Father and Son

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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.

dadcatch

Mood Diary: Metamorphosis

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When we were first assigned the reading of Kafka’s Metamorphosis I truly did not know what to expect. But I certainly wasn’t expecting to read about a man who inexplicably woke up one morning to find himself inhabiting the form of a cockroach. The very first few sentences of the short story struck me as odd. I thought that perhaps the story was simply a dream on Gregor’s part. A nightmare that he was suffering due to all his stress from work and familial obligations. I imagined dark ominous clouds looming over his bed, but was almost sure that he would soon awake, back in human form.

dark-clouds

I soon realized that I was incorrect. I assumed that as the story went on Gregor would suffer a nervous breakdown from his new appearance.

Everytime I read a description about Gregor’s physical appearance I’d cringe and shiver. Instead, there was practically no acknowledgement of his physical being on Gregor’s part. The only acknowledgement he paid was to the dilemma’s it would cause in providing for his family. I was emotionally conflicted as I read on. I sympathized with Gregor because The_Screamhe was so selflessly devoted to his family. However, I found that his character irritated me with his lack of reaction towards his physical appearance. The reaction I deem the most satisfying is that of Gregor’s mother. When I read about her reaction the painting The Scream by Edvard Munch came to mind.

 

The entire scene when the household discovers Gregor’s transformation is somewhat comical. They are trying to flee from the hideous creature and Gregor, not understanding the full effect of his appearance, continues his approach and attempts to rationalize with those in the house. The initial shock and disgust of the family is completely understandable. But I did not believe Mr. Samsa, Mrs. Samsa, and Grete, would disregard’s Gregor’s humanity. Only Grete strove to preserve the well being of Gregor. Eventually, even she gave up and wished for his demise. The point when Grete was pushed over the edge was the scene when Gregor decided to make his way towards the kitchen. The kitchen was occupied by three men staying at the house, Grete playing the violin, and Gregor’s parents. The violin music I imagined playing as Gregor neared the kitchen sounds something like this:

http://youtu.be/2TUIQjZT_8Y?t=3m

I think the size of Gregor (his giganticness) opposed to a normally sized coackroach (which, to me, is equally terrifying) is ironic. It represents the greatness of his problem, which he is either unwilling or too preoccupied to grasp. I felt that Gregor’s family lacked appreciation for all Gregor had done for them and were too fixated on what he had become rather then who he still was. Gregor remained concerned for his family throughout his struggle whereas there concern for him vanished almost instantly when trouble struck.

 

Kafkametamorphosis

 

 

Metamorphosis Mood Diary

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How can one react with a calm facial expression after reading The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka? Initially, I thought, this is weird. Beyond weird. More like bizarre? And in fact, I thought it was quite pointless. So, my facial expression looked a little like this…first (2)im bored

But after analyzing the story and realizing Kafka’s true message, I felt more interested.

What truly shocked me and caused that strange array of faces was the fact that Gregor was so calm throughout the entire story. He didn’t even freak out after realizing that he has transformed into a bug. To me, this really shows how disinterested and remote he was with people and society. If I had to imagine what he sounds like in my head, he would sound a little like Ben Stein in all of the clear eyes commercials (gloomy and monotonous) (see link below)

Ben Stein in Clear Eyes Commercial

Ben_Stein_with_CEC

 

When I was reading Gregor’s struggle to get out of bed, all I could imagine was he struggling out like my dog struggling to get something off of her. It goes a little like this..

 

As the story progressed, I realized that although we don’t all literally wake up as bugs, we all figuratively do. Situations of people who are overworked and over stressed always at some point in their life wake up and realize that they’ve had too much. In my opinion, I believe Kafka’s message was to show that we may all look like we are okay, (Gregor looked as if he could handle taking care of his whole family and providing for them their whole lives) but really, we aren’t and just want to lay in bed like a cockroach and “not move”.  Essentially, looks can be deceiving, so to show this message, he uses symbolism of the cockroach.

kafkas message

My further reactions also grew more intense when I read about how the family reacted. It made me feel sympathetic for Gregor. Even though he was this hideous, disgusting creature, he was still the same Gregor, and his family failed to see the real him. Gregor was still the same character trying to find any possible way to get to work so that he could continue providing for help his family. I imagine their reaction to look like this: (particularly, the mother)

The-Shining-the-shining-25586158-1024-576

 

They tried to understand, but they couldn’t look past appearances. This made me feel upset because it shows much looks matter in the world. I found this great image to truly depict my mind throughout the whole story (despite my drastic differences in emotions)

By the end of the story, I saw my day to day routine in a new light. I realized that sometimes, I do feel like Gregor, where I must do my work and get everything done, but, I am physically impaired because I just want to lie in bed all day (like a bug!). I also realized that I did quite enjoy the story because there was a deep, hidden message to life. So my final reaction was more of…

surprise

 

Metamorphosis: mood diary

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I loved the ending to Metamorphosis. It looked like a really colorful and serene scene filled with never ending happiness. I pictured it in the same manner as this painting by Georges-Pierre Seurat

The image gives off an melancholy day, but in reality, everyones face is stoic and straight giving off a feeling of a meaningless feelings rather than excitement; nonetheless, I love this painting just as I love the end of the book. The only times where we actually are in a similar situation to the Samsa’s is when we take care of a parent or elderly person who goes through a mental breakdown such as dementia or schizophrenia.

