Group Members: Radia, Elizaveta, and Mel
Comment #1 – Radia
Initially, Gregor is perceived as the breadwinner of the family and his family depends on him. However, once he transforms into a cockroach, his family gradually begins to lose sympathy for him. They no longer believe there is any humanity left in Gregor. Grete describes Gregor in the end, “We must get rid of it… You just have to put from your mind any thought that it’s Gregor.” She no longer believes Gregor is there and assumes he doesn’t understand anything. In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave, prisoners are trapped in cave for all their lives. When one of them leaves the cave, he is confronted with the true nature of reality. The shadows are no longer viewed as reality. However, when he tells the prisoners, no one believes him. They completely shut him out and don’t believe him. Like the Samsas, the prisoners don’t try to sympathize or understand the man. He’s the outcast which symbolizes Gregor’s fate. Gregor can no longer fit in his family. They no longer take care of him or feed him. Eventually, I believe Gregor dies of starvation. Due to his metamorphosis, Gregor is viewed as a burden. Gradually, he became weaker and weaker; his body couldn’t handle it any longer.
Comment #2 – Elizaveta
Gregor, who was financially responsible for his whole family, suddenly becomes incapable of doing it and turns into a cockroach. However, no one seems to care about him, or his feelings. Even Gregor is not surprised. The cockroach is an insect whose actions are below society’s meaningful standards. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to get rid of a cockroach. It symbolizes Georg’s meaningless lifestyle. Radia wrote, “They [The family] no longer believe there is any humanity left in Gregor.” I agree with it, and it proves my point that society does not see Georg as a human.
Plato’s Cave Allegory expresses his thoughts on how to see the truth and real world, and how society react to that different reality. In the allegory, the person who saw truthful reality became an outsider. Georg broke from the absurdity of modern life and became an alien to his family. Kafka wrote about his family, “they discussed the prospects for the future; it turned out that on closer inspection these were not all bad because the work of all of them … was proceeding in a very encouraging way.” After the death of Georg, nothing changed. The world continued to spin around, and the society continued to live in the chains to see what they want to see and not what is really there.
Radia,
I really liked the quote you used in your response, “We must get rid of it… You just have to put from your mind any thought that it’s Gregor.” This quote helps further my point that the two stories( the cave and metamorphosis) are simmilar in that Plato was trying to say that not everything we see and hear is true. Georgs parents and siblings are trying to ground themselves in reality based off what Georg looks like as an insect. My point is although Georg may physically be an insect, he is still very much Geog as a person. Not everything we see and hear is aligned with reality.
I love Elizaveta’s ending quote, “The world continued to spin around, and the society continued to live in the chains to see what they want to see and not what is really there.” I believe this perfectly relates to both stories as both main characters seemed to be ignored by society which led to their end. Society doesn’t seem to see either characters as human or as apart of them, and push them away through insults or by treating them as if they are lower. In the end it reigns to be true that what others think of us truly can shape how we come out to be.
I also saw it the same way Radia said it, “However, once he transforms into a cockroach, his family gradually begins to lose sympathy for him. They no longer believe there is any humanity left in Gregor.”. The family relied on Gregor for everything then when he need their help, they turn away. Gregor’s sister was a little different he fed him, tried to move the furniture, etc. to make him feel better, but ultimately she too turned her back on him. Also with the new reality that was presented to the prisoners in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” these two works of literature can be closely related in the theme of realities.
-Denny Huang
Elizaveta,
I agreed with many of the points you made throughout your response such as the symbolic meaning behind Gregors meaningless life style and how out of all the animals he could have been transformed into a cockroach. As you wrote, the symbolic meaning behind becoming a cockroach represents how little society thinks of an insect. I also agree with the connection you make with the person in Plato’s Cave Allegory and how the person who saw truthful reality became an outsider. The way you ended your paragraph and point with “The world continued to spin around, and the society continued to live in the chains to see what they want to see and not what is really there” which provides an insightful look into the lives of these people who despite giving everything were ultimately destroyed by society.