September 6

AGENDA:

1. Vocabulary review quiz

2. Discuss ending of the story

3. Groups give insight - all analysis turned in (character and subject/theme)

HW: You will be writing an essay this weekend. Please choose from one of the following topics and write an essay that fully explores the novel and how it relates to the topic. Use at least four quotations to support your analysis. Use one of the thesis statements below as your opening paragraph. 

Email me the essay by midnight Monday night - dbyrne@smjuhsd.org. Text me if there is a legitimate reason that you can not send this essay to me Monday night or bring it to class on Monday typed. "My internet just went down" is not an excuse .... don't wait until 11:40pm Monday night to write this. Plan ahead and manage your time. Use a code name on your actual essay document and I will assume your email will identify you. This way we can be anonymous in our peer editing.

1. One of the saddest aspects of Kafka's The Metamorphosis is the fact that young Gregor genuinely cares about his family. From the opening of the story, he is shown to be a person who works hard to support his family, even though they do little for themselves. When Gregor morphs into a dung beetle, however, the limits of familial loyalty and empathy are tested. Gregor is rejected from the family and Kafka seems to be making the point that there is no such thing as unconditional love.

2. From the very opening of Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Gregor is portrayed as a somewhat pathetic character. He works hard for his family in a job that he detests, and receives little, if any, recognition for his efforts. He wants the best for each  of his family members, and he wants desperately to be loved by them. When Gregor turns into a dung beetle, he is unable to live with the fact that his family will never love him and will always ostracize him. Unfortunately, Gregor does not experience a profound transformation of his character in the same way that he experiences a transformation of his physical body. Although he recognizes that his family will never embrace him, he has difficulty living with this fact.

3. The reader cannot help but notice the profound irony in The Metamorphosis. Although Gregor has been transformed into the lowest of all creatures, he actually is more human in his thoughts and feelings than any of the other characters in this tale. Kafka seems to be making an astute observation about the nature of humanity in The Metamorphosis, namely, that human beings are not necessarily the most evolved of all creatures.

4. The Metamorphosis is an unflattering look in the mirror for everyone who reads it, because in the end we are forced to think about who we are and what we do. Certainly everyone seems to experience change or growth, often in ways they or others cannot completely understand. When we feel this way, we may look to Gregor as something of a comrade, as one who suffered the same way we suffer, and as one whose change was worse than ours. However, the work also points to something else we should take into consideration. We may feel like Gregor, but how many times do we stop to think that perhaps we're Gregor's family? We may feel alienated or cut off by change, but how often are we the ones who commit the alienation of cutting off because someone else changes?