We can see the person and he would look exactly as he always did, but the mental capacity is nearly gone. The person you have always loved almost seems lost, and that is what Gregor became to the family. He was an empty soul and even worse Gregor’s outside appearance was gone as well. The frustration that the situation ensues is one where the family begins to deteriorate mentally, financially and physically because you have to continuously give care and aid to your family member whereas you could’ve used all that time, money, and effort on something that could be more helpful to your livelihood. This article I read really shows how much you have to give in order to take care of a parent. 

Now obviously the two situations cannot be classified in the same category per se, but it is what resembles life most closely. In the end, Gregor does die and, although it sounds very vulgar and disgusting and shameful to say, the family was liberated; comparably, when that parent does pass away, the family is also liberated of all the work and struggle they had to put in to help that family member. In the end I feel like the family was deeply sad for the loss of their son, just as a family would be to, but now both can finally open their doors and leave without worry about the dangers and G-d forbid moments that is constantly in their mind.

 

Mood Diary Metamorphosis

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Franz Kafka did not like humanity. He viewed our day-to-day lives (or at least the lives of people in the 1920’s) as dismally trivial. To be fair, living in Czechoslovakia in the early nineteenth century was probably no picnic. But every biography of Kafka mentions, or should mention, two factors in particular which cultivated this disdain for humanity. Kafka’s father was described as a ‘huge ill-tempered domestic tyrant’ who exercised a great deal of control over his family and scoffed at Kafka’s desire to express individual ideas. Kafka himself also consistently described his job as an insurance broker as simply a ‘bread job,’ or a job that he had no passion for but held simply to collect a paycheck.
Both of these influences are seen very literally in The Metamorphosis: Gregor’s father is neither supportive nor intellectually advanced and his job as a traveling salesman is never discussed beyond being essential for the family. But what is more important is how these factors influenced the underlying theme of the novella. The point of The Metamorphosis is not to tell us a story about a man who turns into a bug but instead is to make us reflect on the pointlessness of life.
To me there are not any impressionable scenes in the work. The story itself is uninteresting and despite its brevity it was difficult for me to finish in one sitting. And I did not find any of the characters in The Metamorphosis likeable or memorable. But when I finished the book I was left with an overall feeling of frustration. And after reflecting I realized that this is the point that Franz Kafka is trying to get across to us. Life is not exciting or revolutionary; it is grey and mundane. Anyone who tries to escape from the bubble of mediocrity, as Kafka himself attempted to do through his literature, becomes shunned by society.
The brilliance of The Metamorphosis is not in its imagery or symbolism. Kafka doesn’t try to make us identify with the problems of his characters. Instead he uses the entire book as a representation of our pointless daily struggles. As he stated, in a quote either extremely pessimistic or depressingly realistic, “One of the first signs of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.”

“The Metamorphosis” Mood Diary

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Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” is not a story that details the transformation of a single character, but rather the reversal of an entire family and their roles. The novella begins with Gregor waking to find that he has turned into an “insect-like” creature overnight and, with his motor functions compromised, can no longer serve as the sole-provider of his family. Prior to this point in the novel, Gregor’s family was bug-like and parasitic for having lived off of their son’s income at the expense of his happiness. However, beyond this point, the family is forced to sacrifice their own comfort for Gregor, which ultimately proves to be too difficult a task for the Samsa family. The novel concludes with their son dying a lonely death and the family selfishly (or maybe just slightly gratefully) returning to an optimistic life.

The novella was obviously very depressing, as its center focus is the falling apart of a family. It reminded me how difficult it is to maintain familial relationships. They require selflessness and sacrifice and patience… qualities that are actually rare to find despite the tremendous number of families there actually are at this very moment. In “The Metamorphosis,” Gregor proves to possess these qualities throughout the entire story. In the beginning, he works everyday and lives a boring, unmoved life for the sake of his family. Even after his transformation, Gregor is so desperate to keep his family happy that he succumbs to his wounds and allows himself to die.

In a way, Gregor’s character reminded me very much of my parents and the life they lead. They’ve spent their entire lives working and sacrificing their happiness and comfort to provide for my brother and me. Like Gregor turned into an immobile bug, they will turn into immobile old people, and like Gregor’s wound from the apple, my mother is permanently wounded and scarred from a collapsed vein. Only unlike the Samsa family, I hope that I will possess the qualities to provide for them in their time of need.

