Michael Rosilio

Nikketa Singh

Simone Amar

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, tells the story of Gregor Samsa, an ordinary man who one day wakes up to be an insect. This unfortunate and absurd event leads to Gregory’s alienation from humanity. His unnatural transformation creates tension in the Samsa’s household and affects those around him. Despite their terrifying reactions, Gregory’s transformation does not seem like anything out of the ordinary and majority of the characters are not surprised by this event. For our class project we’ve decided to focus on the reactions and attitudes of the characters in The Metamorphosis. We’ve selected three questions that depict the reaction of Gregor’s boss, the family’s maids and Gregor himself. In doing so, we were able to comprehend that the reactions from each character all held different significant meanings.

We’ve organized our three questions by the order that they’ve appeared in the story. Our first question, answered by Michael Rosilio focuses on the embodiment of Gregory’s boss in today’s society, along with his reaction to Gregory’s transformation.

Is Gregor’s boss an archetypal character in our society?

Gregor’s boss symbolizes the classic shrewd businessman in the working world- which also symbolizes what ties Gregor to his misery and terrible life. Gregor is always in a hurry which also contributed to the misery. Gregor’s boss may be seen by some as an archetypal character in our society and by others he may not seem so. Gregor’s boss criticizes and talks down to his employees consistently and instills fear in everyone that works for him. However, on the other hand the workplace is changing in today’s society to be more of a relaxed environment and very team oriented. Although Gregor’s boss acts all tough- once he sees Gregor transformed he runs away immediately.

Our second question, answered by Nikketa Singh analyzes specific quotes that depicts the reaction from the Samsa’s maids.

Why is the first maid on her knees and begs to leave but the second maid said she “has no fear”?

After finding out about Gregory’s transformation the family’s cook immediately begs to leave while their servant girl begs to be confined to the kitchen. On the very first day of Gregory’s transformation the family’s cook Anna gets on her knees and begs his mother to let her go. It’s not completely clear how much she knew but it becomes apparent that she’s terrified of Gregory. “When she said goodbye about fifteen minutes later, she thanked them for the dismissal with tears in her eyes” (41). It seems as if she’s extremely grateful when she is allowed to go and promises not to tell anyone about Gregor’s transformation.

After the dismissal of Anna, the family’s servant girl “begged for the privilege of being allowed to stay permanently confined to the kitchen” (46). She also wishes to open the door in answer to special summons only. It is clear that she’s terrified of Gregor’s transformation and she spends most of the time locked in the kitchen. She’s an extremely frightened young woman scared that Gregory might possibly hurt her. Eventually she’s let go of and the Samsa’s hires a cleaning woman.

The new cleaning woman is describe as “a huge bony cleaning woman with white hair flying all over her head” (55). The cleaning woman becomes the only character that isn’t afraid of Gregor’s transformation and even attempts to play with him. The text states that “This old widow, whose strong bony frame had enable her to survive the worst a long life can offer, had no real horror of Gregory” (57). Since she had experienced the worst in life, Gregory was no horror to her. This explains why she isn’t afraid of Gregor and sees him as the real Gregor, and not for what he has become. She’s also the one who disposed his body after he’s found dead and for her to do this is clear indication that she was tough. This also explains why “she has no fears”.

And finally our third question, answered by Simone Amar concentrates on Gregory’s personal perspective on his transformation.

What’s so special about Gregor’s lax attitude toward his metamorphosis?

