By Jove, I love literary critique

Yesterday i felt my intellectual side strangely, abruptly, and welcomely awakened. I read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Yes, yesterday. All of it. It's not that long. Anyhow, my speed reading-talents are beside the point. The point is, i read it, enjoyed it, and now, shall attempt to give you my breif synopsis and critique. Ahem. So, Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find himself transformed into "a monstrous vermin". This opening is so comical...or weird, whatever.

So, that picture may give you an idea of what to expect. Yes, the poor boy has turned into a bug. He has some trouble getting up, as you might imagine, and can't work anymore, is quite a fright to his family, and only his sister, Grete, looks after him. She gives him food, cleans his room, and tries to make him comfortable...for awhile. She, though only a young girl, has to go to work, along with the parents. Eventually, Gregor completely gives up hope, his family can't stand him anymore, and he dies. Then the family recovers, and the conclustion of the little novel gives us the hope that they will now live a comfortable and happy life.
So what is the point? The interpretations range from sexual to marxist. I kinda liked the marxist one actually. It claims that Gregor's work has taken all the humanity out of him, and it eventually kills him. Darned capitalism - sucks the life right out of ya (well, actually it does...but later) However, there's a problem. He no longer works after the transformation. If it were really the work that killed him, he'd have to keep doing it, and he'd regain his humanity once he stops working. Thanks to Mark i've been thinking on another way to look at this work. There are about 5 aspects we really need to live fully - spiritual, emotional, intellectual, social, physical. (If you want to read more...go over here. Now, it's pretty obvious in reading the story that Gregor's humanity - as represented by his body and even clearly seen in his emotions and actions - is gone. Why? He was completely absorbed in his own little world of work, money, providing for his family, ect., that he deprived himself of any emotional, social, spiritual, or even intellectual life. He's physically running around like crazy and working hard, but he's just a machine. Once this process starts, he becomes the "vermin". But what was he so deprived of that he actually died? Well, again, he's obviously deprived of his physical body. He can't do things anymore. He can't sleep in his bed, leave the house, or anything human except sit in an armchair and look out the window. He's socially outcast, he can't communicate with his family, and all his attempts to do so are grossly misinterpreted, so badly that his father starts throwing apples at him...one apple sticks in his exoskeleton and begins to rot. Ew. Anyway, his intellectual activity begins to wane. He acts more and more like an insect. He crawls around on the ceiling and begins to eat rotten food. His emotions are still around more or less, but they are only those of longing and disappointment, never fulfillment. As for the spiritual, some may argue that there's some in Metamorphosis, but it's all tied up in symbols. So i'm just gonna go with basically no spiritual activity in Gregor's life. So, he loses his humanity because of his complete isolation from any of these, and it only gets worse. Eventually, his sister starts to play violin, and this seems to wake him up from his animal-like state. The music causes him to come out of his room and try to talk to his family. It doesn't work. They, who have now begun to live a life of reckless activity since Gregor's transformation, are now isolated and do not understand the human part of him trying to communicate. Gregor loses all hope - he sees that he cannot gain the 5 areas back. The quickest way to die is to physically deprive yourself. So Gregor does. And he does die.
But the family, immediately upon his death, regain their hope. They realize that they can now move to a new place...they can stop worrying about Gregor... they don't have to work... they can move on with their lives, and stop isolating themselves because of shame at Gregor's appearance. They have their humanity. This makes them want to participate in a full life. They decide to leave the house. They are no longer isolated. They begin to re-expose themselves to the 5 aspects. They are glad...they have hope. My point? This whole 5 aspects idea has meat to it. And reading + thinking + writing = oh so much fun.

Curious...this is fun.