great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

The thesis statement I plan to use for my final project is as follows; In Kafka’s story, “The Metamorphosis,” Gregor’s transformation from a successful, working family man into a despised and feared creature strongly coincides with Kubler’s Five Stages of Grief Model; denial, anger, bargaining and acceptance. I plan to use the volcano diagram to represent my interpretation of the Five Stages of Grief Model by analyzing the different stages of a volcanic eruption. In the first stage, the diagram shows the occurence of plate tectonics, which is when plates moving against each other creates friction,occuring underneath the ground. Although pressure is building up, the volcano does not yet erupt. This correlates to the first stage of the grief model; denial. Similarly to how denial is the refusal to accept facts/reality, when plate tectonics occurs, it is apparent that something unpleasant is about to happen. However, the volcano does not yet accept the reality that changes are about to occur within the volcano and as a result, does not yet erupt and remains still. The next stage that occurs in the grief model is anger, which is a natural feeling when someone is upset. Likewise, in the volcano model, the volcano can no longer deny the inevitable path of nature and as a result, it is triggered to release its anger. It then erupts in the form of huge fiery clouds and lava flows and shoots out chunks of hot rock and red ash. Next in the grief model comes the stage of bargaining, which is when one attempts to bargain with whatever he or she believes in order to reach a compromise. In the case of the volcano, the volcano can either keep shooting out smoke and lava or it could choose simmer down. After this comes depression, which is an acceptance of the situation along with natural feelings of sadness. In the model of the volcano, the lava takes awhile to cool down, as the volcano is still feeling sad/depressed and needs time to recupperate. Finally, the last stage in the grief model is acceptance, which is when an individual comes to terms with their current situation and accept the fact that there are things that can’t be undone. With regards to the volcano model, the volcano is able to accept whatever situation that caused it to be upset, and as a result, the smoke and lava finally simmer down and finally, disappears entirely.