As aforementioned, we observe the reactions of two antagonistic characters in Kafka’s the Metamorphosis, Gregor’s boss and his maids. Each character of this tale responded to his transformation in different ways. This time, we hone in on the main character of this story- Gregor. By looking at his personal perspective of this event, thus we begin to understand why he behaved the way he did, which was influenced by those who surrounded him.
As Gregor’s transformation progresses through the tale, we notice something significant about his reaction to this bizarre situation. When he wakes up to discover that he has turned into a disgusting, large insect, he is evidently in shock but instead of focusing on what he has become, he turns his attention to something as mundane as the weather.
During that scene, Gregor is attempting to prevent his metamorphosis from affecting the routine life of the people around him. He locks himself into his room, where he is shielded from the outside world to conceal the horror of his appearance. While his reaction is odd, we ask ourselves what if he had reacted as we would have expected him to (such as panic and hysteria)? Would that have resolved anything or made his situation any less incomprehensible or irresolvable? No, it wouldn’t have. Hence, his effortless reaction, or non- reaction makes sense within the context of this Kafka-esque universe.

We also learn an important lesson about Gregor’s character from his reaction. The first is that of acceptance. He obviously did not have a choice at that point and his weird metamorphosis was completely out of his control. Another thing we extract from his lax attitude is his extremely unselfish character trait. His actions were largely taken for granted by his family. Kafka was emphasizing on the common practice of selfless actions going unappreciated through his story of Gregor and his family. One way in which Gregor was unselfish was the fact that he was the breadwinner of the family. “I must make sure that I’m out of bed before it strikes a quarter past seven. Anyway, by then someone from work will have come to check on me…” (340). Most people would generally freak out and try to figure out how they woke up and why they’ve been transformed into a giant insect. However, in Gregor we only see him trying to protect his family from what has happened to him and continue to provide for them.  

In conclusion, the reactions from the characters in this story all held different significant meanings. After seeing his transformation Gregory’s boss immediately leaves, one of the maid asked to be fired, while the other one is confined in the kitchen. However the cleaning lady who’ve experienced the “worst” in life is the only character who isn’t afraid of Gregory’s transformation. In terms of his family, which he provided for, his work went unappreciated. When he was going through this strange and frightening experience, his family could not comfort him, rather they killed him more on the inside. This is evident in his family’s reactions to his predicament. Gregor’s mother, who Kafka does not give much insight on, tends to ignore Gregor as if he does not exist even though we see that she is heartbroken by this travesty. His father also, although compassionate, does not want to deal with what has happened. They continue to go about their lives as if nothing is wrong. “During the first two weeks, his parents couldn’t bring themselves to see him…” (353). His sister on the other hand, with whom he had been closest to, brought him food every day. “He never would have guessed what his sister, in the goodness of her heart, actually did.” (351). By focusing on the treatment Gregor has received from these characters we’re able to further understand why Gregory himself, reacted the way he did.

Categories:

1. Literary styles from the text

1. What literary devices are evident in the story?
2. How does the anxious dreams foreshadows Gregor’s life?
3. What emotion does Kafka try to evoke from the reader- do you think he wants us to feel sympathy for Gregory or something else?

We decided to put these questions together because they all evoke some sort of literary style.

1. Gregory’s household and family

1. What is the significance of the view from Gregor’s room?
2. What is the importance of Gregor’s family? What role do they play?
3. What can be concluded about a family who celebrates a family member’s death.

We decided to put these questions together because the all pertain details concerning Gregory and his family. By putting them together we were able to further analyze Gregory’s perspective and his family decision.

I kept Post-It notes on my nightstand and would write a stanza right before I fell asleep. Some nights I forgot to write…it wasn’t easy keeping track! Here is the complete ‘poem’:

it’s Sunday night, the Monday blues came a little early.

long, eventful yet draining weekend, I am prepared for the week that lies ahead

as my head hits the cloud, I fall into a well-deserved slumber.

it’s Monday night, I feel relaxed.

I feel content and satisfied.

Nothing to complain about, Thank Gd.

I am grateful as fall into my peaceful slumber.

it’s Tuesday night, I feel accomplished.

It was a productive day.

Despite my exhaustion, it paid off.

I checked off long overdue tasks off my To-Do list.

I feel accomplished, as I fall into a comforting slumber.

it’s Thursday night, I feel happy!

The week is finally over.

My work (job and academic) was more rewarding than usual.

I feel like I have a purpose.

I don’t know where I’m going but I know I’m going up, as I fall into an optimistic slumber.

