Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka was a fascinating story in which a man is turned into a giant vermin overnight. This transformation obviously affected the protagonist, his family, and his employer in dramatic fashion. Needless to say, after reading a story in which the bizarre and the mundane are blended together, many emotions were brought out while reading this book. Scenes or moments that were especially dramatic were Gregor’s initial metamorphosis, his telling of how miserable his job was, and when his parents and sister are on the trolley looking towards a brighter future.
Gregor’s initial metamorphosis was confusing for him, to say the least. Imagine waking up and not knowing how to use your own body after a lifetime of physical cooperation from it. This picture caught my eye as to what Gregor must have felt like in bed that very first morning:
Gregor’s description of his job, and the life his job allotted him was very distressing to read about. His long travels on the train, his horrible sleeping patterns, and his lack of true friendships led me to this image:
The last scene of the book, in which Gregor’s family is not only content without him, but even looking towards a brighter future made me think of think of the song by Maroon 5 “Better That We Break”. Even though the context of the song and what happened in the story are different, both involve loved ones separating for the betterment of their future.
I agree with almost all the images and the song that was provoked by the book for you, but I didn’t really see Gregor’s confusion about his metamorphosis as much as you did. In fact, I thought he was pretty nonchalant about his new body, but instead anxious about getting to work on time and overlooking the fact that he’s a giant insect. I do see what you’re saying about him not knowing what to do with his body, since he had no idea how to be in control of it. But I don’t think he found it very odd that he actually was transformed into this bug. I really liked your picture of the man on the train reading newspapers. I found that to be a very spot on image of what he described his commute to be like. And of course the song is very applicable, although I would never have thought of it myself. It’s probably unlikely that someone can find an actual song that has the same story as metamorphosis, since it’s so different and distinct, but there are definitely songs with similar themes and I agree that “Better That We Break” is one of them.
I think that you song choice is particularly apt for the book because both the book and this song have speakers who would rather sacrifice their own wants and needs for the happiness of others, however without significantly displaying a loss of ego to the outside world. The first image you chose also aptly describes the severe confusion that both the reader and Gregor feel in the first few chapters of the book. The second image you chose seems to fit with the characterization well but in my head, I imagined Gregor to be a younger man and also somewhat less educated. This man is showing a display of intellectual thought by publicly reading a newspaper however I feel like Gregor would be one of those people who’d rather sit and stare at the back of the seat for 2 1/2 hours than attempt to develop his/her mind. I also think that Gregor was less intellectually developed than this image suggested (although perhaps just as care-free) because he was not able to fully articulate his own emotional feelings about being a bug and likewise, which shows a certain amount of mental underdevelopment.