2. In Aristotle’s Tragic Hero, there is some increase in awareness and self-knowledge for characters. In “Journey to the West” Monkey can be seen as a character who goes through self awareness, where can this be seen? And how does it affect Monkey?
-Myra K.
1) Plato’s theory of the Allegory of the Cave suggest that it is better to be the just man who encounters countless sufferings than the unjust man living life ignorantly. In “Bartleby the Scrivener,” by Herman Melville, Bartleby witnesses the truth of his life and job, but is he considered to be the ultimate ‘just’ man that Plato refers to?
2) In Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” he creates Bartleby to be a very different person from society; basically as an outcast. Since the scene take place in Wall Street, it is like a maze that Bartleby must navigate around. This is like the Minotaur Labyrinth. Bartleby’s life in a sense can be summed up like the maze in the Minotaur. Society is like the monster, Minotaur that he is trying to run away from, yet he cannot escape it no matter how hard he tries. In the Minotaur’s Labyrinth, nothing could defeat the monster, is that how Bartleby ultimately felt? Did he also feel that when he tried to fight back it was in a sense pointless because there was no way of ever winning against society?
-Kelly Kay
1) In Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Gregor could be see as a hero overcoming Campbell’s Heroic Journey. There are 8 stages in the heroic journey. According to Joseph Campbell’s theory, could we define Gregor’s journey as a success or a failure? Does the ending of the book determine the result?
2) In the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregor’s family remained heartless throughout his transformation. In the five stages of grief, you have to go through denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These stages help us identify how we’re feeling inside. Therefore, is it the reason why his family was acting “odd” in the story? Could the stages be used as an excuse of why his family wasn’t as caring? If so, how would you explain the bargaining stage in the story?
Crystal Wong
Thank- you for your perceptive, thought provoking comments! Here are some of your more salient observations:
(Also, just a friendly reminder: Remember, even if you are listed as a part of a group, you do not receive credit unless you actually post. As well, if you only comment on another post (just do Post 2) and do not create your own post (Post 1) then you also do not get credit for being present.)
Allegory of the Cave:
Roshelle (and Jonathan agrees) makes a very interesting comment when she points out that both of these stories are about the “power of the mind” to shape one’s view of the world; Mark agrees, and he points out that both stories show the power of perception; Crystal points out that both the “shadows” from the cave and Gregor’s new form are “disturbing” to the others, who would rather stay in their safe, limited worlds; Kelly, too, feels that the characters from both stories are happy in their ignorance, and that when confronted with change, people will always react negatively; Zeyu makes a very perceptive comment, when he points out that both stories (and most stories) have an “outsider,” one who moves away from his/her routine way of seeing things, and that Gregor’s transformation allows him to “understand the meaning of love.” This is very interesting. What do others think? Radia points out that in both stories, the family and the prisoners don’t try to understand the new “truth” that they are faced with; Elizaveta seems to agree, and she says that the others do not and will not see beyond their own version of the truth; Denny points out that the family, like the escaped prisoner, was actually able to then see a new reality for themselves, and maybe new hope?
Kaspar:
Chi makes the perceptive comment, when she points out that both Kaspar and “The Met.” show how uncaring society (and family) truly is; Myra agrees and says that both protagonists are not appreciated for who they are; Diana goes on to say that both stories teach the “lesson” that everyone must work together, to be truly productive;
In “The Metamorphosis” there are many “ending”. What I mean by this is that the end of “The Metamorphosis” isn’t one point according to who you ask, different people will say different ways where the story ended. For example, it could have ended with Gregor’s death, or it could have ended after his death when his family moved on and had a successful life, it varies with each person’s point of view. In this case, I’m going to use the ending where is family moved on after Gregor’s death. After Gregor’s death goods things begin to happen to them, they sell their house and move out into a smaller and cheaper one. On the way there they take a tram and they begin to notice that their daughter began to look prettier compared to her pale self back then. Things are looking good for them and then plan to marry her off to a wealthy man. The quote that said this is “While they were in these terms, almost at one and the same time Mr. and Mrs. Samsa noticed their increasily lively daughter, the way that late, in spite of the trouble that had made her cheeks pale, she had bloomed into an attractive and well-built girl.”. The family saw a new reality for themselves. This concept of reality is similar to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” where the prisoner are forced to face one way looking at shadows and believing that is their reality, this can be related to when Gregor was providing for them, that was going to be their reality. Then in “Allegory of the Cave”, a prisoner escapes the cave and see a new reality, this can be related to the “The Metamorphosis” where Gregor turns into a vermin, changing their reality again. Lastly in “Allegory of the Cave”, the prisoner returns and tries but fails to explain to the rest of this new reality, this is seen in “The Metamorphosis” as the point after Gregor’s death the last new reality.
