One is the Sum

Franz Kafka believed that no life should be lived without purpose or sovereignty. He trusted this wholeheartedly, as well as other existential beliefs. The main point in existential theories is the idea that the meaning of life is found through free will, choice and personal responsibility. The individual and the individual alone, is the one who determines their final destiny. One has the power to alter their essence of nature as a whole and make choices based on their own instinct. This is the message Franz Kafka tries to portray in his parable, The Metamorphosis. The transformation from a human to an insect, symbolizes the protagonist's feeling of alienation in his own family and feeling trapped in his own life. His separation from all human contact leaves him in complete control of his own personal morals and decisions. In Kafka's The Metamorphosis, the protagonist, Gregor, lacks independence which results in his inability to choose a life for himself, thus enforcing the crucial existential idea of finding one's identity and giving life purpose.

Kafka urges his reader's to take their life by the reins and make their own choices fore that will essentially build their identity. In order to ensure the reader grasps this idea, Franz Kafka uses dark humor and various ironies. He uses irony to exhibit the danger of not giving life purpose in a metaphorical manner. A honorable professor and novelist, David Foster Wallace, emphasizes Kafka's humor in his essay Laughing with Kafka. Wallace explains how not many people understand Kafka's funniness and the employment of our journey itself being our sole purpose. "It's not that students don't "get" Kafka's humor but that we've taught them to see humor as something you get - the same way we've taught them that a self is something you just have. No wonder they cannot appreciate the really central Kafka joke - that the horrific struggle to establish a human self results in a self whose humanity is inseparable from that horrific struggle. That our endless and impossible journey toward home is in fact our home," (Wallace 3). The whole meaning of existence is the meaning one gives it. The struggles endured throughout life are what makes the person and builds their identity. The purpose in life is not to reach a specific goal, but it is the journey and the acknowledgment of the events that happen to oneself while they are attaining the goal that is life's purpose. This is hugely demonstrated by Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis. "'Once I've got together the money to pay off my parents' debt to him- that should take another five or six year- I'll do it for sure,'" (Kafka 3). Gregor's goal in life is to pay of his parents debt. What Gregor did wrong was making this goal his entire life's purpose. He was so focused on achieving this that the goal became his identity and lost all control of his life. Gregor's lack of independence and control in life is what metaphorically causes his death. In the story it is apparent that Gregor dies due to severe starvation, as well as the wound inflicted by an apple in his back. "However, another thrown immediately after that one drove into Gregor's back really hard. Gregor wanted to drag himself off, as if he could make the unexpected and incredible pain go away if he changed his position. But he felt as if he was nailed in place and lay stretched out completely confused in all his senses," (Kafka 18). Gregor is withering away from being starved when their is literally food in his back. The apple being a symbol of knowledge, creates this irony that he is pinned with the knowledge that he is going to die and that everything he has done for his family was pointless and wasted. His goal to work off every penny of his parent's debt never got achieved ultimately because he had no true purpose in life and by no means an identity. It is through dark humor and irony that Kafka was able to show how one's life means as much as one gives it to mean.

As well as humor and irony, Kafka implements the concepts of vampirism and communion to enforce the lesson of finding one's purpose and identity. The events that occur in a lifetime are a major factor that plays in everyone's identity. Communion is a celebration of life, whether there are struggles or not, with the community one is immersed in. "Generally, eating with another is a way of saying, 'I'm with you, I like you, we form a community together.' And that is a form of communion," (Foster 8). The ideals one bases their identity off of usually a influenced the people they choose to associate with. One gives their life a purpose because the people whom they share a bond with, can help achieve much more together than apart. Gregor does not share a connection with anyone not even his family due to his time consuming job, which leads to his isolation. He accepted his alienation. He chose to conform to society and eventually accept death. Gregor gave his life away to his father, whom is essentially a vampire. "A nasty old man, attractive but evil, violates young women, leaves a mark, steals their innocence- and coincidentally their" usefulness"... and leaves them helpless followers in his sin," (Foster 16). This relates perfectly to Gregor and his father. The mark instead of teeth marks is the apple embedded by the father in Gregor's back. The father steals, or "sucks", Gregor's life away until every bit of the usefulness he has been drained. He is now useless and helpless. "Gregor lay there limply," (Kafka 27). He has no control over his life, and never seeked to obtain a relationship with his family, or a communion, allowing the vampires to suck his life dry. These concepts are huge influences on the moral lesson of taking the initiative to be one's own self and continue looking for one's life purpose.

