Thursday, March 22, 2012

Chat Sessions Summary


I learned from the chat sessions that every person reads stories differently. Each person can read the same story and yet, get something else out of reading it. All of us had some similar questions like how and why did this transformation occur? Though others had different questions like why did the family act the way they did. What would you do in the same situation? I found the sessions to be informative in learning about how others thought about the story. Also, in talking to all my fellow classmates they opened my mind to different perspectives and ideas that I had not thought of or figured out myself. I learned what they thought the picture of the woman in the magazine meant to Gregor. I learned that many people hated the Samsa family and their treatment of Gregor after he transformed as much as I did. I learned that the different themes of the story revolved around the Samsa family as much as around Gregor. I learned much more from the chat sessions than I know how to write about. There were many good ideas and conversations with many people in the class.

The questions I still have from the class involve mainly how Gregor transformed or why? Those are the biggest unanswered questions for me. I am aware that the ambiguous beginnings are involved in many stories we have read in lass however, I want some background to the transformation. I feel the story would have been more enjoyable to me if I would have known something more about the reason behind his transformation. Also, I have an unanswered question about the story in general. I wanted there to be more to it. I still cannot decide how I feel about it because I am unable to figure out whether I liked it or not. I have a question about that. I wish I could figure that about because it would help me with the story in general.

3 comments:

  1. I agree it was nice to get other people's veiws and opinions on how they interpreted the story. It kinda opened my eyes a little and made me think more deeply about certain things.

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  2. I never even thought twice about the photo of the woman. What does that symbolize and does it have anything to do with the lovers in Kafka's life and how he viewed them? It was pretty much the only personal affect he had in his room to begin with, wasn't it? Intersting then that it was a picture of a woman he didn't even know.

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  3. The photo of the woman, to me, represents some allowable beauty in Gregor's life. That's why he tries so hard to cling to it and won't let it be removed from his room.

    Regarding the beginning of the novel: I think it was deliberately jarring on Kafka's part to shock his audience into a bizarre reality. We as an audience are immediately forced to confront a situation that's beyond reality...something we couldn't possibly imagine happening, realistically. So it's a novel that challenges about how to think "what if".

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