In metamorphosis, the two characters have significantly different reactions to Gregor’s appearance. The chief clerk was afraid of Gregor’s metamorphosis. “But the chief clerk had turned his back on Gregor the moment he had begun speaking, and only stared back at him with mouth agape, over his trembling shoulder,” (pg. 218). The chief clerk wanted to run away from his current situation. Gregor mentions how the chief clerk looks as if he is waiting for a supernatural salvation to take him away. Whereas the father’s reaction was the opposite. ” Regrettably, the consequences of the chief clerk’s flight was finally to turn the senses of this father, who to that point had remained calm,” (pg.219). The father was not afraid of Gregor’s new appearance. He confronted Gregor with violent intention. No pleas were useful on Gregor’s part when his father hits him and attempts to drive him back into his room. The reaction of the two men were polar opposites.
Assignment 8
November 7, 2015 Written by k.garcia2 | 1 Comment
Categories: Uncategorized
1 response so far ↓
JMERLE // Nov 7th 2015 at 3:31 pm
Kayla,
Yes, you get at a central difference between the two reactions. I especially like your mentioning the idea (funny, too) that the chief clerk looks as though he’s waiting for some kind of redemption. This is a humorous observation on Gregor’s part, but given what the chief clerk represents (we’ll discuss this in class) it could point to a larger issue, Kafka’s own belief, perhaps, that the larger society will do anything to avoid helping the individual and his problems.
Nice!
10/10