English 2850 Spring 2021: Great Works II

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

This piece or story resonated to me personally, after having 6 surgeries between 2016 to 2020. I love it, not in a sense of what happened to Gregor, instead of how the Author exposed the truth of society or family after losing your status and showing no love and you don’t matter at all to them, regarding of what you have accomplished. I am surprised that his parent wasn’t supportive at his side during his transformation period issue. Gregor’s family was ungrateful towards him for let him die alone after transformation, especially he was for them their source of income that support all of them. His parents did not need to go to work and was helping his sister on her gold, His father turned back on him and influenced the rest of the family to do so by isolated him after transforming into a giant but, they want to stay away from him. That was one of the reason Gregor died from starvation and couldn’t supported the hatred of his family towards him.

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

My understanding of his death was humiliating, whoever that got into the same situation would die quickly as him. Because the level of support losing from your family, it’s like losing half of your soul while you thought you meant for them. He ultimately dies because he was alone, isolate in his room, not getting love of his family. Imagine been the one that was always showing support and suddenly your life change and losing your ability to provide or understand, it will shock you to death

Music was a reminder of Gregory’s humanity although it was encased in a bug’s body. Gregory still had an appreciation for music and he still enjoyed being able to hear his sister play the violin. These were all human characteristics, and in the story we are even told that Gregor wanted to send his sister to study music at college with the money he earned. So seeing these things, and seeing Gregory‘s reaction to his sister playing the violin even though he is a bug, this is all a reminder that Gregor still has human feelings and characteristics and even memories although he was a bug. Even though his appearance was shocking to those around him, Gregor leaving his room was an action that served as a reminder but he still had human feelings, tendencies, intentions, and motivations.  Similarly, Gregory’s death had a human like intentionality behind it. Gregory’s family felt that his presence was a liability, Gregor himself felt a heavier weight of guilt towards the effects of his transformation. So much so, that it writes in the story “His conviction that he needed to disappear was, if anything, still firmer than his sister’s.” His death was attributed to the fatal injury induced by the apple throwing, but it was also due to this very conviction: that his presence has now become a nuisance. This can almost be described as a guilt, and it is this thought that leaves Gregory’s mind as he takes his last breath. So as we read, Gregory’s death can be attributed largely to his love and guilt for his family, which was why he “left” or died to alleviate his family.

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

Ultimately, I think Gregor’s metamorphosis represents that even as a human being he wasn’t really considered a human but only a machine to his family. This is clarified when Gregor’s mother points out by saying “You know that boy has nothing but work in his head! It almost worries me that he never goes out on his evenings off; he’s been in the city now for the past week, but he’s spent evening at home.” (214) Gregor’ had already been isolated from life and the people around him, so his metamorphosis means dehumanization that he had already been going through. Also, his metamorphosis allows the family members to find their own purpose and responsibilities and it represents change not only to him but everyone. To be transformed into a giant bug is a reflection of isolation and loneliness Gregor was going through as a person.

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

Gregor death represents frustration from his family because he dies by starvation and his family hatred.  “We must get rid of it,’ cried the sister again, ‘that’s the only thing for it, Father. You just have to put from your mind any thought that it’s Gregor. Our continuing to think that it was, for such a long time, therein lies the source of our misfortune. But how can it be Gregor? If it was Gregor, he would long ago have seen that it’s impossible for human beings to live together with an animal like that, and he would have left of his own free will.” Gregor’s lack of abuse and love from his family has a huge impact on his condition, his father injures him seriously after throwing an apple and seeing how he has become a burden to his family, he chooses not to eat.

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,

The muttering retreats

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels

And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:

Streets that follow like a tedious argument

(Stanza 1, lines 4-8).

The literal meaning of this passage is showing the speaker with another person traveling through an area resembling the city, and this specific city does not seem very populated, and it is fairly lower class, as the passage mentions its “cheap hotels” (line 6). I chose this passage mainly because it was a key factor in the passage, it helped me to understand the setting of the poem by describing the city-esque scenery, and since it appeared in the first few lines, I think this was an important aspect that set the tone of the poem. For this poem, I chose to look up the words tedious and muttering, to provide better clarity to read the poem. Tedious generally means incredibly slow and uninteresting, and muttering means a complaint or unpleasant feeling that is expressed privately (both definitions were taken from Oxford Languages through Google). Eliot employs imagery to express the setting that the speaker and unidentified person embark on, he uses this to describe a somber, quiet city area where they spend time together. He also uses a simile to describe how ongoing the streets are in the somber city. These lines connect to the overall idea of the poem because the scenery is described from the perspective of the speaker, and this is used to convey his overall underwhelming and somber attitude towards life, particularly concerning him not having a wife in his older years in life, and his lack of effort and ambitious intent toward correcting that. I still don’t understand who this “you” is when the speaker talks about going to the city with this person.

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

I think Gregor’s family feel so surprised when they first say Gregor  transformed, and after that they still love him, because her mom still tell him he should get up and get he train to work. They just think he just get sick not a lot effect to the relationship of their family.

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

I think Gregor is more powerful after he metamorphosis, because he is more firm that he need to work, and he know his family have a lot debt, so he need to work to pay the debt, and the whole family is depend on him, so he knows that, I think that is why Gregor is more powerful after he metamorphosis.

Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets

And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes

Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? … (Lines 70-73)

1. Alred Prufrock had just left a room full of women pondering to himself whether he should’ve approached them or not. In the lines I’ve chosen, Prufrock is walking down a street during the evening and sees lonely men smoking from their windows. I chose these specific lines because it was one of the few sections where I fully understood what was literally happening. But also I thought these lines were exceptionally ordinary. This is definitely a Literary Modernism trait, when there isn’t a why to it but rather as the professor said “A stream of consciousness”. These lines provided further evidence of isolation in the community because he didn’t just describe the men as men but as lonely men. With the added fact that the women were in one room and men were by themselves, I think that these lines could be how Prufrock felt about himself. He felt isolated since he didn’t approach the women in that room, and can also see himself as one of those lonely men. Although my passage was quite straightforward, I still want to know if there were specific reasons for his word choice. Why did he use dusk? Was there perhaps a connection between Prufrock’s state of mind and the specific time?