Truly, Kafka's modernist writing styles portray a widely universal message from an existential point of view. Finding one's identity and life purpose is hugely important in the understanding of literature. The writings by Kafka present the modern world with how to life a purposeful life with a identity true to themselves. By exhibiting a subordinate and helpless protagonist and practicing symbolism, humor and existential ideas he created a modernist text that teaches an important lesson his reader's can obtain. It is through Gregor faults, the reader gains the knowledge of the right choices to make in life and a path that will not lead to their demise.

Communion and Vampires

In the book, "How to Read Literature Like a Professor," Thomas C. Foster uses the theme to inform the readers that communion is a way of sharing more than just a meal, but life experiences. Because the act of eating together is so significant, whenever people eat or drink together, it is communion. Sharing meals is in a sense a ritual and can allow people to see similarities between others and ourselves in order to change relationships. A successful meal indicates the improvement and strengthening of relationships while a failed meal stands as a foreshadowing for events to come. "If a well-run meal or snack portends good things for community and understanding, then the failed meal stands as a bad sign," (Foster 11). However, everyone will die and everyone has death in common, therefore having communion becomes a celebration of life before death. "The thing we share is our death. Everyone in that room from old and frail Aunt Julia to the youngest music student, will die. Not tonight, but someday," (Foster 14). In literature, a meal scene signifies people coming together. The characters could be becoming friends, they could over come hang-ups or come together as a whole.

Vampires in literature are almost always about something other than the blood-sucking monster. In literature, an alluring, mysterious and dangerous character that survives by stealing the life of the innocent by corruption, whether they are a literally a vampire or not, is symbolically a vampire.  "But it's also about things other than literal vampirism: selfishness, exploitation, a refusal to respect the autonomy of other people, just for starters," (Foster 16). The first thing that came into my mind when I read that was the father and mother of Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. The parents ultimately sucked the life out of their son, Gregor, by forcing him to work off their debt while they live a lavish lifestyle. Thomas Foster wrote another sentence that related a lot the vampirish parents in Kafka's novella.  "He wakes up in the morning- actually the evening, now that I think about it- and says something like, "In order to remain undead, I must steal the life force of someone whose fate matters less to me than my own,"" (Foster 21). That is how I picture the thought process and motive of the father. He must take Gregor's life away from him so he can alive. The father did that to his wife, then Gregor, and will soon suck the life out of his daughter, Grete. These two readings about the acts of communion and vampires by Thomas C. Foster were actually very fun to read and it's connections to The Metamorphosis are really interesting and have became very apparent.

Existentialism, Empathy and The Metamorphosis

Existentialism is a philosophical theory that cannot be defined by a sentence or two. From my understanding of existentialism, it centers around an individuals power to give their own life meaning. One must be able to do so, despite the obstacles in their way, in order to live a meaningful life. It is not the world that gives a life meaning but the actions they take in their life that makes their life meaningful. By demonstrating no control, loneliness, abandonment and responsibilities, Kafka's illustrates a clear view of existentialism by almost making The Metamorphosis a "what not to do" for existentialists. Existentialism is trying to prove that the reason humans live life is to find their own identity and to be able to self reflect on their decisions and what has come from them. One is essentially the sum of their actions and choices in life. In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Gregor felt that his transformation into an insect had taken away the meaning and purpose of his life. The only thing Gregor had on his mind was work and business, and he therefore made his identity his job, so when he became unable to work his identity fell to its demise. This is a parallel to existentialism, as Gregor actually possessed the ability to give meaning to his new life the entire time, he was just unable to see that. Had Gregor been able to overcome his despair and alienation, he may have been able to live a new life, despite his transformation. The annexing of all of this led to Kafka presenting his reader with a protagonist that completely lacked an identity and who was controlled by everyone around him. Thinking existentially, because Gregor shut himself out of everything and made no choices for himself that built his self-hood, he is essentially nothing. Gregor needed a balance in his life. Existentialism also has a lot to do with the harmony and balance in one's life. One must pay attention to oneself and try to make themselves the best they can be (what Gregor failed to do as a human). However, if a person chooses themselves over society, he will lose society's support. But if a person chooses society over them self, he will lose his individuality.

