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As I read Metamorphosis, and watched the performance of it at the Joyce Theater, I sympathized with Gregor greatly. One emotion that specifically struck me was his uncontrollable loneliness. As a cockroach, locked up in a room, unable to speak to anybody, there’s no question that he felt lonesome at all times. He had no choice but to keep his own company and all his thoughts to himself. It’s been psychologically proven that loneliness can lead to depression, and by the end of Gregor’s life, I feel he was definitely depressed.
Throughout the novella and the ballet, I tried to imagine myself in Gregor’s shoes (or legs, since cockroaches don’t wear shoes). The feeling of being completely alone, even surrounded by others, is such a horrible thought for me. For this reason, I chose to depict this idea because it is such a difficult thing to deal with – considering you’re alone. I think physically seeing a lonely person aids in your sympathy for them. It’s one thing to read about Gregor being alone, but being able to visualize that in the ballet – or through pictures – really makes you pity the poor guy. My classmates did a great job in portraying loneliness in their own ways, so it made my job in choosing pictures very easy. These particular pictures can help someone reading Metamorphosis understand the way Gregor was feeling, because the people (and dog) in my mini-exhibition most likely feel similar to the way he felt.
Credit:
Jake Greenberg, Evan Charles Augustin, Michael Mamiye, Nicholas Arniotes, Samantha Chiu
