Preview

The Metamorphosis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
387 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Metamorphosis
Part II:
“The death of the ‘family unit’ and its implications in The Stranger and The Metamorphosis” Death shrouds both world-literature works with the downfall of the protagonists and their atypical beliefs. However, it is the death of both Meursalt, from The Stranger, and Gregor Samsa’s, from The Metamorphosis, familial relationships that tie the literary works together. The inability of both protagonists to form meaningful and strong connections with their respective family members adds to their ostracism from the rest of society. Meursalt, with his torn relations with Maman, and Gregor, with his exclusion from the Samsa family, must face their respective and often absurd worlds without the support of family. The broken ties with family add another hindrance to Meursalt and Gregor, as they slowly become outcasts of their world.
Outline:
The Stranger:
Maman – shows religion to be absurd, therefore Meursalt moves away from it
His refusal of religion ostracizes Meursalt from Christian-society
Meursalt learned getting “used to” everything from Maman
Able to get used to being an outcast
Meursalt refuses his basic desires at Maman’s funeral – going against his inner essence
Went against his own essence to “please” Maman and her funeral followers
The Metamorphosis
Gregor is taken advantage of by his family
Sole breadwinner – no other means of income
Gregor – devoted to them when they push him and keep him trapped in the room
Abused by his family – physically and mentally
Family unit lives on – without the outcast Gregor
Will also take advantage of Grete and decide everything for her
Cycle of abuse that starts with Gregor
Part III:
Assignment 2c: “The importance of Western literature on the relationship between Luo and the Seamstress in Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” The relationship between Luo and the Seamstress is largely influenced by physical desires. However, there exists a small, but important aspect of their peculiar

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Gregor had many feelings towards life and how he viewed it. Not only was he very alone and…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Sijie Dai introduces us to the lives of two young boys who were transported to the village side in order to be “re-educated”. The boys immediately fall in love with the Little Chinese Seamstress, however they state that she is too “uncivilized”. We see through the following passage, “This fellow Balzac is a wizard. He touched the head of this mountain girl with an invisible finger, and she was transformed, carried away in a dream. It took a while for her to come down to earth. She ended up putting your wretched coat on (which looked very good on her, I must say). She said having Balzac’s words next to her skin made her feel good, and also more intelligent” (62), the creation of the social…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    AP Lit Q1 Final

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In Waniek’s “The Century Quilt”, the author’s purpose is to show the reader why this particular quilt is so important to her. The extensive important behind the quilt is portrayed very convincingly with the use of literary devices such as imagery (colors), vivid descriptions of certain details, and the most dominant device being a reminiscent tone. These devices work together to present a very clear understanding of how the author feels towards her century quilt.…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Franz Kafka's " The Metamorphosis" have an abundance of similarities. Throughout both stories the main characters slowly begin to lose their sanity. However, as their minds are deteriorating, they find a new freedom within their selves. However, Gilman shows this through constant evolving diction in 1st person, and Kafka does this through a 3rd person narrative. Similarly, both of the authors critiqued beliefs through their allegories and stood up to the social norms of their societies. Many years after the authors passed away, we recognized that the ideas in their writing was years ahead of their time.…

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Outcomes of Revolution

    • 1493 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Weiss, G. (2010). Traitors, Seamstresses, and Generals. Retrieved May 6, 2012 , from ThinkQuest: http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312848/boflandc.htm…

    • 1493 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Clothes and Saving Sourdi

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Divakaruni, Chita Banergee. "Clothes." 2011. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, and Writing. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin 's, 2011. 265-74. Print.…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The family members who used to depend on Gregor to survive changed to the degree…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Metamorphosis notes

    • 1324 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the time of Kafka the division between Czech and German speaking people in Czechoslovakia was big.…

    • 1324 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Little Chinese Seamstress

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages

    To start of with, I am going to discuss how Balzac changes the life of the Little Chinese Seamstress.…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    * Father – Gregor’s father who had a terrible business failure. After he is forced to work again, he becomes much more lively. It is because of him that Gregor eventually dies.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Moreover, the rejection of his physical form leads Gregor to become a social pariah. In the beginning, Gregor himself does not feel ashamed of his altered physical condition; he knows in an intellectual sort of way that he is a “horrible insect”, but fails to comprehend the enormity of the change and his family’s reaction to it. But as time progressed, he starts to feel more keenly his social abjectness. The way his sister would rush to the window every time she entered his room, his mother fainting dead away when she saw him crawling on the wall – Gregor begins to make changes to his routine, even covering himself with a cloth to spare his…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Metamorphosis

    • 1725 Words
    • 7 Pages

    for Gregor. She attempts to find out what he eats, to make him feel comfortable,…

    • 1725 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Meursault, the protagonist in The Stranger, encounters a dilemma different than the anti-hero, Gregor Samsa, from The Metamorphosis does. As the main character transforms from a human being into a dung beetle or "vermin," it brings forth the question of physical versus emotional transformation. Although Gregor's metamorphosis helps him discover his status in the household, it disconnects his family from his support. On the other hand, the anti-hero in The Stranger, Meursault, lives his life "indifferent to human affairs" and his actions possess no rational order. His actions are strange to his society, a world that demands reason behind the behavior and motive behind the act.…

    • 1202 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gregor completely forgets about his own well-being and focuses on his family’s problems. He receives satisfaction by staring out his window and even gains pleasure by idolizing a magazine photo of a “lady all dressed in furs,”(p.26). Gregor just sits and does nothing, depressed with nothing to live for but his family. Instead of going out and experiencing life, he just sits in his room all day. Loneliness fulfills him like a person in a retirement home, in jail, or in a mental institution. Having the ability to go out and have fun, he would rather much pay close attention to his family problems. Besides work, he has nothing else to do. As long as his family is comfortable, Gregor allows his job and family to control him. Even as he is dying, only happy thoughts cross his mind. Pleasing his family is all that matters, causing Gregor to experience life behind closed doors.…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    one must interact with society in order to have a meaning in life. As for…

    • 2139 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays