What I liked about this book was that it was full of science fiction and that made it difficult to discover the possible meanings. It was very complex and definitley made me think. I think that some of the meanings could be that his condition was a metaphor and something that is assumed. In the discussions I joined we talked about if Gregor was a bug at all, or if he was just socially isolating himself. This explanation makes a lot of sense to me because it gave a sort of realism to the book. We also discussed how this metaphor could be used today with how we treat sick loved ones. These people are sent to live with help or if they live at home they could be seen as a burden becasue they need constant care.
Another thing we discussed was the similarities between Gregor and Kafka. The father figure was similar in both Kafka's life and Gregor's life. Another similarity is that Grete is a big part of both of their lives. In Kafka's life, Grete was his girlfriend and in Gregors life, Grete was his younger sister. I also thought that both men felt isolated in their situations. Gregor felt like he was an outsider in his family because of what he turned into and wanted to be a part of something but couldn't. I believe that Kafka must have also felt this way when he had tuberculosis because he might have less physical contact because he was sick. One of the last similarities was that they both died early and in a horribly painful way.
I hated the book as soon as I finished it. When I read the last page I thought to myself, "Wtf!?" I wasn't even really sure how we were going to discuss this book, but by reading posts on the discussion board and in the chat rooms I found that there are indeed many different meanings to this novel and I found myself making connections that I didn't even think were possible. After watching the lecture, I found it very ironic in that how much Kafka and Gregor were alike. The fact that they basically died in the same scenarios is pretty cool and whether or not Kafka meant for that to be tied into a deeper meaning makes the novel that much more unique and mysterious.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I think you're right about how this book relates to today. We don't treat our sick loved ones--esp. our OLDER sick loved ones--as well as we should. I think lots of times it's inconvenient or difficult to go to nursing homes, for example, because they are places that we ourselves don't wish to end up in. So we don't want to be reminded of our own frality. Gregor, though, is forced to confront it and deal with it head-on.
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