 

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Metamorphosis… The story of a bug who couldn’t (Mood Diary)

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Dear Diary,

At first, I was like: why is Kafka writing a meaningless story about a meaningless man who turns into a bug and then dies.  Then I was like: oh yeah, I was right…

I really didn’t get it, and the story seemed like a depressing tale that served to explain what we all know: bugs live a brief life and then die.

From the start, my image of Gregor was that of a man slouched over his work, who was depressed at the cards he was dealt.  My image of him as a bug was very similar: a bug, depressed, who is struggling to get his work done.  I think there is a reason that the narration does not seem to change a lot when Gregor turns into a bug.  He continued to think about the same things: what do I have to do?  Am I late?  Will I lose my job?  I think that his mental process before and after the transformation were essentially equal.  He did exactly what he needed to do to survive, and just that.    

 

 

 

 

This frustrated me a lot.  I think this is why people view The Metamorphosis as such a melancholy book.  I felt as if the squeal of Gregor’s voice as an insect wasn’t very different from his low tone mumble as a human.  He lacked any dreams and lived to pay off his parent’s debt and die.  He worked to maintain stasis and never escaped the thought process of a bug.  Although survival is important, I really think the key quality of humans is our ability to think.  We develop connections with inanimate objects, ponder how we came to be and even find love.  However, Gregor does not.

Even though my thoughts have been mostly negative, there is a streak of light within The Metamorphosis.  I found Grete to be a very significant character.  By significant I mean that she loves and cares for Gregor, and actually has characteristics of a normal human.  Almost all the characters in The Metamorphosis lack positive attributes.  However, Grete extends her love for Gregor through his transformation and I have always viewed her as his guardian angel.

Austin

Video

Kafka Mood Diary

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dead, dystopia, surreal, realistic, understanding, detached, soft, dusty, fallen, older, plump, frill, doily, dark wood,  porcelain, asbestos, whisper/whimper, small 

 

Metropia-poster

Metropia’s visuals are dark and exaggerated, which is just how I pictured the events that unfolded in Metamorphosis.

This clip from the movie ‘The Bothersome Man’ came to my mind while I read Metamorphosis because of both share a theme of emotional numbness in product and prestige obsessed worlds. Its also a very bewildering scene because of the lack of reaction that the woman has to information that the Bothersome man tells her, which should in a normal world, cause her to be devastated and distraught- not concerned about guests who were invited for tea on Saturday.This tea set in a Viennese café is very classically Austrian because of the porcelain saucer, glass of water, and silver tray. Austrian society is said to be cold yet extremely polite- just like the parents and sister in Metamorphosis.

This is a picture of the Bothersome man being lonely and eating tasteless food yet not realizing how sad his

predicament is because of habit.This is a Gustav Klimt painting of an elegant, contemplating woman. I pictured Grete as this type of woman because while Grete is intelligent and a central power figure in the book, she is also quite intent on getting her own desires fulfilled which is why she tosses Gregor to the side once he gets in the way of her marriage/wealth prospects. Also, I feel like the tone and color scheme of the painting fits the color scheme in the book- mostly neutral with bursts of pink and dark wood.hj

All these bearded men are Sigmeund Freud. I think the bearded men in the book both resembled Freud and had a fondness for drugs.

Untitled

This is an image that reminds of Gregor because of how Gregor was constantly forced to be under the bed and in the dark.

This squeaky sound is what best resembles what Gregor must have heard when awakening as a bug for the first time.

This is what Gregor’s floors must have look like after everyone stopped taking notice of him.

The song ‘Mr. Cellophane’ from Chicago reminds me of Gregor because both character’s story’s have to do with being providers who are dumped the second they become unable to provide.

 

This movie, ‘Delicatessen’ shares the violent and deadly tone that I had in my head every time Gregor’s father came into the story.

Gregor’s view, in my mind, became greatly reduced to just feet.

Although this gif doesn’t precisely mirror my feelings, it does provide a good picture of what Grete and possibly the maid must have looked like when they started to vouch for exiling Gregor.

The apple rotting next to the plastic water bottle is a kind of metaphor for me of how Gregor rotted day after day, while his family largely kept their life constant.

The vortex here represents the dark, confusing, bleak nature of the book and its focus character.

Mood Diary on Metamorphosis

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When I began to read the Story Metamorphosis, I was really impressed, if not shocked, by the straightforwardness of Kafka, but the second time I read the sentence stating Gregor’s metamorphosis, I started to assume “OK, this is how the story is supposed to start — a healthy guy suddenly changes to a bug” and then I guessed the story would be all about his life or his struggling to beat the obstacles, but I wasn’t able to conjecture if it will be a tragedy or another motivational story.

