July 19, 2013
Two blog posts in a single day? Yup. This morning I finished up my six week long summer course, and I wasn't scheduled at either of my jobs. So what better way to spend a very hot and humid day but by sitting around, waiting for phone calls regarding job applications and interviews (still have some of that going on...I've had encouraging prospects, but no actual contract offers), and doing some hardcore reading? To be fair, The Metamorphosis is a short novella, definitely an in-one-sitting sort of read (and I did run a couple of errands in between parts). Another one of those classic texts that I've always meant to read, but...
Anyway, most people are familiar with the very basic premise of the story. A man (Gregor Samsa) wakes up one morning and has turned into a giant cockroach (I should note that the sort of creature he's turned into is never identified in the text by name, but I've always envisioned it as a cockroach). But obviously there is more to the story than that. Really, this is a family drama (there is some humor infused into the story; come to think of it, I would love to see a stage production of this story). When Gregor's role within his family is first described, it seems like he's a nice guy, a dutiful son. His father had been a businessman, but when his business failed, he went into early retirement...though he couldn't really afford to. His mother was stricken with arthritis, and his sister Grete was a very young girl. And so, Gregor took it upon himself to shoulder the family's financial burden. He must be in his 30's, as it said in the text that he'd been working for his company for over a decade as a salesman. He had already gone to college, and had served in the military. Yet he was not married; he lived in a small room in his parents' flat, saving up to send his sister, a violin player, off to a music school.
Well, Gregor is a sympathetic character at first. He's a cockroach...he's own family is disgusted with him, and he's kept shut up in his room. He begins to behave more and more like an animal, though he maintains some of his humanity, some of his conscious thoughts and feelings. His family doesn't realize that he can understand them still, as they cannot understand him when he tries to communicate. He is aware of their struggles due to his, uh, unique condition. Not only the shame of having a monster to care for and keep hidden away (they lose their cook the morning of the "metamorphosis," the chief clerk from Gregor's job runs out in terror, and the maid stays on for a while under the condition that she may remained locked in the kitchen to see to her duties), but also the fact that they all must return to the work force, even young Grete. This, and their disgust at the sight of the giant cockroach monster, causes them to neglect Gregor. He eventually dies.
In the end, though the family is sad to have lost the Gregor they'd once known and loved, they are optimistic about the future. They even feel good about their occupations, and Grete, a lovely girl, looks forward to a promising marriage. Now, after all of Gregor's lonely suffering in his pitiful state, some might think that the family's reaction to his death is pretty messed up. I disagree, and here's why.
The Metamorphosis is...a metaphor? Oh, yes! You see, Gregor, the ever-devoted martyr of a son, wasn't doing his family any favors by allowing them to be depend on his income. It was observed in the text that, after a couple of years of taking their son's money, his parents stopped accepting it with warmth and gratitude. Maybe they felt that it was time for Gregor to move on with his life, to start his own family with his money and let them take care of their business. They didn't really ask him to take on their financial woes, did they? That wasn't indicated to me in the text. Gregor wasn't even happen doing the job that he was doing, but if he put his parents' debts back on them, he could leave that job and move on to something better.
Gregor saw his family as a burden, though his thoughts of their dependency on his didn't seem bitter. When the tables were turned, however, Grete eventually was the one to declare that Gregor was a burden to the family, and a disgusting monster, and that they should get rid of him. Gregor died that night, unburdening his family. Yes, strange and sad that no reason was ever found for why he turned into a cockroach in the first place, and that there was no hope of his turning back.
I read (on Wikipedia) that Kafka basically wrote this story to express his own feelings of being a burden to his own family, especially to his sister, when he was ill. It was basically his way of expressing his own anguish at not being able to man-up. There's a middle ground, I think. Of course, family should help each other out in hard times, like if someone is sick or someone turns into a giant disgusting cockroach. But at a certain point, family should not be so dependent on one another. It isn't healthy; Grete's act of opening the window each time she entered her brother's room to do some cleaning or leave him some food would indicate that she felt suffocated by his presence. So really, it wasn't Gregor's turning into a cockroach that was so wrong, but his actions prior to this; making his family dependent on him, remaining in his family's home when he ought to be making his own way.
Different cultures would take quite a different view of this, of course. But I would say that some of the family themes of this text struck with me. I've never wanted to be too dependent on my family, especially when it comes to finances. If I've ever had to borrow money from my dad, for example, I've always tried to pay him back promptly. Other people in my family don't feel the way that I do about codependency, but even though I live in the same city, I live on my own and perhaps see most of my family members (certainly my dad, and my sister and her children) once a week or so. Family ties are important; I want to stay in this area, and find a teaching position and settle down around here, but I don't want to move in with any of my family members, and I definitely don't want to shoulder any of their financial responsibilities. Nor do I want them to shoulder any of mine. At the end of the story, Grete was ready to make her way into the adult world. She looked to the future with eagerness and hope, knowing that she would not suffer the same fate as her poor cockroach of a brother.
I hear that.
 |
| Ew. |
 |
| Kafka. He was kind of adorable, wasn't he? And his hat made me giggle. |
No comments:
Post a Comment