Honesty Brooks
Ms. Messer
Junior AP English
5 June 2017
Black Sheep in Comparison
To me, isolated is to feel left out because you are different or out of the ordinary. It is just as simple as not feeling like you can blend in with a crowd of people, and wanting to distance yourself from them to avoid being hurt. In that case, I have felt isolated in many situations with cliques and individual people as well.
I realized I started isolating myself from others when I started feeling I was not good enough, not just as a friend but as a human being in general. For example, if you do not feel comfortable with doing drugs and going out to parties like them. Then they feel that you think that you are somehow better than them. But they just do not know that it is not something you are interested in or want to make out of yourself. The reason for isolating myself was to avoid attention being drawn to me, and to keep myself from drowning in sorrow from comparing myself to others around me.
In the end no matter how hard I tried to intwine with others I never felt I was good enough or could meet their potential "standards". Just because I did not want to be a sheep and be the same as everyone else. When I began isolating myself I felt safe, yet very lonely at times. I saw myself as an outcast in society. Only I could change that, but I do not feel society can change me just to fit in with others who have not found themselves.
Evolving Cycle
While researching the vocabulary words given, I found that metamorphosis can also be referred to as transformation, change, or alteration. Also showing that metamorphosis is defined as the modification happening in an insect or also an amphibian. Which can be compared to things such as a caterpillar altering into a butterfly, or even a tadpole into a frog. So you can foresee the images of these transformations by including the stages and steps it takes to grow from a premature egg into a full on adult. And by being able to identify the major differences in the appearance physically of the insect from the beginning to the end.
On the other hand I was also given the other vocabulary word vermin. Otherwise known as a pest that causes damage to the environment and are not beneficial in any way. They are seen as always causing issues to the people and objects around them. In easier terms a vermin can also be identified as a pest or parasite. There usually isn't a care in the world nor room for extra things that do not benefit to the cycle of our environment, that keep it evolving.
I predict that in this novel “The Metamorphosis”, will have to do with a human transforming into some type of pesky bug that is only making things more difficult for the environment he is in. It might also include the people around him not accepting him for what he has changed into, and not receiving the support he needs to overcome this obstacle. The people around him are just standing on the sidelines watching him struggle instead of showing some support. He will just need a helping hand to change back before something bad occurs. Since insects have such a short life expectancy once they form into an adult.
The Vermin's Point of View
The novella is taking place in the apartment, “…the door to the apartment was also open…” (Kafka 26). In Gregor’s room, stated in The Metamorphosis, “His room, a proper room for a human being… lay still between the four familiar walls.” ( Kafka 14). Showing that he is containing himself in his room to avoid being seen from the bug he has turned into. But ends up being impossible to pursue this task, considering that he is the one who has to make the money in the house to keep his family on their feet. Everyone in the house of course can not help but notice he is late for work, knowing that he has never been late for a day of work in his whole career of being a salesman. “ alarm clock over there, ticking on the chest of the drawers.” (Kafka 15). Samsa then realizes there is no way he can be seen as the vermin he has turned into and the place he calls his room has now became a jail cell.
The mood conveys- high tensions, “..only then consider further action, for–he noticed this clearly–by thinking things over in bed he would not reach any sensible conclusions.” (Kafka 16). He is dealing with several changes to his body and a series of events going on around him, while coming up with a solution to his own problem. Including having to confront his family about his transformation, plus coming face to face about how it will affect them and how they will end up handling the situation between relationships and the finance problem. It also conveys gloominess and the feeling of being claustrophobic, “ dreary weather–one heard raindrops falling upon the window ledge…”( Kafka 13). The book continues to identify that it is raining outside his window and he is trapped in his room to phase the situation on his own. In that case he was in the only place in his house that was suppose to keep him safe from problems on the outer world only to encounter that the dilemma found him. An unbelievable nightmare that comes to life that is just suppose to told as a fictional tale in the fairytale section to little kids for story time.
K(all about)fka
Kafka’s life influenced his article of The Metamorphosis, by comparing the daily struggles in the real world and the ugly truth of difficult relationships when an obstacle comes in the way and who will really be there to support you when you need them the most. “… Kafka suffered from clinical depression and social anxiety throughout his entire life…” (“New World,” 2017, para.16) When Samsa turns into a big bug in the book, his father becomes very angry for something that has no reasonable explanation to it, “ The father clenched his fist, showing a hostile expression, as if he wanted to push Gregor back into his room… ” (Kafka 25). This text is to be shown as a comparison of how his father abused him . Otherwise Kafka’s father saw him as a waste of space and was no good use to him whatsoever, as stated in the biography of Kafka, “ Kafka struggled to come to terms with his domineering father.” (“New World,” 2017, para 5).
