English 2850: Great Works of Literature II

1. Gregor emerges from his room one last time when he hears his sister playing her violin for the lodgers.  What is the significance of this scene? What meaning does music hold for Gregor here?

The scene shows how music can cure a painful soul and it reveals that what Gregor lacks most is caring since he suffers from mental instability. Even though Gregor loses interests for everything includes food, he is still longing for music. “It was as though he sensed a way to the unknown sustenance he longed for” (236). This sustenance of sprit is more valuable than food, the sustenance of physical body.

2. Ultimately, what do you think Gregor’s metamorphosis means?  What does it Look at the final paragraph of the story. How does it shape or alter our understanding of the text?

In fact, the final paragraph surprises me but this is just Kafka’s style—always turning into surprise at the end—as I have read other pieces of his works before. His family’s altitude is the central theme of the story. In my view, this is a story to show people’s indifference and even disgust to the disabled, unfavorable family member. Kafka just exaggerates the disability and unfavorable physical appearance to depict it as a “monstrous cockroach” (210). When Gregor transforms into a cockroach, brings trouble to the family and can no longer earn money to support the family, his family’s love for him fades away, and turns into disgust and abhorrence. If Gregor hasn’t transformed into vermin but just gets ill or becomes disabled, what will his family act? Well, they will certainly not try to kill him with apples as his father does in the story, but they might also eventually hate him and even wish him to die because he brings no value, only troubles to the family.

1.Discuss the theme of food and eating. What role does it play in “The Metamorphosis”?

Throughout the player see Gregor try and stay with is normal daily life in the beginning with him already thinking about work and his regular daily routine, til he realizes it is compromised due to his transformation into a roach. Gregor says in this new state as a roach is hungrier than before and In the beginning , his sister left out his regular meal that he ate as a human.  She brings him bread and milk and we can compare the way he has a distaste for milk as a roach to the way his relationship changes with his family that they care about to give him food but do are barred from seeing him by his sister due to the fact of how much it may hurt them to see him as a roach. Throughout the play his sisters care for him turns from loving and caring to mandatory and resentful which is the same way the family feels towards Gregor since the father works again and they are burdened with not having Gregor to rely on. Then towards almost the end there is a level of indifference between Gregor and his sister not speaking kicking scraps into his room , showing him they see him as nothing but a roach.

1. Explain your understanding of Gregor’s death.  How/why does he ultimately die?

   His isolation and detachment from his family as well as his injury from his father , brought Gregory’s death closer. He was forgotten by his family and chose to starve because he felt his food was inedible. But the father and the injury he caused Gregor was why he died so suddenly.

Do you think that Gregor is more powerful BEFORE or AFTER his metamorphosis?  Explain your response.

I think Gregor is more powerful after his metamorphosis because he knows the truth about his family. He was a person that believed the best thing they could do was support his family. He was proud of being able to take care of them and being a provider. That ability genuinely made him happy. Although after turning to cockroach, he realized that his family did not hold the same level of support and loyalty as he did. Even though initially it seemed like they cared for him and loved him, that all faded away as time went on. They were okay with the fact that he had all the responsibilities and took care of them, but when the situation was vice versa that wasn’t true anymore. They only complained and felt sorrow for themselves because they have to do work. He was a burden, nothing more nothing less. So knowing the truth behind his family, knowing who they really are, made him more powerful. His life was miserable before the metamorphosis and after the metamorphosis. He had all the information needed to decide what way he wanted to go, sadly that was death.

Ultimately, what do you think Gregor’s metamorphosis means?  What does it mean to be transformed into a giant bug?

I think Gregor’s metamorphosis comments on how his family truly feels about him. Like if somebody does a lot of things for you, and one day he becomes something or someone that needs a lot of help would you do the same thing in return. Gregor was the sole supporter of the family, everybody relied on him. So when the time came for him to rely on everyone else, that was a true test for his family. The father was disgusted by him or disapproved of him throughout most of the story, the sister initially wanted to help him but then that fell apart as well, and the mother wanted to take care of her son but didn’t know how to. When the time came for them to stand up and take care of the family and Gregor, they failed. This led to Gregor thinking that whatever he did and was willing to do, would have never been done in return. So everything he was doing for a family that he loved and believed they felt the same way about him, fell short.

Do you think that Gregor is more powerful BEFORE or AFTER his metamorphosis?  Explain your response.

