Monthly Archives: May 2021
assignment #14
Explain the significance of the story’s title, “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen.” What seems strange about it?
The title is significance is because this shows the life of people in the campus, the relationship between the people’s life and the death that people in the campus, and the relationship between the prisoner and the poisonous.
What did you learn from this story that you did not previously know about life in Nazi concentration camps?
“We lie against the rails in the narrow streaks of shade, breathe unevenly, occasionally
exchange a few words in our various tongues, and gaze listlessly at the majestic men in
green uniforms, at the green trees, and at the church steeple of a distant village.” I learn that the people that in the campus have a terrible life, and how the prisoner scare about them, can not eat enough and can not rest really good. I have more clear about the life in the campus during that period.
Tadeusz Borowski’s “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” groups presentation
Borowski, “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen”
Please respond to two of the following questions. Remember to compose your answers in complete sentences and to ground your ideas in specific details from the text where appropriate. Your responses should be posted by Tuesday, May 11th.
- What did you learn from this story that you did not previously know about life in Nazi concentration camps?
- This story can be described as a kind of “initiation story” for the narrator. How is he changed or transformed by the events of the narrative?
- Describe an example of dehumanization in the text. What about this moment made a particularly strong impression on you? Why?
- A tall, grey-haired woman who has just arrived on the “transport” whispers, “My poor boy,” to our narrator. What does she mean?
- “Are we good people?” asks our narrator. What is this exchange about? What do you think?
- Explain the significance of the story’s title, “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen.” What seems strange about it?
Assignments – Week #14
–Office Hours: I will be holding my regular office hours on Monday. Please feel free to stop by if there is anything you’d like to discuss. You can sign up HERE to make an appointment or just drop in!
–Borowski, “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” :
- Please take a look at the Borowski group’s presentation. In the comments section on their post, either share something you learned about the subject, make a comment, or ask a question.
- I have recorded some thoughts about the context and content of Borowski’s short story. You can find the recording HERE using the Passcode: D^%zWNp3. In a comment on this post, please share one thing that you took away from my remarks.
- In a separate post, I have shared some questions about “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen.” Please post your responses by Tuesday, May 11th. Feel free to draw on information or ideas from the presentation or my video in formulating your responses.
–Salih, “The Doum Tree of Wad Hamid” : We will be discussing this story on Wednesday, May 12th in class. Please be sure to have read the story before our Zoom call! In a separate post, please respond to the following question: What do you think Tayeb Salih’s story is ultimately saying about the relationship between tradition and modernity? Please use concrete details from the text to illustrate your response and share your thoughts on the blog by Sunday, May 16th.
–Final Essays : By now, I should have heard from you about the question you are exploring in your final essay. If I haven’t yet heard from you, you should be reaching out to me immediately. If I asked you to revise or clarify your question, don’t forget to get back to me. If I gave you the “green light,” you should be moving forward with the essay – first, by going back through both texts to collect the “textual evidence” you will be using in the body of your essay and then by creating some kind of outline or plan for your essay. Only when those two steps have been completed should you begin writing your first draft. I am happy to look at your work at any step along the way, so feel free to reach out to me with outlines, partial drafts, completed drafts, etc…. You can do this via email or during office hours.
–Kafka Presentation: I invite you to take a look at the video shared by the Kafka group this week. Using their sources as a jumping off point, you may want to look at some of the ways that Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” has been interpreted by filmmakers, stage actors, and visual artists.
–May 17th – Last Day of Classes: On May 17th, we will be holding our final Zoom class. Even though it is a Monday, plan on being there to discuss our final text, ask questions about your essays and final exam, and say our goodbyes.
Week #13 questions
Do you think that Gregor is more powerful BEFORE or AFTER his metamorphosis? Explain your response.
- I believe that Gregor is more powerful before his metamorphosis as we can see in the text, Gregor’s mom saying “You know that boy has nothing but work in his head” that it explains Gregor’s life which was focused on helping his family financially. By being the financial help and the only one working and supporting in the household it makes him the head of the house which is why he is a lot more powerful before his transformation.
Look at the final paragraph of the story. How does it shape or alter our understanding of the text?
- At the end of this story, we see how the family has moved on from their lives after Gregor’s death. It reads “…they thought it was about time to find a suitable husband for her. And it felt like a confirmation of their new dreams and their fond intentions…” which is explaining the next steps coming up for Grete as she is no longer a child but a woman. Due to this change, Grete’s parents are expecting to find her a ‘suitable’ husband for her in the sense that he can take care of her financially and of course can also support her parents since they lost the big help of Gregor due to his metamorphosis.
Week 13 Assignment
How is Gregor’s family transformed in the wake of his metamorphosis?
I think Gregor’s family becomes cold towards Gregor after his transformation. His parents seemed bothered for the fact that Gregor couldn’t provide for them anymore and now they had to provide for Gregor. Before the transformation it seemed as the family were happy as when he first didn’t get up to leave for work, they seemed like they wanted to help Gregor. By the end, Gregor’s mother and sister both didn’t care about him anymore since she didn’t believe that the he wasn’t actually her son.
