In the lecture chat room for part one, we discussed some of the parallels between Kafka and Gregor. The irony between the relationships with people in their lives, as well as feeling alienated from the rest of the world. One thing that really stuck out to me was when someone stated, "There is some purpose to why this novel was simple yet so complicated." It got me thinking, the idea of the novel was so simple, but I feel it really gives you a completely different perspective, a sense of being part of the book. I felt the emotions expressed when Gregor felt alienated from the rest of the world, how it feels to be an outcast. I admit that there have been times in my life where I've felt like the outcast, but I never necessarily felt that's its ever a bad thing. It made Gregor depressed, and he felt like he didn't have a purpose. In the chat, one person said, "You feel sad for Gregor because he isnt worth much, his only point in the family was to work harder and harder to provide but never really give any emotion. When he wakes up as a bug, he is unable to provide, thus becoming even more worthless." There was also a discussion between the nihilistic view of the book, and the view of existentialism. I felt that the novel was more of a existentialistic in the beginning, but post-metamorphosis, Gregor takes on the view of nihilism. He figured out what he enjoyed in the beginning, what he liked to eat and do, and attempted to find his purpose in my opinion. But based on his situation with his family, I feel that he lost sight of that perspective and eventually felt there was no purpose, he was just a burden.
In the present-day chat room for part two, there was a discussion of how Gregor may suffer from a terminal illness and feels somewhat disabled from communicating with people. Someone also brought up the idea that maybe he just woke up and had a realization. The idea of nihilism and existentialism was also brought up here as well. I learned a lot of different and alternate view points on how everyone else felt about the book. In my opinion, I felt that he actually did turn into a bug in a sense. Mental disorder or not, he turned into what he felt like. He experienced the physical characteristics of a bug, the struggles, and the alienation from the rest of the world. When people put it in terms of Gregor being "alienated" from the rest of the world, I thought of it in terms of almost extra terrestrial. In my opinion, I do believe that aliens exist somewhere in the universe and have came to our planet and had some something to do with our creation and our development as a species. But in reality, not many people believe that perspective. Even if you don't believe that may be true, think about it as a hypothetical situation. If we were aware of alien presence on our planet, would they feel how Gregor felt, or would they feel they have a purpose? If we were in that position, but surrounded by aliens, would we feel alienated? Would we still have a purpose? I guess that is one question I still have when it comes to the novel. If Gregor would have not died and been stuck in that predicament, would he still have a purpose? Would he have been successful in doing so, or was he just doomed into a nihilistic view on life?
Hey Dylan!
ReplyDeleteI really like the “simple yet complicated” view of this novel. I definitely agree that Gregor was alienated, in fact, it seemed as though he probably always had been. His father, mother, and sister seemed very close yet the beginning of the novel starts with them scolding Gregor for being late to work. He was in the army, and given the time period I’m sure he was rather young when he joined, and then worked as a traveling salesman—two jobs that kept him away from his family who, in my opinion, probably didn’t even miss him. The whole thing was very nihilistic as you mentioned. The story was almost told in a monotone, factual way as though “this is the way things are” and it was never questioned. It’s interesting that Gregor never retaliated for their treatment towards him. As for the alienation Gregor experienced, I like the way you explained it. He had literally gone for one person out of millions, to the only creature like himself that existed in world. How do we treat bugs? We swat at them, throw things at them, kill them without second thought. I wonder why Kafka chose to have Gregor morph into a bug. Imagine how different the story would have been if he turned into say, a dog or a cat! The family probably would have let it sleep at the end of their bed, given it fresh food and water, loved and adored it, petted it, and given it a name!
"There is some purpose to why this novel was simple yet so complicated."
ReplyDeleteThat struck me as well. There's a kind of beauty in simplicity, ya know? Especially because it ran so closely to Kafka's own human experience. And because of Gregor's condition, we can pick out various things that most everyone can relate to.
Going off of the first part of your blog I agree that it is very difficult to deal with alienation and being an outcast. It is hard to find one's self worth when you aren't loved by anyone and don't have a real purpose in life. When Gregor lost his human body he could no longer work like he used to and he was left to nothing. His life before revolved around working and providing for his family but when that ability was taken away from him he was left with nothing. I think that he had isolated himself so much while he was a salesman and didn't lead a life outside of work that in the end this definitely increased his isolation. His mother even commented on how he stayed home and read the paper instead of going out and being social. I think this hurt him because he had no true friends and had only his family to rely on, and in the end they failed him.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to your first paragraph about existentialism vs. nihilism--as I mentioned in my response to William, I'm not sure it's a question of "either/or." I think both can co-exist within the same novel and they can even envelop each other to some extent. There is such as a thing as "existential nihilism."
ReplyDeleteRegarding your second paragraph--it reminds me of the science fiction aspect of the novel, which not a lot of people have mentioned in their blogs thus far. It would be interesting to read this novel as Gregor being "an alien from another planet" that the family is forced to confront. But due to Kafak's ominscient role as narrator, we know that the bug is Gregor, and the family assumes such as well.