When I read the scene when Gregor’s father threw the apple at him, one distinct thing came to mind. When I was little, I used to to play little league baseball and have catches with my dad. In many movies and books, baseball brings together father and son. It sort of forms a special bond at a pretty young age.
This scene was quite the opposite of this, however. An object was being thrown from father to son. Not in the same sense though. The father threw the apple out of fear and desperation, in order to force his own son back into his room. The apples were intended to harm Gregor. One of the the thrown apples would actually lead to Gregor’s demise (he later died of the wound) and would forever sever the bond between him and his dad.
I feel Gregor and his father never had a baseball catch (or anything like it). They were never really close. There is a direct connection between Gregor and his relationship with his dad and Franz Kafka and his father.
Hello Josh! Your connection with playing catch with your father and Gregor’s father throwing apples a him struck me. What different intentions haha! Reading your post makes me construct a back story for Gregor. Personally I did’t enjoy Kafka’s work, but I am slowly opening up to it after giving Gregor some emotion, some life.
Ouch, I agree with this. I am glad to say that I have a good bond with my father, although sometimes it is a bit strained. I feel that every child should have a good relationship with not only their father, but their mother and siblings as well. The fact that the father intended to harm Gregor, despite his blood relation, is a powerful thought – that his family viewed him as a monster.
Thank you for connecting “Metamorphosis” to a real life activity. While reading the novella I simply couldn’t envision the characters as humans, or bugs in Gregor’s case. For me, the characters were cartoons acting out Kafka’s story. They did not go to the grocery store, they did not attend school, they did not play in the park, and Gregor and his father certainly did not play catch. To encounter a blog where someone was able to imagine such a scene is both perplexing and refreshing. Upon reading your review i was finally able to imagine Gregor and his family as real people. No longer were they stick figures acting out a scene, but instead they morphed into a modern day family that worried about the bills and having their cell phones turned off.
Although the story did not take place in the 21st century, the Gregor family became a modern family because of you Josh. I know this was probably not your desired effect upon writing your blog, but I’m grateful that that was how i perceived it.