I found it really absurd when Gregor just woke up and acted normally as if nothing had happened. I meant if I were in the same situation, I would have screamed out for help like a scared bullied child. However, Gregor did not act so. He was startled by his transformation but later on he seemed to adjust to his new appearance easily. This scenario, for me, lessens the verisimilitude of the story.

I felt intense when the manager was trying to see Gregor. What would happen after the door is open?  Would all of them become bugs? (I know I am trying to be funny) How would everyone including Gregor react? I was pretty sure that the family and the manager would be petrified but I was more concerned about the fates of Gregor and his family since Gregor had been the only resource of money.

When I read that Gregor was mentally tortured and the relationship between him and his family diminished, especially when his sister was behaving ungratefully to her brother who had raised money to send her into a conservatory, I knew the story would be tragic.I could not find any hint that might be a sign of change for good in Gregor’s life after the metamorphosis. Maybe his mom was the only one who showed lots of sympathy when she insisted on keeping Gregor’s stuff in his room and who still regarded Gregor as a human when she referred to Gregor as “my unhappy son”, she was such a pushover that she was so easy to be persuaded when Grete argued about the removal of the furniture. Ultimately ,the relationship between son and mother faded, too. I mean it was the person (I regarded Gregor as human since he could think in a human way) that you gave birth to, how could you just cut off the love and biological bond without any mercy?  Maybe in that particular society, people were living only for material gain or maybe it was because I was born and raised China where I was taught to be value my family.

 

Speaking of money, I think it is one of the themes of the story. The importance of money might account for the feeling of burden of Gregor for his family, he was so subjugated by the income source of the family, to some degree, even more than his doom brought by his physical alternation. Also, money might explain why the  family would  become so nonchalant on Gregor after his change because he was no longer financially “useful” for the family. He became such an encumbrance that at the end no one cared about his death. One more thing, at the end, Grete became an attractive, independent woman who would succeed Gregor to support the Samsa Family. I appreciated the efforts she demonstrated during the hard time which was ultimately beneficial for her own metamorphosis to a independent woman , but at the time I read the sentence “And it felt like a confirmation of their new dreams and their fond intension”, I felt sorry the family. I  started regarded her as a new tool to get money for the family just like Gregor( Forgive me if I am too cynical.)

I think the whole story is definitely metaphorical because the story is just too absurd and unreal. I felt sort of wired when I finished it. It is definitely not a comedy but ,for me, it is not entirely tragic because the family regained vigor and hope for the future at the end and for me, a tragedy would be something like everything is gone. The story did not really appeal to me.

bug

mom and son

money

Jeremy Brown’s The Metamorphosis Mood Diary

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Does he care?

Does he even see what’s happening to him?

How is his work possibly more important than his current condition?  Does he just not notice?

Too busy to notice how truly itchy his forehead is.

For much of the first section of the story, I was struck by how much Gregor was focusing on his work rather than on his current condition.  He acknowledges that he has changed, yet his thought process for most of the beginning of the story focuses on his work.  Granted, he is going over in his head how much he dislikes his job, but he still is focusing on it, which is what counts.

He’s a freaking insect.

Shouldn’t Gregor be bugging out?

There is no freakout.  He focuses on his job.  This is what I was hung up on for the majority of my time reading the book – I was incredulous as to how someone could have next to no reaction to transforming into a monster.  It felt odd to me how someone could be so desensitized to themselves and be so focused on the outside world.

This line of thought led me to thinking about how often we get caught up in our lives around us and ignore ourselves and our feelings – sometimes our intake of all the events happening around us lead us to focus less on our inner selves.  I’m a person who consciously tries to avoid this – I think it’s unhealthy to ignore or dismiss what we feel inside.  Of course, a proper balance between our lives outside ourselves and within ourselves is in order, but it felt to me that Gregor really wasn’t paying attention to himself as much as he should have been.

… will lead you to ignoring how much of a monster you are.

I felt a disconnect between myself and Gregor because of his lack of attention to himself, yet I can understand why – the stress of the outside world has a way of pervading into our minds and affecting everything we do and feel.  In this sense I could understand Gregor’s disconnect with his self in the beginning, though his focus on how much he disliked his job faded as the story went on, and shifted to how those around him were reacting to his new avatar.  I never felt like Gregor truly took a step back and noticed himself, no epiphany as to how absolutely astonishing this transformation is or why it happened in the first place.

The mood that I had throughout the reading of this piece, because of Gregor’s lack of noticing himself, was a coldness, due to his lack of self reflection, as well as an astonished feeling, that if it were me, I’d never react to this metamorphosis in this manner.  While my mood focused on what really is a small part of the story, it struck me in such a way that it stuck with me throughout my entire reading.

If I ever wake up as an insect, you better believe that I won’t care about my job.