In the character chat room we started out talking about the functions and personalities of the characters. Most people were upset with Grete for turning her back on Gregor. Some people weren't certain that Gregor ever actually turned into a bug. I felt there was enough evidence to indicate that he had indeed turned into a bug. There was also a lot of disgust for the family turning their backs on Gregor despite the fact that he was single handedly supporting the family and paying off his fathers debt. We started talking about parallels between Gregor and Kafka, there was also some talk about tuberculosis. Someone suggested that the borders could symbolize society. Everyone seemed to hate the father. We talked about how creepy the charwoman was. We wondered what ever happened the doctor after Grete went to get him. Everyone agreed that Gregor probably didn't steal from his work.
In the potpourri chat room we talked about how everyone felt about the story. It seemed like a 50/50 split on whether people liked it or not. We talked a little bit about how the mothers job was sewing lingerie for a clothing store. We talked about how odd it was that at the end of the story everyone liked their job even though none of them wanted to work. We discussed how hard it would be to take care of someone in your own family everyday if they were unable to take care of themselves. Everyone was disappointed that the family was happy when Gregor dies. We talked about if the story had been different had the borders not seen Gregor.
I'm still on the fence as to whether Gregor was mentally sound or not. I went through the whole novel 100% sure that he had physically transformed, but other people's viewpoints shook that a little bit. Regardless of the transformation, it's still about Gregor as a person being alienated.
ReplyDeleteWhen you bring up how everyone liked their jobs after no one wanted to work in the beginning, it brings up yet another example of irony. It's ironic that everyone COULD have been working while Gregor was providing by himself. It's also ironic that after Gregor worked so hard for so long, it amounted to practically nothing, because his sister never ended up receiving his savings for her schooling, and the family ended up enjoying their new life transitions.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't in the chat when you guys talked about how the story would have been different if the boarders hadn't seen Gregor. I wondered about this as well, were they a more significant part of the story? One idea mentioned was that their function was to show how badly the family needed money after Gregor stopped working. I think that there was more to it, they showed curiosity in Gregor and they weren't the least bit alarmed or scared when they saw him crawling out of his room. I feel the same way about the charwoman, she checks on him every day to look at him, she's the first to notice that he has died, and she even contemplates killing him with a chair at one point. What do you guys think this all means or signifies?
It might be a testament to people's morbid curiosity. Like how people slow down to see a car crash. It also seems to me like there needs to be more to the boarders. Why did all three of them have long beards? He mentions that specifically. I don't know.
DeleteI guess I don't see the charwoman as being that creepy, at least not initially. She at least was able to accept Gregor in a way that other family members were not. In the incident with the chair, she is just trying to defend herself because Gregor is challenging her to some extent. What she does at the end--her indifferent expression about Gregor's death--is what seems MORE creepy to me.
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