It’s Sunday night again,

The week has fully revolved.

And I haven’t completely forgotten about this ‘poem’!

While reading Kafka’s Before the Law, I couldn’t help but notice the parallels that this mysterious and mighty “Law” has in relation to G-d. I consider myself a religious modern-Orthodox Jew, so many religious themes that was taught to us throughout the 14 years of Jewish education recurred to me while reading this particular piece.

The primary and most obvious instance of The Law’s representation of G-d is the ‘hype’ that surrounds it. The man from the country clearly highly respects the Law since he asked permission to enter in the first place. Also, the gatekeeper informed the man that the Law is ‘protected’ by many other gatekeepers and that although, “[he is] powerful. [He is] only the most lowly gatekeeper. But from room to room stand gatekeepers, each more powerful than the other.” (19) I believe the gatekeepers can also symbolize G-d’s angels/messengers who are also spoken about in Judaism as being powerful and close to G-d.

Another example of the Law/G-d analogous is how Kafka tends to refer to the Law in a singular way. The man from the country never seeks to confront a particular law, or a sector of the law, rather he prompts the notion that the Law, like G-d, is as one. This resembles the monotheistic approach that is so prominent and significant in Judaism.

Subsequently, Kafka brings in the idea of accessibility and omnipresent. The man claims that “the law should always be accessible for everyone, he thinks” (19), while there is also the assertion that one ought to be able to reach to God without any prerequisites spoken about in religion.

The strongest case, and my personal favorite is the theme of free will that is suggested in Kafka’s tale. To the reader, it was remarkable that the man had so much self-control to literally wait a lifetime for even the opportunity of entering “before the law”. The Torah, (Jewish bible) is often considered the book of Law, or a Jew’s guidebook to living life. The Torah consists of hundreds of rules, and thousands more that Rabbis later added on (known as Halachot). A Jew is supposed to abide by those laws in order to live a good life. Many of them are ridiculous and make absolutely no sense however, we follow them because there is a sort of fear, and reverence, and love that we have towards our G-d—just like the countryman has towards the Law. Free will is something that only we have control over. We can choose not to listen to G-d, to just walk into the gate and follow that temptation. If we do, nothing would really happen. It is something of sublime, of unknowing and of power that is characterized in both the Law and in G-d that creates this fascinating correspondence.

1. “They Shut Me Up In Prose”

In her poem, They Shut Me Up in Prose, Emily Dickinson discusses the constraints she faces as a writer during the Nineteenth century. ‘They’ (society) forbid her from writing freely, solely due to the fact that she is a woman. In line 2, she recounts her memories of being “a little girl… They put me in the Closet — / Because they liked me ‘still’ – “. Using the closet metaphor, she depicts the way women’s roles in society in the mid-1800s. Traditionally, girls were supposed to sit still, look pretty and not say much. They couldn’t share their own opinions and thoughts because, for the most part, they lacked a solid education compared to the boys. These girls grew up to be dependent on their husbands, barred from owning property or voting, and expected to follow outlined tasks/jobs in society. Women were virtually enslaved during this time, which this poem clearly indicates.

In the second stanza, Dickinson becomes almost rebellious as she mocks society for trying to shut her up. She states that if they “could themself have peeped – And seen my Brain – go round – They might as wise have lodged a Bird”, essentially saying that the more they try to keep her quiet, the more her mind comes up with new thoughts and idea, which “they” cannot control or access.

Overall, I find this poem powerful yet her contemptuous attitude is amusing. The metaphors she uses of the bird is also quite applicable and represents a sense of innocence and also her ability to resist or “fly away” from her imprisonment into freedom.

2. “Aphorisms on Modernism” by Mina Loy.