Along with learning about Existentialism and how it connects to The Metamorphosis, we watched a video called "Empathic Civilisation" to try to tie empathy into everything as well. The video argues that we are all born into this world with empathy already programmed in us. "We are all soft wired, some of the primates all of the humans..." (Jeremy Rifkin). It explains how life is fragile and life will soon turn to death, and if we do not understand that, then nothing will come of anything. A big part of that revolves around our own freedom to make out own choices and to exist on this earth to our own liking. There is no template or rules that are followed to determine who we are and how we should be. In the video, Rifkin talked about a life that consists of empathic drive which is essentially the drive to belong in the world. "The first drive is the drive to actually belong. Its an empathic drive," (Jeremy Rifkin). Kafka brings this concept to his writings, including The Metamorphosis. His protagonists are helplessly isolated and alienated from the world, however, Gregor did choose to shut the door and keep to himself. He works hard his whole life for other people, and as selfless as he is, there is no balance in his life so that is why he ultimately finds himself as a bug. As an insect, Gregor now has the opportunity to live for himself. We cannot help but feel bad for Gregor Samsa. When the reader reads The Metamorphosis they can identify with his character. As we read Kafka, we feel isolated and helpless ourselves because of his modern ways of writing, and in turn makes us feel like the protagonist. We empathize with Gregor, because we are feeling the way he feels. We all empathize with others; that is what builds communities, nations, states, religions and many more as the video stated. The audience of the novella witnesses Gregor's big picture and his consequences for not living a life filled with meaning, an existential life. He failed to take responsibility for his existence and by reading about the unfortunate life of Gregor Samsa, we experience his suffering through empathy.

The Metamorphosis Reflection

Kafka's The Metamorphosis embodies many themes, one being isolation. Throughout the writing, the reader watches Gregor Samsa become more isolated the longer he stays a bug. At the beginning of the story when the reader is introduced to Gregor, it is clear that Gregor is separated from everyone, isolated by first his bed, then his bedroom walls. "His room, a proper room for a human being, only somewhat too small,  lay quietly between the four well-known walls"(Kafka 1). Gregor is trapped and is detached from his family and society. As the story progresses, the way Gregor was isolated before doesn't even compare to how he is treated in part three. Gregor is confined in his room because his family can't bare the sight of him. "She slammed the door shut with her foot. Gregor was now shut off from his mother, who was perhaps near death, thanks to him. He could not open the door; he did not want to chase away his sister, who has to remain with her mother"(Kafka 17). Gregor's family keep Gregor stuck in his room, isolating him from everyone. Gregor's sister, Grete, has become so frightened of him that she quickly opens and shuts his door to throw him food. Close to the end of the story, his sister and parents want Gregor gone from the apartment and from their lives. They have given up on him and want to fully alienate and isolate him. "He was only just inside his room when the door was pushed shut very quickly, bolted fast, and barred... it was his sister who had been in such a hurry... she cried out "Finally!" to her parents as she turned the key in the lock"(Kafka 24). Gregor's last breathes are when he is completely alienated and confined in his room. His family wants nothing to do with him so they cut off all interactions with him. Gregor's physical isolation from the outside world in his room really speaks to his general alienation from modern society, which expects him to work continuously and very hard.

