Grateful to be Human!

In Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, there seems to be a very thin line between reality and fantasy. The reality of the short story is that Gregor, the protagonist of the story, is a young man with a boring life that revolves around work and supporting his family. The fantastic part of the story starts right form the first line of the short story “as Gregor Samsa awoke one morning” (89) and found himself “transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect”.

Some of the elements that make it realistic are the detailed descriptions Kafka gives the reader. For example, Gregor “could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments”, and “His numerous legs…waved helplessly before his eyes”. It is hard for the reader to not believe that Gregor has really turned into a bug with such detailed descriptions of Gregor’s transformed insect body.

I do believe that Gregor has transformed into a bug, but there is also the side where this transformation from human to bug could be more symbolic than real. I believe that this transformation symbolizes the boring life that Gregor carried. In many ways he was like a bug. He slept in different places and grew use to being alone. He did not have friends let alone any acquaintances. He only ate to satisfy his appetite and go forth with what was more important to him, which was his work. Also, it shows the true significance that Gregor really had in his family. In the beginning of the story, Gregor makes it seem as if his family is highly dependant on his income and that his family is incapable of surviving without him. The metamorphosis exploits the reality of the situation completely. It shows that Gregor is truly not needed in the family and that sadly, when he dies, the family acts as if a huge burden has been lifted off of them and they can finally live a normal life that they dream of.

is it religion?

In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, a family encounters an old man who has enormous wings. Pelayo and Elisenda, the husband wife that found the old man, decide to put the old man into the chicken coop because the old man seems physically incapable of doing anything. Eventually, the word gets out to the town that there is an old man with wings, and Pelayo and Elisenda decide to charge people to come see the old man for there own profit. Eventually the people of the town start to wonder if the old man really is an angel, and decide to call the priest to get the final word. The priest judges whether this man is just an old man with wings, or if he really is an angel only by the words of the bible, and not by any other means.

“The parish priest had his first suspicion of an imposter when he saw that he not understand the language of God or know how to greet His ministers.” This is a perfect example of how the priest only obeys what the bible tells him. The priest has never spoke to an angel or god himself before, how is he so sure that the Language of god is truly Latin. Also, the priest judges that the old man is really not an angel by the way he smells, and the fact that his wings were “strewn with parasites”. He has not ever seen an angel before, but he only judges by the words that are in the bible, and does not use his own judgment. This opens a new point that society relies to heavily on religion and forget to use there own judgments.

Marquez also critiques the Catholic Church when it comes to the hierarchy in the system. It represents more a government then it does a religion. For example “he promised to write to his bishop so that the latter would write to his primate so that the latter would write to the Supreme Pontiff in order to get the final verdict form the highest courts.” Marquez openly makes it sound as if he was talking about a government body with its different levels of power.

Emily Rose has a facebook!

Facebook status: Never a day goes by where I feel that I am alone anymore.

Compare People: Friends voted Emily as
1. Most antisocial
2. Most talked about
3. Most “let off the hook”

Favorite type of novel: romantic novels
Favorite pass times: daydreaming and acting.

Thread:

Emily: Homer will you please come back. I miss having your company and I feel as if I am not complete without you.

Homer Barron: I will be back soon. I will make sure to spend time with you when I get back. See you soon.

Emily: I don’t want you to leave when you get back. I want you to stay with me so we can be together.

I chose to give that Emily that specific facebook status to basically create irony for the people that have read and understand “A Rose for Emily”. She has Homer Barron locked up in the upstairs of her house, and the reason she did it was so he would not be able to leave and she would never have to be alone again.

Even though she probably would not have many friends, on the part where her friends get to vote for her, I put her as the most anti-social because she is never seen by the townspeople. She is also voted the most talked about because of how much the townspeople gossip about her. This is an important point since the reason we know so much about Emily is through the gossip of the townspeople. She is also voted the most “let off the hook” because the mayor does not even make her pay the taxes. She is given special treatment even by the upper echelon of society.

I put her favorite type of novel to be any type of romantic novel. The reason I chose this is because I think the reason she keeps Homer Barron upstairs is because she is in love with him and never wants him to leave. As sick as that might sound and as demented her perception of love may be, I think she did it for love.

I also put her favorite pass times as daydreaming and acting. Since she does not get out of the house much, she must have a great deal of time to herself. When one is alone for an extended amount of time, daydreaming is hard not to do. A also chose acting as a pass time because every time she lays next to Homer Barron’s dead corpse, I picture Emily Rose acting as if he were alive, possibly even talking to him as if he was able to hold a conversation.

The thread between Homer and Emily is a fairly normal conversation. I wanted to make it sound normal because I pictured Emily as a normal person before I found out what she did to Homer Barron in order to keep him with her forever. The thread also foreshadows what she is planning to do when he gets back, which is to murder him and keep him for herself.