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

I feel that these texts are both great pieces that share certain similarities however I find it even more interesting how in a way they are opposite. In Kafka’s story, The Metamorphasis, I feel like Gregor goes from being in the light of society, he had his chance and didn’t do what he could have done (the multiple opportunities presented by society) instead he was consumed with one thing (work). In Allegory of the Cave, I find the situation is reversed. The people are consumed by one thing as well, but it’s their environment. When one of them is exposed to the light, everyone is in disbelief like how Gregor is now a cockroach. In the story it states how Gregor stays up all night, in the dark, and how he prefers dark spaces. As if he was hiding from society. While the other group never realized what society truly looked like.
-Onu Mezbah

I believe both endings make reference to isolations. In “The Metamorphosis” by Kafka this Isolation is a little bit more physical even though the fact that Gregor has no social life also shows isolation in a mental level. “How otherwise could Gregor miss his train! You know that boy has nothing but work in his head!” Gregor’s mother stating his sons lack of social life and other relationships. However, in the ending there is a transition, at first everyone was concerned about Gregor being an insect and they had him very present in their minds but then his relevance starts to diminish and at the end he died with no one in his family taking him in consideration as a family member. In the cave, I see this isolation completely mental. This prisoners were all together going through the same situation until one got freed from his chains and when he tried to help the others they rejected him. This prisoners were so used to the dark and the shadows that their minds were absolutely blank and could not understand other points of view. It was this lack of understanding that caused fear and this fear that caused anger in them.
Joaquin Azcue

In contrasting “The Allegory of the Cave” and “The Metamorphosis” I would like to compare the theme escaping of reality. According to Plato in “The Allegory of the Cave” the prisoners think reality is the cave that they are imprisoned in. They are unaware of the world, until one of the Prisoners escape and comes back to tell them what he found. In my opinion the Prisoners refused to believe him because they are scared of reality, they have become accustomed to the version of reality in the cave. Kafka in “The Metamorphosis” shows an escape of reality when Gregor transforms into a cockroach. This transformation alters Gregor’s reality; by the end of the reading he is fully aware he will remain a cockroach. Gregor’s family refused to accept him as a cockroach, they all showed emotions of sadness, anger and being scared. Due to his family not accept him, he escapes his new reality by killing himself.
Katarina Stojanovic