Explain your understanding of Gregor’s death. How/why does he ultimately die?
Gregor dies through his family no longer caring for him and he dies by starvation. His family doesn’t truly believe that it’s actually him and they stop taking care of him and they started to despise him. Because, they didn’t really care for him anymore he decided to starve himself to stop the abuse he felt from his father, mother and sister.
Assignment 13
How is Gregor’s family transformed in the wake of his metamorphosis?
Gregor’s family didn’t start out with disdain but rather with detachment. However I do think that the three different chapters shows that the detachment feeling slowly starts to change into disdain for each individual family member. It starts out with an outright rejection by Gregor’s father when Gregor first shows himself in chapter one. On page 219, we can see that the father grabs a cane and newspaper to drive Gregor back into his room and even hisses at him. This obviously shows how much a disgust his father had for him. On the contrary, even though his mother and sister, still in shock, don’t actually find Gregor repulsive but continue to care for him throughout the rest of the story. However towards the end of chapter 2, his sister also starts to show hatred towards Gregor. In the moment when Gregor startles his mother, we can see his sister’s patience grow thin. “Ooh Gregor! Cried his sister, brandishing her fist and glowering at him”(pg, 229). His sister starts out with detachment and passivity in the beginning of the story but is now filled with hatred and disgust for Gregor. By the end of chapter three, we can still see Gregor’s mother’s hope for his son to return and even tries to clean Gregor’s room. Then when Gregor ruins the dinner, she gives up on him too. She finally breaks and says “ I can’t do it any more either” (pg 238).
Ultimately, what do you think Gregor’s metamorphosis means? What does it mean to be transformed into a giant bug?
I don’t think it really mattered if it was he was a giant bug at all, it could’ve been any sort of permanent damage to the ability to provide for a family. The story could well portray the same effect if Gregor wasn’t transformed into a giant bug but instead got sick and was bedridden. His family’s hatred for Gregor is partially because he turned into a disgusting bug but it isn’t the main reason. It was because who was once the breadwinner of the family is now useless and needs to be taken care of. The question of whether someone’s worth should be determined by their ability to work and make money came up in class and it connects to this question. When all there is for a person is work all the time, what happens when they can’t? Well in Gregor’s family, they start to disdain him for the extra work even as far as trying to replace him by talking about a marriage for Grete at the end of chapter three. But what the family isn’t trying to do is move forward from the grief of losing Gregor but the loss of the income he provided.
Week 13
Explain your understanding of Gregor’s death. How/why does he ultimately die?
-He died mainly because of fasting but there were many other reasons as well. His family instead of understanding the situation and understanding that it is not his fault that he turned into a bug. They pushed him away. He would have to wait for his mother. His father would not treat him nicely. They even wanted to get rid of him. His sister says, “we have to try to get rid of it. We did as much as humanly possible to try and look after it and tolerate it.” (237) They fail to understand that underneath the body of an insect, it is still her brother and their son. They started treating him and kept on calling him a monster. All this upset him so much that he stopped eating, eventually he died because of it. Her sister even jabbed him with a broom. “She grew irritable, and jabbed Gregor with the broom.” (239)
Do you think that Gregor is more powerful BEFORE or AFTER his metamorphosis? Explain your response
I think Gregor was more powerful before he transformed into a bug because he was the one his family depended on but when he became a bug, he was a nuisance to his family. He was unable to speak and stand up to his family when they called him a monster or when his sister jabbed him with a broom. He could not even tell his mother how much he missed her and how much he would appreciate if she came to see him. He might not have been financially stable but at least he could express how he felt. Everyone called him names like it says, “Come here, your old dung-beetle!” (234)
Assignments – Week #13
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 means a breadwinner who has lost the capacity to earn money by accident. Transformed into a giant bug means Gregor lost his job and lost the dignity and love from his family. A bug represents disgusting, awful, and terrible.
Explain your understanding of Gregor’s death. How/why does he ultimately die?
Gregor’s death is suicide because he doesn’t want to be the burden of his family. He feels guilty and shame for transforming a bug after hearing his sister said: “We must get rid of it. He would have left of his own will.” For his family, they are tired to take care of this giant bug. Gregor is not a member of his family but a burden that couldn’t benefit the family. Also, Gregor might doesn’t think he could be transformed be into a human again, so he decided to die to release his family.
Kafka The Metamorphosis Week #13 Assignment
- 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 mean is he was not happy with his life and didn’t like how he was treated by his family. It means to be transformed into a giant bug is he wanted to give himself the proper treatment. He couldn’t support his family anymore and he felt hopeless. He became a giant bug to get out of real life that he was living in. Gregor didn’t want to live a miserable life because of his family.
2. How is Gregor’s family transformed in the wake of his metamorphosis?
Gregor’s family transformed in the wake of his metamorphosis by being the one who supports his family. His family were always normal with him. The family was a normal family and he was working very hard to support his family. After Gregor’s transformation, his sister tried to give her support to him. The family was getting separated and being kept away from each other.
