Entering The Metamorphosis, I was not sure what to think. It is a book that seems like it should be a dream. Gregor suddenly wakes up as a bug one morning after waking up late. The weird thing about this situation is more that Gregor doesn't care so much that he has turned into a bug, but more that he is going to be late for work. If I was in that position, work would be the absolute last thing on my mind. I'd be thinking more along the lines of "What the hell?" or "Who can I scare now?" not "The next train left at seven o'clock, and in order to catch it he would have to rush around like mad," (8). He is so focused on work that he barely considers how his change will impact other people. The only thing he thinks about is work. His mother describes him as kind of pathetic because he spends his free time studying time tables for trains so that he is never late for work. Work consumes his entire life, thoughts and all. The only sense of individualism one can get from him is the framed picture of a woman from a magazine. He made the frame and picked the picture, but there isn't much else for the reader to know about him, because he is all work.
In some ways, he was already a bug before the transformation. Consider the ant. Ants have one purpose: to do work that will benefit the colony. That is what Gregor does. He works so that he can pay off his father's debts and so that his family will not be out on the streets. An ant has no sense of individualism. An ant is just one part of the colony that must do what it can for the queen. Maybe becoming a bug is one way for him to develop a sense of individuality. He will have a story to tell. Something to differentiate himself from others. Or maybe he acted so much like a lowly working ant that he actually became one. There is a part of quantum mechanics in which people's perception of reality may be able to actually shape reality itself. I do not know how true this is (I doubt it myself, but it is an interesting idea), but maybe other people saw Gregor so much as a non-individual that only worked that he actually became a bug.
Gregor is in a weird spot with his job. He states "If I were not holding back because of my parents, I would have quit long ago. It is clear that he does not enjoy his job. This is made even more clear by the head clerk saying that his performance has been inadequate lately. But Gregor can't leave. He has to take care of his parents. But why can't he just get another job? It appears as though Gregor's parents owe some debt to his boss specifically, and that probably has resulted in Gregor being trapped in his travelling salesman job. I kind of feel bad for Gregor, being in the situation that he is in, but I find it hard to imagine him any other way. If Gregor's parents weren't in debt, would he be more likely to go out and do things in his free time. From what I know, I think he would be much the same. He would probably find something that he could stick to and become completely preoccupied with it. Gregor's buggyness would probabbly follow him no matter the type of life he had.
I completely agree with your idea that Gregor was almost bug-like even before his transformation. We can especially see this by the fact that he always stays up late doing work, and only thinks about work, as you pointed out. I think it's especially interesting how he approaches the situation with respect to his family and general surroundings. Because he is so preoccupied with getting to work and not being reprimanded by his boss, it seems that Gregor believes his family will simply accept his new form. This notion goes as far as to his actual job too. Gregor never considers the difficulties of performing his job as a travelling salesmen, a job in which being an insect would be an enormous hindrance. He is preoccupied with getting to his job and pleasing his boss, as opposed to how people will react once he is no longer alone in his room.
ReplyDeleteWe talked a lot in class about how Gregor doesn't really care about the transformation as much as it seems he should. I was expecting that indifference to be an aspect of the story more than an aspect of his character. We know that Gregor's world's a little weird. At least one person has suddenly turned into a cockroach, so maybe it's not a huge stretch to think that they might have slightly different reactions to strange happenings, either because they're more accustomed to them or because their chill attitudes are just another weird aspect of their universe. Is that making sense? Anyway, this theory is disproved when Gregor's parents and boss freak out when they see him. Apparently the not caring for his drastic change in appearance is an aspect of Gregor's character, rather than a property of the story/fictional universe he lives in.
ReplyDeleteI like the ant metaphor. Although, luckily for ants, every member of the colony is usually pretty busy; the colony rarely rests entirely on the shoulders of one ant, like Gregor's household does on his.
First of all I think that being on time may not be the first thing that comes to mind when I wake up to find that I'm a giant bug however because work is such a large facet of his life it makes at least some since that it's so high up on his list of concerns. The mind shaping reality idea isn't one that's new to me however I didn't think to apply it to this book. I have to agree that it would be really interesting if that were the case and perhaps if this transformation wasn't the only thing he's willed into being. Finally, I have to disagree when it comes to his life being the same no matter what. I believe nature and nurture have effects on our psyche and our personalities but I believe nurture is the bigger factor and that if Gregor had a different job he would be associating with different people that would mold him differently and perhaps change him a lot. We got the image of Gregor in a military uniform before this job, perhaps he was once a much more passionate individual who was turned into this ant by his commitment and employers.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that Kafka chooses to not introduce us to the "human" Gregor. We are given "insect" Gregor, and are left to speculate how he was before his metamophosis. Although I do believe that Gregor was a little bug-like before his transformation, since we are all products of our own environment, it would be interesting to see how much his family has shapped his personality. How long has his father had this debt? If Gregor didn't have the notion of his family depending on him for so long, maybe he would have more individualism because he would focus on himself more. Or what if he had a close friend or even closer relationship with his sister? It seems as though Gregor is lacking an intimate relationship with anyone, so he grasps onto to something that he can stay focused on. Just like when people get stressed out, it's best to divert their minds elsewhere until they can think clearly. Gregor's mind is in need of some serious diversion...a vacation perhaps. (Although with the dad and boss that he has, and with his ingrained mentality, I don't think a vacation is very likely).
ReplyDeleteI agree with the notion that Gregor's individuality seems to have been compromised by his dedication to his job and his routine. I felt similarly to you when beginning this story, it seems that Gregor's non-stop working cycle has affected him in such a way tha he suddenly transformed. He was changed into what he reflected. As we read on I hope to find out if that the working Gregor is true to his real self. I also remembered that Gregor was also in the military. I feel like routine is something that also very important there. Do you think this may have any effect on Gregor's need for a routine lifestyle?
ReplyDeleteI really like the comparison you make with Gregor being ant-like in his behavior. From the description we are given of him he seems to care about nothing other than his work, in a similar fashion to how an ants only purpose is to carry out actions to benefit the well-being of their colony.
ReplyDeleteIt's possible that Gregor's transformation into a bug is Kafka's commentary on how he was already a bug in the work aspect of his life, he had just not yet undergone the physical transformation. This is also supported by the fact that Gregor does not seem to be surprised by his transformation, giving me the impression that he was already bug-like in nature.
I think it's interesting that while Gregor seems to have no sense of individuality and may have been seen as an insect-like worker by people around him even before his transformation, he does have a very supportive relationship with his sister that seems to contrast the lack of human concern he gets from anyone else. His parents only seem to care about him for financial reasons, but his sister is the one who knows something is wrong and continues to feed him and take care of him even as a giant bug. I'm not sure that really adds anything to Gregor as an individual, but it shows he is able to observe other people's good qualities and have a relationship with somebody, which is more than could be said for an ant.
ReplyDeleteLuie, you mention that you can't picture Gregor as any different even if he were in a different job. This reminds me of a point raised during class discussion of The Sun Also Rises. We mentioned that even if Jake was not wounded, it didn't seem like Brett could commit to him, and their relationship would still be dysfunctional.
ReplyDeleteOne question this raises would be, do we see Gregor as just inherently "buggy" in the way he relates to people, or do we see this psychotic degree of deference and self-sacrifice as something *produced* by the culture he's a part of? Is this just the way he is, or have his parents and boss made him this way? He seems to have an outsized sense of the consequences of his tardiness, but indeed, his paranoia is confirmed when his boss actually shows up at his house. Gregor's crazy commitment to his work doesn't seem good enough for these people, and so it doesn't seem like the problem is "just him."
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