This particular manifesto resonated with me due to Mina Loy’s originality, bluntness, and cynical expression. The manifesto is short in length, yet rich in context In “Aphorisms on Modernism”, Loy essentially gives her own redefinition of around 17 ‘buzz’ words of the time. The thing is, instead of giving a profound explanation to these usually philosophically discussed terms, Loy blatantly states the obvious. She does so in a very intellectual and cynical way, however. By doing so, she makes the task of life seem a little less heavy. Instead of going into deep philosophical thought and having long discourse on these issues, maybe she doesn’t believe in holding back her opinion, and tell it how it is. As I was reading through the list of aphorisms, I strangely agreed with how she expressed these terms.

Some that caught my eye were: in line 1, “Modernism is a prophet crying in the wilderness that humanity is wasting its time”. This phrase reminded me of modernism today. With innovation and technology being an immense part of our culture and its future, I do think that modernism today is about improving our lives and making the most productive use of our time. Our iPhones, for instance are completing our tasks for us so we can allocate that time for other useful and more important things. Next, line 2: “Living is projecting reflections of ourselves into the consciousness of our fellows”, well if you think about it, the act of living is merely that. When I was a girl, I thought my life was a movie and everyone else was watching my little film (which sounds self-centered in retrospect…) but that’s what life is if you have a disdainful outlook on it. Line 9: “Emotion looks at life through a magnifying glass”- I think this is a really interesting metaphor for emotions. I know that when I let my emotions take over, I tend to only focus on one, minute detail, rather than looking at the big picture without the magnification. Line 14: “Morality was invented as an excuse to kill the neighbors”- this one holds truth but is simultaneously very satirical.

I believe that through her interesting style, the overall message Loy is trying to convey in this manifesto is that of not-taking-life-too-seriously. The last line discusses anxiety and I believe that this poem teaches the reader to live a life of simplicity and humor, thus avoiding anxiety and frustration that comes with it.

3. Personal Manifesto

People say that things are getting better, that it’s the 21^st-century and times are changing for women. But they’re not.

* * *

I do not want to undervalue the tremendous progress women have made in America, but if we look closely at the way our history has been recorded we can begin to understand the crucial role media has played in defining who we are.

The media can be an instrument of change, it can maintain the status quo and reflect the views of society or it can hopefully awaken people and change minds. I think it depends on who is piloting the plane.

* * *

I am now cautious of the images the media is feeding me. I view advertisement and media from a marketing perspective, not that of a gullible consumer’s. In the back of my mind I know that these huge corporate conglomerations that control television, newspapers, and magazines, operate on the focus of the bottom-line which is to get attention and make money.

* * *

We need to shift their focus from the bottom line to one of social responsibility.

I learned quickly that what’s real is the knowledge you obtain through experiences and learning, the meaningful relationships you have with everyone around you, the actions you take be become a genuinely good person.

* * *

For the future, I want us to pursue our purpose and passions in life and to understand what’s really important is who we are on the inside. Its critical that all girls grow up in a world where their voice counts, where our culture embraces them in all of their diversity, that they’re offered equal opportunity to succeed in life and that they learn not to let anyone or anything take away their power.

4. Response to my personal manifesto

My personal manifesto was inspired by similar form and vagueness that many of the writers in the manifesto packet use. I found that most of the manifesto’s leave the complete interpretation up to the reader. Thus, I have written a manifesto that is relevant and important to me, but is ambiguous enough to be interpreted in a different way by the reader.

Additionally, the format in which I wrote my manifesto is inspired by Mina Loy’s “Notes on Existence” She includes three asterisks separating each stanza/paragraph. I believe she does this is order to give the reader a moment to stop and reflect on the previous paragraph, which makes the entirety of the piece more powerful. Although my manifesto is not as powerful as any of the great writers included in this packet, I attempt to emulate that same style.

Freedgood compares Realist novel writing to testifying under oath: the experience the novelist writes about, the experience of reading and understanding the text has to be as true and legitimate as swearing under oath. She is aware of the distortions of perception when representing a character and she has faith in what she knows is truly there. For instance, when she brings up the example of the dressmaker, she is essentially bringing this character to life by automatically making her readers associate the dressmaker as part of the dressmaking community, which comes with it’s own stereotypes and identities that fit a certain class, gender group, social status (occupation).

