Blog post for Metamorphosis

       In the setting group for part one of the discussion, I learned of a greater meaning from William that Kafka was trying to relate the philosophic thought of existentialism to Gregor's character.  Through this, Kafka was trying to show the absurdity of the life that Gregor leads and that he was "morphing" away from that life.  I didn't quite understand what William meant at first, but after discussing with others in the irony group for part two, I think I gained a greater meaning.  In the irony group we talked about how ironic it was that prior to his metamorphosis, Gregor was the primary provider for his family and when he turned into a bug his family looked at him as a great burden.  In the beginning of the book, I think that Kafka was trying to show the absurdity of Gregor's life in that he was so worried about money and providing for his family that that was the only purpose to his life.
       I think that Gregor began to morph away from that purpose when he began to realize that his family took everything he had done for granted.  When his family figures out that he is an insect, their first thought is how are they going to support themselves?  When they finally do get jobs, it becomes a nuisance for them to take care of Gregor in a time period of less than a few months.  Gregor knows that he has taken care of his family for the last five years and by being a burden to his family in such a short period of time, the existential thought of alienation kicks in and he goes through his metamorphosis.  One question that I felt went unanswered was why Kafka chose to use an insect and why he did not specify which insect Gregor had turned into.  When I think about it, it kind of makes sense, as all insects go through a metamorphosis between the different cycles of their life.  Because all bugs do that, he did not necessarily need to specify which insect Gregor had turned into!