Something that I really tracked throughout The Metamorphosis was dehumanization. Gregor Samsa's self-hood diminished as the story progressed. When Gregor was first turned into a bug, his family, excluding his father, believes that a part of him is still in the bug and that he is still apart of their family. His sister, Grete, leaves milk for Gregor because she assumes that his preference for milk while he was human continues now that he's a bug.  "...a bowl stood there, filled with sweetened milk, in which swam tiny pieces of white bread. He almost laughed with joy, for he had an even greater hunger than in the morning, and he immediately dipped his head almost up to and over his eyes down into the milk.. the milk, which otherwise was his favorite drink and which his sister had certainly placed there for that reason..."(Kafka 9). This shows that Grete believes that some of Gregor remains the same. But as she recognizes that Gregor's preference of foods have changed, Grete gradually begins to think of Gregor just as an insect. An action Grete takes of removing all of Gregor's possession out of his room also further dehumanizes Gregor. "...and so she got the idea of making the area where Gregor could creep around as large as possible and this of removing the furniture which got in the way, especially the chest of drawers and the writing desk"(Kafka 14). Taking all of Gregor's belongings from him strips his old identity from him. His family is not thinking of him as Gregor Samsa, their son and brother whom they love. They see him as a giant bug who doesn't need any furniture at all. During the story, the father gives no indication that he regards Gregor as the same, and he treats him very poorly and in a mean manner. The father attacks Gregor as though he were a wild animal when he escapes his room. "From the fruit bowl on the side board his father had filled his pockets, and now, without for the moment taking accurate aim, he was throwing apple after apple.. a weakly thrown apple grazed Gregor's back but skidded off harmlessly. However, another thrown immediately after that one drove into Gregor's back really hard"(Kafka 18). Gregor is indeed treated as a wild animal, and his father does not consider that Gregor really is the bug. All of Gregor's human identity has vanished and he is becoming more and more inhuman. When humans are made to give up individuality and become categorized, labeled and stereotyped that is when human start to become inhuman and are dehumanized. This is what Gregor is showing as he got dehumanized; it is the ideas that modern society portray that dehumanize humanity.

Its a Bug's Life

As one door closes, another one opens. Analyzing the work of Dante Alighieri has come to an end, but now we explore the world of Franz Kafka, and his novel The Metamorphosis. Although I am only on page 7 out of 27 pages so far, I have already seen a lot of modernism and allegories in Kafka wove into his work. There are a couple themes I have been recording throughout the reading, including isolation and criticism on society. The story starts off when Gregor wakes up in his bed as a bug. From the beginning, the audience can start to visualize his bedroom and how everything is set up. "... to small, lay quietly between the four well-known walls."(Kafka 1). The bed, the walls of his bedroom and his house, all keeping him captive. Gregor Samsa is trapped. The view of Gregor is from the bird's eye view, which shows him as helpless, and puts the reader in the more dominant position. Aside from his room, Gregor acts very unusually for the fact that he wakes up as a bug. He doesn't think much about his new appearance, and his thoughts are mainly focused on him catching his train to work on time.



Just from the beginning of The Metamorphosis, the reader knows many things about Gregor Samsa. One knows that he is very much so, lonely. In Gregor's bedroom there hangs a framed photo of a women. She wears rich clothing and was torn out of a magazine; Gregor doesn't know her or even think about her, and so due to this fact the audience knows Gregor is very lonely. Gregor is surrounded by his parents, sister, and servants but he still feels empty and lonesome. Another thing we can gather from the reading is that Gregor is very selfless and has a kind heart. He spends his days working his life away at a terrible job in order to pay off his parents' debt. His parents don't work nor do they try to help Gregor pay off their debt, they just sit around in their house getting waited on by their servants. His parents suck, that is the best way I can put it. So far, I am really enjoying The Metamorphosis and am very intrigued as to what will happen to Gregor Samsa as the story continues.

Franz Kafka Inventory

Birth/ Youth 
Franz Kafka was born into a German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, Australian Empire, in 1883. His two younger brothers, Georg and Heinrich, did in infancy when he was 6, leaving him the only son in his family along with three sisters. Kafka's father, Hermann Kafka, was a business owner and domestic tyrant who frequently abused his son. His mother shared her son's delicate nature despite her husband's violent personality. 