When she speaks further about Realism, she mentions that fiction may not be the true or accurate representation of reality but it paints a picture and gives us an idea of the meaning and symbols we encounter in our life, sentimental truth.

Vernon Lee says that aesthetic questions lead to ethical ones, something deeper. Although aesthecs can be tweaked and distorted, it gives us a deeper understanding and meaning in to the truth and reality, as seen in British cultural works.

Realism is supposed to teach the readers about the world by experiencing it through different mediums. She believes through a clear, realistic lens is the most effective way of doing so.

Realism was also a form of social change. Since multimedia wasn’t around then, the genre of Realism was a way of communicated and being in touch with issues the world faced during that time. Dickens was a great novelist who wrote about Britian’s poverty population. Many others also wrote for social change: Margaret Oliphant for womens rights, Oscar Wildes who wrote texts with themes of sexuality, and later on Eliot, for the existence of the Israeli state.

Realism contrasts Romanticism. Instead of fantasy and miracles, the Realist writes on ordinary, relatable events by combining the visual, psychological and the social to create verisimilitude- something representing reality.

Like Jane Eyre, Eliot’s novel represents the underlying reality and truth of the time, maybe her own story. But the writer has to find that balance between the reality and the representation or visual.

Interesting that Realism was the “competition” of photography. As photographs depicted this instant, very real snapshot in time, so does Realism. Through writing, Realists paint very vivid pictures of society.

Eliot switches the narration of her novel from a tale of Adam Bede to reality, which sort of jolts the reader of this book, forcing them to detach themselves from the tale and snap back into this objective reality and understanding that these issues are present and prominent

She felt it was crucial to clarify her opinions on controversial subjects occurring during the time period. She writes this chapter as a break in her book to explain the literary method of Realism, which she plans to tell the truth about people instead of romanticizing or creating a fantasy about them, a way to digress from emotion.

She calls out the reader for wanting these made up stories of characters that don’t exist, all with perfect scenarios and happy endings. By bringing the reader away from her novel and back to reality for a chapter, it forces them to realize that life isn’t this perfect moral fairytale.

This reminds me of the society we live in and how social media is very similar to the issues Eliot addresses in this chapter. These days, much of our entertainment (Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook) is circled around photography. The thing is, we post what we want our “friends” to see. Our pictures are heavily edited, to make others believe that our lives are perfect, fun and beautiful.

Like realism, we publish content for the public/ for an audience to look at. Eliot states that instead of depicting her characters and their situations as perfect molds that will please society, she shows them as real people. This is exactly what we do with social media today, which is why I find the notion of Realism very interesting and relevant to our day.

I found the Declaration of Sentiments to go hand-in-hand with The Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs. Stanton and Mott write in order to gain equal social status and legal (and voting) rights for women. It also includes a list of resolutions and grievances that demands for a woman’s right to education, to work, to own property and to vote.

For the most part, women’s positions in society were very similar to that of as slaves in America up until the mid 1900s-to an extreme. (This may be far fetched because slaves suffered a lot more physically and emotionally than women did.) Women and African Americans both were prohibited from owning land, they were denied their rights to participate in politics (voting), and church/community activity. Those who were women or black, in most cases, were denied an education so that they could not better their intellectual capacity, making them far less powerful and skillful than men/white. The definition of slave is someone’s property. In most cases, women were regarded as the property of men, just like these slaves. The major difference would be the extreme to which they suffered and that women were considered free. Yet, women were not really free, much like how African Americans were not truly free after the Civil War.

Both pieces were written strongly against the dominating man. Jacobs speaks a lot about the evil Mr. Flint who abuses, rapes and tortures his slave, representing the cruelty and treachery of the slave system as a whole. Similarly, Stanton writes about the struggle men have caused to women. She writes, “The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.” And proceeds to list the things that men have done to take away the basic human rights of these women.