By Samsa turning into a gigantic bug and not being accepted for what he has turned into, his family shows how much he differentiates from them and their expectations. If he has no purpose to benefit them for what they need, then to his family he is just another problem standing in the way. “Kafka’s work represents an extreme example of the modern concern with the individual's place in society.” ( “New World,” 2017, para.3). His father just does not realize how much he needs all the support he can get to make things right so everyone around him can be happy including himself. Then maybe he can move on to the desire of pursuing his own dreams of becoming a writer “Kafka was also committed to his literary work” (“New World,” 2017, para.11), to prove to his father he can make something of himself. Instead of owning a family business just to make his father happy. Since from the beginning they were not compliant on sorting things out, of course then there could've been a different ending to the story of the text. But all the events happened for a reason and the family soon realized their mistakes that can be learned from.
Third Person Point of View
The narrator only provides evidence from Gregor's also known as Kafka’s standpoint in the book, making the novel unreliable. It is making the novel unreliable because the narrator speaks in third person, which made it very biased. A third person mainly speaks from one person's thoughts or feeling, by also using context such as he, she, it, or they. Including that Kafka came from an unstable home where many dreadful things happened, “… believed his father to be unfeeling and domineering. After his two older brothers died,…” (Kafka 8). Showing that everything started piling onto him, leaving all the responsibility behind to do on his own.
Kafka also triggered the things he started to believe on his own, while observing his life around him from his own perspective that he incorporated into The Metamorphosis, “…some of the existentialist ideas and beliefs that influenced his thoughts and writings.” (Kafka 9). The narrator also alienates the story by being caught in the mind of Kafka’s main character in the book. Especially since the story is mainly told through the perspective of Gregor Samsa and the events and thoughts that go throughout his head within the whole text until his very last existence. Even though the narrator does finally go into the minds of the other characters in the last few pages of the book, that is the only time it is not all about the main character. Otherwise throughout the text Kafka has all the attention pointed towards Gregor. As if it is his own conscious transported into Gregor’s body to compare how he felt outcasted during his own lifetime, to only end up dying alone for being a misfortunate event added to his family’s life. Because no one accepted him at their own free will, but instead they want him to leave them alone in peace to live their lives.
Existing in Reality
The idea of existentialism applies to the novel because, Samsa is a man who revolves his whole life around his family and work, for nothing in return. Then only when he is turned into a helpless bug is when he finally realizes the truth of the relationships around him. The theme to The Metamorphosis underlies the the sacrifice of making decisions, and the impact that it will have in the long run. In this case Gregor’s lack of knowing what to do on his own causes him to become numb to everything around him. Which makes it difficult to come up with a solution to the problems that are affecting him.
One day, Gregor awakes to find himself trapped inside the body of an insect. Although it never explains how he came to be a beetle, or shows that Gregor never ends up giving much thought to having the body of a bug. Kafka gives the strong impression that he is the core support to the family that keeps them on their feet, including that no one in the family works themselves. Gregor devoted himself to doing anything and everything to please his family to make them happy. But during the course of the events that just does not end up being good enough for them once he has an inconvenient set back. That starts questioning their relationships and putting his reliability in jeopardy leaving him alone.
Kafka also uses the existential idea that sometime a man’s destiny or fate can be far out of a man’s control. Just as the way Gregor could not control his metamorphosis. Before the metamorphosis Gregor was very much of a loner and had left no time to make long lasting relationships. During the conflicts that occur between him and his family members and what do with him are all for nothing. In the end they all come to agree that keeping him around when he has no use to them is draining all of them and they must get rid of him. In reality all things have to come to end whether it results to a good or bad one.
Societies True Colors
In The Metamorphosis, through the characterization of Gregor Samsa, Frank Kafka can question the existence of unconditional love. Throughout the text Kafka decided to narrow down the lack of love among his family and the way he was treated. Kafka begins by making clear that Gregor’s room is the isolated area away from his family in the house. He then describe Gregor’s personality and how he gives little time to himself and his on social life to himself happy. Then Kafka’s choice of him turning into a bug represents how unimportant and useless he was now that he had become a pest to his family instead of someone they should help. By intermixing the insolation of the room alone with how he was a pest that stood in their way showed the unconditional love today in society.
Through the identification of the room that Gregor stayed in , Kafka describes Gregor’s alienation from the others around him and how lonely he was. From the very beginning they showed how alone he was and trapped he felt, “ … a proper room for a human being (albeit a little too small), lay still between the four familiar walls.” (Kafka 13). Showing that gregor lives a very quiet and lonely life by himself. But despite the fact the way he felt he was the only one in the story to unconditionally love his family, no matter the way he was treated by them. He took the only love he’s ever known and experienced from them, so he can love someone… anyone.
The isolation that he begins to feel from his family starts to dehumanize him and the feelings that he once had as a human. Especially once he transforms and no one associates with him, as if he is a nonliving object to them. However he feels that he deserves to be just as important as the rest of him, whether he is a bug or no.. Showing that all he wanted to do was be accepted but he was never good enough to exceed their standards. No matter how he was treated by his family they still meant everything to him, because family consists of an unattainable bond that you can not receive from just anyone.
My Happy Ending
Works Cited
http://www.kafka.org/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Franz-Kafka
http://www.shmoop.com/metamorphosis/narrator-point-of-view.html
http://www.shmoop.com/metamorphosis/themes.html
http://www.shmoop.com/metamorphosis/themes.html