-Denny Huang
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.
In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Plato adreses the power of human perception and how it is often flawed, leaving many of us far from the reality of any situation in our lives. The power of human perception is also evident in Metamorphasis by Kafka, where the main charecter, Georg, suddenly turns into an insect. The charecters in Metamorphasis could be compared to Platos cave dwellers in that they are victims of what they see and hear. They believe that Georg is a monster or “vermon” when in reality although his physical appearance may have changed, he is still the same person. This aligns with Plato’s idea that not everything we see and hear is true, we are often victims of our own perception. Georg could also be compared to the one cave dweller who breaks free from the “cave”, which is said to represent societal constraints. It is evident in the story that Georg is unhappy with his job along with his role as the primary bread winner of his family. Turning into an insect, although it was not his choice, allowed Georg to break free from his every day existance that he hated.
“The Metamorphosis” in Relation to “Kaspar”
Group Members: Chi Zhang, Myra Khan, Diana Rodriguez
Gregor’s death in the ending of “The Metamorphosis” isn’t the most melancholy part of the story’s ending. The fact that his own family, in which he works so hard for has turned their backs on him after his metamorphosis was simply sad. In addition to that, what’s even more depressing is that we, as readers, know the cold attitudes, and actions shown by the Samsas is no exaggeration in the society we live in today. This can serve as the connection to how “Kasper” was originated from a story that most likely have occurred in the past. Similar to how Gregor was left on his own without any attention from the Samsas toward the end of the story, Kaspar was raised in a dark basement for the majority of his childhood. One of the most overlooked aspect of both stories would probably be the lack of communication to the loner who is unable to provide for himself. After Gregor’s death, his father have proclaimed, “if only he understood us, then we might come to some sort of settlement with him…” The Samsas have neglected Gregor after he became a vermin so much that they never attempted to communicate with him and simply assumed the fact that he is unable to communicate. On the other hand, for Kasper, although the man did tell him what to do and what he should do, he never really gave Kasper a chance to say what his hopes were for his own life.
-Chi Zhang
I agree with Chi, there is little to no communication between Gregor and his family. All they expect of him is to go to work and pay for their living. The Samsas didn’t really care where he worked, how long he worked, just as long as he worked and provided for them. When Gregor first transformed into a vermin, his father’s initial reaction was anger then he started to cry. “His father clenched his fist with a pugnacious expression..then he covered his eyes with his hands and cried”. After his transformation, his family didn’t see him as someone they could verbally talk to, so didn’t really even bother to try. This relates to “Kasper” in a sense that the dark figure that came to Kasper just started to teach him how to say ‘horse’. And didn’t really ask what Kasper himself was capable of. As Chi points out “he never really gave Kasper a chance to say what his hopes were for his own life.” Both Kasper and Gregor were undervalued and weren’t expected to do anything else other than what they were told.
-Myra Khan
Upon reading The Metamorphosis and Kasper, the most evident similarities of the stories were the fact that they both were kept in a room locked up from having any form of contact with the outside world. Also as my group members previously pointed out, they both were cut from communication. However, I want to point out the pain that Kasper went through when he finally began to learn how to walk and the pain that we see Gregor’s family go through within the story, which led to finding their own independence from relying on Gregor and his financial support. We read in the beginning of the story about the tears shed, anger displayed, and ultimately disgust and neglect towards Gregor in The Metamorphosis. However, towards the end all three of the Samsa family members find jobs after Gregor dies. They go on a walk and think about a better future, as the story describes, “Sitting back comfortably in their seats, they discussed the prospects of their future; it turned out that on closer inspection these were not all bad..” I felt like one of the lessons represented in this story, was that it is best when everyone in the family or group is being productive, or else one or all are left to feel ungrateful and misunderstand the one that works the most.
-Diana Rodriguez