I find the structure of this declaration interesting. I think having bullet points, making it easy to read and for the simple, common-folk to understand. Jacobs does the same thing with her book- to spread her story and education the other women and so everyone could easily interpret the message she sends to her audience (mainly white women from the North, but everyone too).

In Fredrick Douglass’s speech about the celebration of the 4^th of July, he speaks about how this is a “joyous” day for the white privileged, yet it is a day of mourning and grief for African Americans. “and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems of inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.” To the American slave, the 4^th of July shows the tragedies and horrors of injustice which he is a constant victim.

Incidents of the Life of a Slave girl and Fredrick Douglass’ famous speech were both written at a similar time; though Jacobs was hesitant to publish hers, Douglass wrote several versions of his story over several decades. Both of these notorious writers share similar stories of their escape to the North and their wishes to expose the evil slavery that existed in America. The theme they had in common also individually contained a unique perspective and sort of voice that narrates their stories.

First, Douglass’ is told from a man’s perspective, and as him being the hero and strong. On the other hand, Jacob’s story is primarily an emotional one; revealing her weakness. Her tone is apologetic and sad, which makes the reader more fearful than hopeful, in my opinion. Jacobs and Douglass each tell the female and male versions of their story through slavery, both very different yet very powerful and authentic.

To Autumn is a lyrical poem written in the Romantic ages by English poet, Keats. Spring Prospect was written by Tu Fu around the year 760 A.D. The two lyrical poems, To Autumn and Spring Prospect both use nature, specifically the seasons, as a lens of viewing, responding to, and experiencing the challenges faced.

In terms of these poem’s forms, because the Chinese “share the same homogenous and unbroken intellectual tradition and therefore understand the same references, it becomes possible to say something that will be generally understood without saying it” (introduction), Spring Prospect is much shorter in length and form, using only 8 lines. The latter part of this quote really resonated with me as a break-through in understanding how the Chinese works of literature are short yet powerful, concise yet profound.

In contrast, “To Autumn” is written in three, eleven line stanzas. It is a longer piece, written with detail and imagery. “in Western literature, poetry is primarily perceived as imaginative fiction”, as opposed to it being culturally understood, without having to blatantly express it.

In my opinion, both these poems have a sort of ambiguous vibe. In Spring Prospect, the subject or the speaker is unknown. In lines 3 and 4, it mentions “feeling the times, flowers draw tears, hating separation, birds alarm the heart.” It makes us question, is the speaker observing this happening, or is he the one “feeling” and “hating”. The authors leaves it to our own interpretation. Similar to the poem, To Autumn, we are left with a sense of ambiguity on who exactly Keats is referring to when he speaks about “conspiring with him” in line 3.

I found several common themes between these two beautifully written pieces. First, the evidently expressed approaches to the natural world. Spring Prospect instills a feeling of fear and sadness: “flowers draw tears, hating separation” (line 3) In To Autumn, nature (or the season of Autumn) was painted in a very positive light, for most of the poem at least. The speaker describes the endless fruits, blooming flowers and magnificent scenery. Both the poems depict the quiet observation and subtle appreciate for nature, truly referring to G-d.

In To Autumn, Keats essentially deifies the season of Autumn. While I was reading this poem, it reminded me of some sort of prayer, as if this was his way of connecting to G-d. In the first two lines of the Spring Prospect, Tu Fu describes “the nation shattered, hills and streams remain; The city in spring, grass and trees deep;” separating the natural from the unnatural. I think he is alluding to link that divides humanity to nature or the divine. I interpreted this poem as him telling the reader that we are not in control of what the divine does, our nation can be shattered while the hills and streams stay the same, and that we may never understand why.

