First Meeting

It looks like the first meeting will be held on October 10th or 11th, what do you guys prefer?

Literal

I took a class during my senior year of high school, and my teacher posed this question. Does Gregor S. literally turn into a bug through a metamorphosis, or could this metamorphosis be a metaphor for a change within him after an epiphany within his society which allowed him to view himself as a bug, a vermin, something that society does not want, but rather he must continue to live regardless. Also, does the metamorphism wear off and return him to a human form by the end of the book? I pose these questions: Does he go through an altered state of mind during the metamorphosis, and eventually learn how to cure himself within society without necessarily changing the people's opinions around him? Pay close attention to the descriptions of his life within the state of the bug, and see how the bug crawls away from him if at all. Does he remain where he is? Does he learn anything, or was this metamorphosis posed on him from society? Does he have the ability and free will to change this, or is he merely stuck as a bug in this form, awaiting his fate in the end. Also, try to pay attention to the use of color and literal sense of the environment. My teacher during the time when I read this book for the first time posed another question. What other metaphors can be found in this book? Are there any literary illusions to other books? What about the metaphor about the apple thrown at Gregor by his father. I concluded with most of the class that it could be interpreted in two senses of reality. Is it a metaphor for the Garden of Eden in the first book of the Genesis, or is it a much more literal sense of reality in which the characters play?

Hypotheticals (2)

Taking it from the other perspective, Gregor Samsa's family reacted to Gregor's condition with a fair amount of fear and shame. How do you think you would handle waking up to find a sibling transformed as such? Do you think it would be easier to deal with in modern times, without the same notions of propriety? Or have we not come quite that far? Really try to put yourself in Grete's shoes. Defenses of the families' reaction are welcome as well.

Hypotheticals (1)

Just to get the ball rolling a little, I thought I'd post a couple hypotheticals for people to respond to. First off, when Gregor wakes up to find himself the world's largest bug his first thoughts are worries about being late for work. What would your first thoughts be if you woke up as a giant bug tomorrow morning? That's the first, I'll list the second one in a separate post for people to respond to separately.

New Beginnings

Hey Guys,
I know we got off to a rocky start but that is no reason to give up now. We're gonna try shifting to something a little more literary to start us off, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. we'll be holding a meeting in mid-october but until then feel free to post your ideas here at the blogspot. And if you still cant post on the blogspot just send me an e-mail at jgrove@ucsc.edu telling me to get on that shit and ill try to take care of it as soon as possible. Enjoy Kafka!