I think Gregor lost his power after his metamorphosis. Gregor had all the power before his metamorphosis because he was recognized as the the provider of the family. Even thought he hate his job, his only priorities was to provide for the family and help his parents  pay their debt to his employer. “Once I’ve got together the money to pay off the parents’ debt to him—that should take another five or six years—I’ll do it for sure”. However, after Gregor transformed into a insect, he lost all his power. His whole family were in complete shock and  this is only the beginning to his end. He lost his job which will effect the whole family because the money he was bring in from his job was the only main source of income to the whole family. However,  at the beginning his sister seemed to be beside him all the time and she is the only who fed him and made him feel safe in the house and the rest of his family were frightened by him. Shockingly later on, his sister wanted to get rid of him and his parents agreed to what his sister recommended. Not just that, Gergor’s death relived everyone in the family even his SISTER “They talked to each other, leaning back comfortably in their seats, about future prospects”. Gergor as an insect seemed to hold the family from living their lives happily, because of this, his family moved from the old apartment and made future plans as soon as he died.

How is Gregor’s family transformed in the wake of his metamorphosis?

When Gregor transformed into a bug, his family also transformed. Gregor as  a human was the breadwinner of the family and his family never thought of how they could survive financially[ without his support. However, after his metamorphosis, the family became independent and got used to the fact that he is an insect . Both of his parents and his only sister were able to get jobs to support each other. The father now works in a bank “dressed in a tight fitting blue uniform with gold buttons, like the ones servants wear in a banking company”, his sister studies and  works as salesgirl “The sister, who had taken on a job as a salesgirl, in the evening studied stenography and French”, and his mother did sewing to earn money “The mother took care of everything else in addition to her con- siderable sewing work”. I believe the metamorphosis of Gregor was only a wake up call to the whole family that only made them stronger because they were so dependent on Gergor’s income to the point that after Gregor’s transformation, they were desperately left without a  source of income.

Discuss the theme of food and eating. What role does it play in “The Metamorphosis”?

The theme of food is often discussed throughout the story. When Gregor first transformed into a bug, his sister whom he is closest to in the family had left him milk, since it was his favorite as a human. Her actions show that although he does not look the same, she still cares for him because she still considers him to be family. When she noticed he did not drink the milk, she goes as far as leaving different types of food to see what his transformed self likes now. She goes out of her way to show that she cares for him. However, this changes as the story continues, when Gregor noticed the family caring less for him. His family had put less effort in providing food for him. Gregor even notices how the tenants were being fed by his mother and sister whereas he was not being treated the same. Gregor said “The way those tenants fill their boots, while I’m left to starve!” The role of food in this story represents care. As Gregor was being fed less, it showed how his family had lost interest in caring for him. He felt as though they were resenting him and by showing more care to others who were not family. 

Look at the final paragraph of the story. How does it shape or alter our understanding of the text?

In the final paragraph of the story, the family went to a park. They felt as though they finally got a break from Gregor. The fact that Gregor was a son and brother to them, we would expect them to at least mourn over his death. Instead, they were “Sitting back comfortably in their seats, they discussed the prospects for the future…” They discussed how they would buy a new home and begin their life without Gregor. This last paragraph shows how they detached themselves from Gregor completely. This is why it was so easy for them to move forward and plan for their future. They had already come to the understanding that he was going to die, which is why they cared less for him and easily moved on after his death. The final paragraph allows us to realize that his worth in the family was nothing more than a means for providing for the family. 

Do you think that Gregor is more powerful BEFORE or AFTER his metamorphosis?  Explain your response.

Before Gregor’s metamorphosis, we understand that he was the breadwinner of the family. He was a traveling salesman who earned a pretty decent amount of money and he was responsible for feeding the family and paying off the debt that his father owed. The text says; “at the time Gregor had bent all his endeavors to helping the family to get over the commercial catastrophe, which had plunged them all into complete despair, as quickly as possible.” (223) This alone signifies how much power he had, because there a type of respect that come with being the provider in the family. After his metamorphosis, he is helpless and cannot work anymore, and he expresses this when he says; “Such—in his present predicament—perfectly useless thoughts crowded his head, while he stuck to the door in an upright position, listening.”(224)  The smallest things had to be done for him now, like cleaning his room which makes me conclude that he was definitely more powerful before his metamorphosis.