Similarly, in To Automn, I believe the author is having a revelation about G-d and the cycle of life. The first stanza speaks about fruitfulness, growth and ripening of nature. The second section discusses the harvesting, the labor that goes into growing this beautiful image he paints. At the end of this passage, he writes “Thou watches the last oozings hours by hours”, ultimately referring to the winter approaching. This part of the poem becomes melancholy. The third paragraph speaks about the decline, he is awaiting as Autumn slowly transitions into the desolation of winter, “sinking as the light wind lives or dies.” This cycle is the cycle of life: we are born (we sprout like flowers), we live (harvest) and we die (ultimate decline). It is told with a sense of inevitable loss, something that is bound to happen and out of our control, just like Spring prospect described. So although he is anticipating winter’s approach, the speaker is hopeful, appreciative, and cherishes the experiences of loss in a meaningful way, he learned from experience. That period of harvesting was part of that seasonal cycle, and it softened the idea of a grand tragedy. It is hopeful- knowing that spring will come again and accepting of the fact that it is in the control of G-d, and not humanity, just like Springs Prospect.

When I was growing up, we had the DVD of Edward Scissorhands in our home. Although I haven’t seen the film in years, many different aspects of Mary Shelley’s novel reminded me of this Romantic dark fantasy film. Edward Scissorhands was released in 1990 and directed by the famed Tim Burton. For those who don’t know, his style is very dark, gothic, and spooky- just like Frankenstein. The plot of the film Edward Scissorhands is essentially about an old inventor or “mad scientist” who forms this creature with scissorblades instead of hands. His creature died before completing and raising him. Edward eventually is found by a nice family who takes him in. Edward seems like a dangerous being but we soon see how compassionate and kind he is. He ends up falling in love with a woman named Kim, and discovers that he can use his bizarre feature for something beautiful and positive- cutting and carving bushes. Unfortunately, things changed for the worse when he accidentally causes troubles in the town.

It is pretty evident how many similarities there are between these two brilliant tales. Tim Burton and Mary Shelley’s texts both present the idea of a vicious society in which prejudice and acceptance are constant struggles.

The style of the stories are similar as in they are told within frames. In Edward Scissorhands, the grandmother is telling a story to a young girl.

Both scientists had principled intentions in creating this being. Similarly to Victor, Edward’s creator wanted a sort of companion, someone he could treasure, nurture and teach. Victor implied his reason for creating by saying that he wanted to have “a new species [that] would bless me as its creator and source”. (54) Contrastly, Edward Scissorhand’s creator instilled a sense of acceptance from the start- and Edward Scissorhands was able to function within society. Edward felt love and therefore he differed from the creature in Frankenstein with his emotional stability. I believe both these works had this notion of putting something in a certain unfamiliar and uncomfortable environment and both creatures returned to their original familiar state.

The second similarity is that both creatures lived the first part of their lives in total isolation. Frankenstein’s monster was abandoned and on his own, as was Edward Scissorhands when he lived in his creator’s house for years before being found. This time of isolation had a large impact on their interactions with other humans.

A symbol that appears in both tales is that of snow and ice. In Frankenstein, Victor gets stuck in the mountains full of snow/ice and find the creature in the ice. Ice is a restriction and obstacle, yet it brings Walton, the creature and Victor together in different scenarios. In Edward Scissorhands, he discovered the beautiful sculptures he could carve from ice with the thing that made him look so evil. With this, he made a lasting positive impact and the snow brought him closer to society.

Edward Scissorhands and Frankenstein were written in very different time periods, however, society is vicious in both. This provokes the readers and viewers to reflect on common discourse and issues in society today.

Nearing the end of Chapter 4, Shelly illustrates the scene where Victor Frankenstein builds his creation. Although I was tempted to write about the famed scene of the monster’s emergence, I think this passage, on page 54-55, is extremely powerful and sets the tone for the rest of the novel. In the first few chapters, Victor paints a very picturesque portrait of his essentially perfect childhood. He discusses his family, Elizabeth, his friend Henry, where he grew up, his love for knowledge of science, math and philosophy. He proceeds to attend school and becomes passionate about natural philosophy.

In chapter 4, his passion turns into an unhealthy obsession, which leads him to isolate from his friends, family and society around him. He soon discovers the “secret to creating life” and decides to build his very own creature.

