This reading, I feel, has been one of the most meaningful and powerful ones we have read all semester. It discusses the issues of feeling absolutely insignificant and alone to the wider world, and even to one’s own family. If we are to fall into the pressures of constantly accepting or fulfilling obligations without ever so much as questioning them, or why it is we must do them, we might as well have been born insects. We need to always understand the cause and effect of our actions, and whether or not they will positively affect us in the future, as opposed to just blindly doing them. Yet it is a topic most people deal with in present day society. A lot of people work without questioning where they will go from there, or if it is what they even want to be doing. Thus, the story has roots deep into modern day society.
This reminds me of many others we have read this semester such as Swift, Baldwin, Saadawi, etc., as they make commentary on the wider society through their pieces. For instance Swift shows that society wasn’t putting enough effort towards resolving Ireland’s economic dilemmas, while Saadawi revealed the idea of women being unable to express their freedom of speech without facing brutal punishment for it. Both were very powerful readings as well, and one’s I had full enjoyed reading. Essentially, we read a lot of amazing pieces that make social commentary, and through this want to either create some kind of large-scale change or just act as an outlet for the author’s own personal emotions/anger.
(This is not a test question, but me making a commentary on The Metamorphosis along with a few other readings, as I felt very strongly about them, however it will lead into my next post which will be the test question).
