Blog 1 over Kafka's, Metamorphosis

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  Kafka's Metamorphosis:

  
  

     I feel as though Gregor was first off as a genuine and submissive, yet hardworking individual that had a huge devotion to his family and job. Although he hated his job as a traveling salesman and only did it to provide for his family, he was living a less than satisfactory life, where he was confined to a life of hard work with little enjoyment or social stability. I believe Gregor to have had a literal change or metamorphosis when he transformed from an independent, helpful and well-liked young man, into a helpless and uncared for beetle. He   looses so much of himself in the process, that he becomes a seemingly heavy burden to his family due to his inability to help the family out. Gregor becomes this resilient, unidentified creature that can longer value his role in society and lives vicariously through family. He goes from a strong and respectable guy, to a weak and unimportant insect. Altogether, I think that his change was a literal one that served to convey Gregor's overall struggle to find himself and to be accepted within a cruel and selfish world. It was literal in the sense that he really did become a victim of his own nightmares and had to become dependent of others when he turned into this insignificant bug, which is the opposite of what he had ever really known or wanted for himself. He basically literally became destitute to his own fears and regrets.
  
  
    Kafka's references to hunger and food serve to signify the level of hurt and emptiness that he is feeling whenever he isn't fed. For example, whenever his sister Gretta stops being as considerate and particular about what she puts out for Gregor to eat and begins to simply slide random food under his door, he begins to feel smaller inside. This is to say, there is symbolism between the amount of food and hunger that he experiences, along with his internal state of being. Whenever he is well-fed and looked after by his family, he feels okay. However, whenever he feels unwanted and looses his appetite and feels weak or famished, it is because he feels as though he has lost more and more love.
  
  
    One of the major themes that stood out to me was Selfishness. Gregor's family becomes rather unconcerned and unappreciative of him as soon as he turns into a bug. Although I could see how they would be frightened and nervous about his transformation, they definitely could have cared for him more. An example of the family's selfish nature appeared very strongly at the end of the story when the family is too busy worried about their own personal advances, to be strung with a wit of concern of compassion towards the fact that their family member just passed away. This is expressed in Kafka's passage on page 2030 when the narrator presents the family's discourse by saying, "Leaning back comfortably in their seats, they discussed their future prospects and concluded that, upon closer perusal, these were anything but bad; for while they had never actually asked one another for any details, their jobs were all exceedingly advantageous and promising." His family looses hope and pride in him which leads them to forget all of the love and devotion he gave to his family, especially by providing for them financially while they got to live their own little lives. Another major theme is Neglect. Gregor becomes a complete outcast who is eventually becomes completely shunned by his own family, and looses all connections with the outside world, as well as his self-worth. This is shown in a passage that reflects Gregor's feelings of exclusion and inferiority. Kafka has the narrator discussing Gregor's attitude toward his family on page 2022, by saying, "At other moments, he was in no mood to worry about his family- he was filled with sheer rage at being poorly looked after.." This clearly depicts his overall frustration and sense of letting the family down, even though he wants them to just be there for him in spite of all of the change.