machine without humanity. However, through his transformation into an insect, he finds his humanity when he is isolated by the society. He starts to notice the view outside of the window. And he is the only one appreciates his sister’s playing violin, the only one with feelings. Kafka expressed that the one who finds own humanity must not to follow the order of Capitalism blindly, like Gregor.
Although The Metamorphosis tells us a story of the physical transformation of Gregor, I see it as not a change, but a realization of what he has always been. Before he turned into (or realizes he is) an insect, Gregor concerned himself solely on his ability to provide for his family. His focus on his work alienated him from everything else in the world. He was nothing like a normal human being. The metamorphosis was more of recognition than transformation. He realized that he has been a worker ant in a human relationship. And just like an insect to a human being, they lack the ability to communicate. If we consider the insect transformation as a metaphor, then the lack of interaction between Gregor and his family becomes apparent. His job as a commercial traveler damaged his opportunities to connect to his family and slowly sees his room at home as just another hotel room on the road. He literally locks up all the connections to his family. The metamorphosis occurred when Gregor changed from not willing to communicate to not being able to communicate; however, the transformation did not occur overnight. When Gregor accepted the role of provider of the house was probably the beginning of the end. The pressure from his father’s debt and being the breadwinner of the household slowly pushed him into metamorphosis. His physical appearance changed overnight, but his mental change occurred accumulatively. Gregor’s parents also saw the change in him, but I would believe they saw the change very differently. Gregor has been objectified by them for years as a paycheck. To them, the income metamorphosed into the burden. All along what Gregor did was sacrifice for the family to the point where one day he no longer recognizes himself. His sacrifice metamorphosed him into an insect and made the rest of his family all useless.
The metamorphosis of Gregor is used as an allegory to portray and to insinuate that under the arbitrary and unitary social system of modernization, everyone has become a mould and a screw of the state apparatus, the capitalist society, and the patriarchal order. Each human is like an isolated island, alienated, stale and even insignificant to each other. When Gregor is unable to work, his boss immediately comes and questions his fidelity to the firm, regardless of his full attendance during the past five years, which manifests that the modern society is severely standardizing and confining everything, not allowed any transgression. And thus what the modern people cares is to make themselves conform to the society’s expectation and standard, which means to discard one’s subjectivity, thoughts, and feelings, and to internalize the social morals and rules. In the story, we can see that even the most intimate family at last abandon Gregor, in order to maintain themselves as part of the social system. After Gregor’s metamorphosis, they all get jobs and embrace the modern and capitalist society.
However, the metamorphosis of the insect is not only an aberration but also a molt of rebirth that Gregor reclaims his humanity. Before his metamorphosis, he loves his family out of duty by oppressing his subjectivity and dehumanizing himself. The metamorphosis makes him see not only his alienation toward the society but also the alienation between his soul and human body and human life. He starts to feel resentful about his family’s selfishness, and then becomes apathetic to the world. However, at last when he’s touched by the beauty of art (Grete’s violin-playing), the love oppressed and concealed deep down in his mind is aroused, and he reclaims his humanity and the ability of love. Although he is psychically a non-human, an Other, he possesses more human qualities in spiritually than all the human beings, the Slef, in the novel. And sometimes we have to use some queer, grotesque and “abnormal” things or ways to make us see the Real Truths and the actual pathology of the normalcy that we all get too used to. CJ Chen’s violent images of horror and the metamorphosis of Gregor are both the ways to make us detach from the position of Self into Other, and to see the overflows that are oppressed out of the boundary by ourselves.
There are three parts in Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, dividing Gregor’s change after finding him becoming a gigantic insect into three different levels. I’d like to express the ideas with five points, the normalcy at that time, the alienation inside everyone, the mental freedom, the meaning of life, and the struggle between human and reality.
In the first section, the story focuses people’s attitudes when they face the situation of Gregor’s transformation. It is weird for me that no one show the concern to Gregor, even Gregor himself doesn’t take it worryingly. None of them tries to find out the reason or think of solutions to deal with. They just ignore it, pretending this thing inexistent.
“…, on the contrary, family duty required the suppression of disgust and the exercise of patience, nothing but patience. ” In the final part, all of the family members eventually lose patience, abandoning their blood relationship totally with Gregor. At the same time, Gregor also give up himself. In the end, he starves to death. Ironically, his families feel free from his death and prepare to restart the new life with happiness.
Through the text, we can seem Gregor Samsa as a metaphor to indicate the society at that time. Following the capitalism, people are worthless without showing their values in a practical way. It comes to build a sense of alienation inside everyone, even family does. Also in the last segment, it is mentioned that when they encounter the struggle between human nature and reality whether they keep taking care of Gregor or not. In this story, we know that it is a normalcy spreading over the world which people vacuously live without self-consciousness. On one hand, Gregor is an incarnation of defiance; on the other hand, it is also introspection that the author tries to break the boundary of set rules. It has many interpretations to reveal the meanings of living. The key is how we choose to do, or everyone will be the same as Gregor’s family members, living under the society system lacking of purpose.
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