Just by skimming down the page, we see him speaking of himself in a very pretentions and arrogant way as he narrates this story. “ I found so an astonishing power in my hand” (53). The specific passage that intrigued me is when he is in the midst of creating his work. The way Victor describes himself is frightening. He explains the “horrors of [my] secret toils” by depicting how he became sick and emaciated due to his loneliness and how he visits the graveyards to collect body parts and tortures living animals until they become like clay. These horrifying images makes me wonder if Victor is in fact as monstrous as the beast he is about to conceive. I also wonder how his love for knowledge, understanding human anatomy and life turned into something evil.

Another question I posed was, for what reasons does Victor feel the need to build his creation?

As aforementioned, the scene I picked gave me the impression that Victor was turning into this monster! It puzzled me how he went from having this perfect life to becoming the way he did. He had a very stable family with his parents and Elizabeth. So, what made him leave all that behind to go build his creature? One could assume that he was using his knowledge and understanding of life for good purpose. Perhaps Victor performed this project to better mankind, or to find a way to create a “new human”.

Yet, he says, “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption.” (54) This sentence exemplifies his ulterior motive to become a G-dlike figure to this new breed of human. I believe that Victor Frankenstein used his knowledge for very selfish and egotistical purposes.

In the Torah, (the Jewish Bible) knowledge is compared to fire. Like anything, fire can be used for positive and can also be extremely detrimental. You can use fire as a source of light and warmth, but at the same time if used improperly, it can cause severe damage. So too, in Frankenstein’s case, his brilliance and knowledge of chemistry and philosophy could have been used in positive ways, but ended up having a devastating result.

I believe that another reason Frankenstein decides to build this creature was to have a sense of control over the ideas of life and death. His mother’s death evidently took a toll on his attitude towards life and he though that if he had the proper solution, he could fix this notion of fate.

Two and a half years ago, I tore my MCL, patella, and meniscus while dislocated my left kneecap. Disclaimer: this is not some heroic story of how I brought my team to a victory while I severely injured myself. This story is pretty embarrassing and unfortunate.

Scorching summer sun,

Beads of sweat roll down my face,

Energy is drained.

The Manhattan air feels thick and stuffy. Even though you are outside in the open space, you feel claustrophobic as ever. The minute I get home from my summer internship, I strip off the drenched, skintight clothing that had constricted my body to move freely and my pores to breathe all day.

Shower is ice cold,

My headache starts to subside,

And muscles unwind.

I dress myself, brush out my tangled, coffee brown hair. I gather up the slightest sum of energy I have remaining within me, pull out my yoga mat from under my bed, and commence my daily workout, which consists of stretches, squats, crunches and push-ups. I begin the routine; staring bleakly at the cheerful, toned blond woman on my iPhone screen yelling, “Let’s go! One more! You got this!” in efforts to encourage me not to give up.

Mimic her gestures,

Annoyed by her high pitched voice,

Counting down seconds.

Suddenly, I hear the dreading POP sound. My body involuntarily collapses to the ground. BOOM. I lay there frozen like an ice statue, although it is 98 degrees outside. I look down to the direction of the revolting clatter, and see my kneecap completely dislocated out of its socket, and twists to the opposite side of my leg. It was a perturbing image, straight out of those horror films where the disturbing creatures are deformed. I hear myself screeching for help. Ten seconds passed, and then twenty and thirty. The pain only gets sharper, a heavy dagger butchering itself through my scrawny left leg.

Fiery red cheeks,

Tears are streaming my face,

Blurring my vision.

Next thing I know, about 5 men are surrounding me asking me questions I cannot answer. I see their faded silhouettes, like shadows casted by a warm sunset and the shapes of their mouths moving, as I feel my world spinning, falling into a dark, mysterious hole. The only thing I can feel are the ligaments around my knee being ripped out of place like the lion biting off the flesh of his prey. And then, I feel nothing.