Adult Life
Franz Kafka was admitted to the Charles University of Prague where he first studied chemistry and then switched to law. There he met Max Brod, who became a close friend of his throughout his life. Kafka earned his degree of Doctor of Law and served as a law clerk for the civil and criminal courts. For much of Kafka's adult life, he lived within close proximity to his parents. Most of his works, such as The Metamorphosis and The Trial are filled with the theme of alienation, physical and psychological brutality, parent-child conflict, characters on terrifying quests, and mystical transformations.


       
              Max Brod

Influence
When Kafka died his name was only known to a small group of readers. It was only after his death and Max Brod went against the demands of his friends that Kafka himself and his work gained fame. His books became especially popular during World War II and they greatly influenced German literature. Kafka greatly influenced genres such as existentialism, which stressed the individual's unique position as a self-determining being responsible for their own choices.

         

Death
Franz Kafka suffered from many illnesses including clinical depression, social anxiety, migraines, insomnia, and other ailments, usually brought on by excessive stresses and strains. Kafka began to suffer from tuberculosis in 1917,  and he began to require assistance and support from his family. As his tuberculosis worsened, Kafka went to receive better treatment in Vienna, where he died on June 3, 1924. His body was brought back to his homeland, Prague, where he was buried on June 11, 1924.

         
                                                    tuberculosis

Works Cited:
Shelokhonov, Steve. "Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com, 1990-2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

"Franz Kafka Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

 "Franz Kafka - Biography." Franz Kafka. The European Graduate School, 1997-2012. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
Nervi, Mauro. "Kafka's Life (1883-1924)." The Kafka Project. Mauro Nervi, 08 Jan. 2011. Web. 15 Mar. 2014

What Dreams May Come Reflection

After weeks of Dante's Inferno presentations and watching What Dreams May Come, it has become apparent to me the similarities and differences between their ideas of Heaven and Hell. After studying Dante Alighieri and the nine circles of hell he created, I've decided that Dante must have been very ill in the head and a very cruel person. The severity of the punishments he created and his hatred toward many types of people was over the top. Only people with cold hearts and evil souls could create the intense torture systems that Dante did. What Dreams May Come focused more on the beauty of Heaven and the powerful idea of soul mates rather than the levels and punishments in Hell. In Dante's Inferno there was much focus on the physical body and the pain the body feels. Hurting of the physical body was the main focus in every punishment and the sinners were in the same body as they had on Earth which made them recognizable to Dante and Virgil throughout their journey in Hell. In What Dreams May Come the body is very insignificant and the person's soul is what is focused on. When Chris enters Heaven he is greeted by a man recognizable as Albert, a medical mentor he had when he was an intern. Albert is actually Ian, Chris's son, but because the body is insignificant, the soul can choose to resemble the body of anybody they want. The reason Ian chose the body of Albert is because Chris always looked up and talked so highly of him; Ian always wanted his dad to think of him as a great man. Later on, Chris meets an Asian women named Leona in Heaven, who is actually is daughter, Marie. Marie chose to resemble this women in her afterlife because of a comment Chris made about how Asian women as the most beautiful and intelligent. Marie wanted to be what her father liked.

The differences in the Hell in Dante's Inferno and What Dreams May Come is that in Dante's Inferno the sinner does not have the choice of their punishment and the Hell for every soul looks the same. In What Dreams May Come every Hell and Heaven is personalized. In Chris's wife's Hell she is trapped in a sea of faces with no mobility below her neck. Because her fear on Earth was being lost by Chris and just blending in with the rest of the world, her punishment fit that. The same is true with Heaven in the way it is a personalized place, but each person's is customized to their liking. In Dante's Inferno once a person is in Hell they are stuck there for eternity. In What Dreams May Come Chris moves from Heaven to Hell in a quest to save his soul mate, Annie. Annie ends up leaving Hell with Chris so they can live together.