Look at the final paragraph of the story. How does it shape or alter our understanding of the text?

In the last paragraph, we see that they felt relieved that Gregor had died and was no longer a “burden” to them. The text says; “Sitting back comfortably in their seats, they discussed the prospects for the future;” (241) They moved on so fast, and did not care to mourn the death of Gregor, and it was almost as if he didn’t exist or wasn’t human at a time. Reading the text, it was evident that his father was cold to him as he was mean to him from the very beginning of his metamorphosis. His sister on the other hand was young, and her kindness towards him was bound to change because her parents who she looked up to were not really bothered about Gregor’s condition so why would she care so much. After reading the final paragraph, it made me question if the family really loved Gregor as family member before his metamorphosis, or if he was just the means by which they survived to them.

Please respond to any two of the following questions.  Please be sure to use complete sentences in composing your response and include evidence from the text to illustrate your ideas.

1. Explain the significance of the story about reburying Weifu’s little brother?

The significance is that Weifu cares about his mother and her wellbeing. Which is why even though he sees that there is no body and that it had decomposed full into the coffin. Weifu and his mother both need closure from his brother’s death and getting the dirt and having the idea that his brothers remains would hopefully he within that dirt and wrapping it up and placing it in another coffin would give him and his mother the piece of mind that they needed when they would visit the new burial site. It is relating to filial piety which is having respect for elders which was very important in the confucian movement.

1. The story’s narrator is revisiting a place he once lived.  Explain the significance that this “revisiting” has in relation to the themes of the story.

        Revisitng his old home he realized how much it has changed. As well as how wherever he is , he stills feels out of place. His memories of his home and where he travels within the town are completely different than how he feel at the current moment when he visits for the first time in years. The theme would be modernism which then challenges the confusionism movement at the time.

Use the link and password below to access the recording of Monday’s call.  We discussed the final essay and began our discussion of Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis.”

https://baruch.zoom.us/rec/share/z9xwLZX61VxLf5HStln5AK4RBYX0T6a80CkY-qBZzUY-KbcdyTKowPGh-0xiebjl Password: 3W?lUet9

Rabindranath Tagore’s phenomenal short story, “Punishment”, displays the issues of domestic violence and its ability to cause a chain of lies. Tagore elucidates betrayal through the relationship of Chidam and Chandara, his wife. The fabrication of a story that Chandara killed Chidam’s sister-in-law, Radha, fueled Chandara’s feeling of betrayal by her husband. At the very end, Chandara felt she rather be hanged than live a life with a horrible husband, she states “To hell with him!”

Tagore’s short story reminded me of “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger”, by Feng Menglong. Although Menglong’s story portrayed love and money as the prominent themes, betrayal is a theme prominent towards the end of the story. When Du Tenth finally sinks the jewel box into the river at the end, she illustrates us that she feels betrayed by the man she fell in love with, Li Jia. The fact that he was willing to give her away for money to impress his father over their love left her heartbroken. Her action of jumping into the river herself showed that she had given up on Li Jia.

Both Du Tenth and Chandara face betrayal and it is likely of their position in society as being women. Chidam fabricated his plan to ultimately help Chandara at the end, but in reality, he just wanted to protect his blood related brother. Chidam even states he could get “another” wife. Sun, the man who offered to buy Du Tenth,  described her as an “unchaste woman”. This suggests that in the end she is of lower position in society and Li Jia should prioritize restoring his honor in his family, rather than protecting their love.

5. Filial piety is when children put the desires of their parents over the desire of their own. This is common in Chinese culture. In Lu Xun’s “In The Wineshop”, an example of filial piety is when Weifu comes back into town to do his mother the favor of reburying his brother’s grave to avoid the likely destruction of the grave. When arriving at the grave, he finds no remains of his brother. However, he still buries the new coffin and fulfills his duty as a son. Weifu does this is to respect his mother’s spiritual need of protecting her son’s grave.

6. There are many aspects in this story that stroked it as being a modernist story. There is the obvious loss of faith in religion and patriotism. Both Weifu and the narrator grew up with dreams of being someone; they wanted to revolutionize China and move away from religion. They remembered the times where they used to pull beard off of religious statues, showing their secular motives. Also, both left their village in search of something better, depicting the modernist belief of urbanization. Essentially, Weifu and the narrator symbolize the modernist belief in the story.