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.

    

Cantos 19-28 Reflection

Over the course of this past week I presented my Canto and watched my fellow classmates' presentations on Cantos 19-28. I have genuinely enjoyed listening about each of the Cantos and learning more about their sin and punishment. I always looked forward to hearing about each contrapasso because for me, that is the most interesting aspect. I like the concept of punishments corresponding with the sin; I find it very intriguing. In Canto 20, the sin was using unholy powers to see ahead in life and their punishment  is their heads are on backwards, so they can only see behind them. I think the contrapasso of this canto is so clever because since the sinner wanted and tried to see into the future, they are eternally looking where they have already been, or their past. Although many of the punishments in Dante's Inferno seem too cruel and harsh in my opinion, I find it very cool how Dante found a punishment that fit their sin symbolically.

As for my own presentation, I am very pleased with how it played out and I am proud of myself for not choking up while presenting (that seems to occur frequently when I speak in front of crowds...). After putting in hours upon hours of time and work, my presentation turned out what I hoped it to be as well as my visual representation. My favorite presentation I heard this week has to be Canto 28 presented by Paige. I think out of all the presenters should did the most thorough job and created the most complex and thought out visual demonstration. I thought the symbolism of the pottery clock she made was very clever and portrayed her canto well. The presentations on Dante's Inferno are almost over, which in a way saddens me because I have really enjoyed them.

Dante Presentations Reflection

During this past week students have begun presenting their projects on their assigned canto of Dante's Inferno. It has been really interesting to listen to the different sins and punishments of the canto's before mine and getting to see everyone's interpretations of them. One that really stood out to me was the presentation about people who hoarded and focused all of their attention on finding material objects. I thought the contrapasso of people having to carry their possessions on their back and lugging it around because they were never able to recognize what the important things in life were was very clever of Dante. The best part of the presentations for me have been the visual representations. Most of them have been very creative and clever, like making a tree with a barbie doll to represent canto 13 or interpreting canto one as wall street. They have all given me ideas on what I want to do for my visual and how I want to improve my presentation.

After listening to some of the presentations and learning about all the different sins, it makes me think about the sins that I am guilty of. The sins people in Dante's hell committed are sins that millions of people commit every day. Essentially, every person in the world would be in some level of Dante's hell. I do not agree with Dante on most of his placement decisions, such as putting homosexuals in hell because it is "unnatural". I look forward to listening to more presentations so I can learn more about the sins and their contrapassos. I present my canto on Monday, so I am especially looking forward to get my presentation over with. I am nervous to present, but I think overall it will go well.

Hell

We started the new assignment of Dante's Inferno on Thursday and since then we have been researching and typing till no end. Everyone is assigned a different canto, which is similar to a chapter now-a-days. Every canto belongs to a different circle of hell, and a ring inside that circle. There are different sins that lands people in certain levels of hell and punishments that coincide with every sin. The canto I am researching and presenting about is canto XVI. This canto's sin is the act of sodomy, relationship with one of the same sex, and their punishment is to forever walk under the rain of fire. The sin falls under the seventh circle of hell in ring 3, "violence against God".

For the assignment we must paraphrase every line, write a paragraph on every icon and allusion mentioned, create a visual interpretation, and make a digital presentation for our chosen canto. So far I have paraphrased every stanza in the canto which has given me a much clearer understanding of its allegorical meaning. I still have a long ways to go until I become close to finishing this assignment but I have great confidence that I can knock this out of the water by my presentation date. I am excited to continue revealing the underlying meaning behind my canto and gain more knowledge on its significance. The visual interpretation should be fun to create and I am excited to see what I come up with to display the canto's deeper meaning.

Looking Back on the Week

As the tragic hero unit came to a close, the last of the groups presented and a closing lecture was given. I really enjoyed the presentations given by all the groups and was fascinated by how the story lines of all the movies could be so different but still follow the tragic hero cycle precisely. The lecture by our teacher really made me realize how Aristotelian tragedy connects so much to today's society. There are movies being made everyday that exemplify the tragic hero. Like the Greeks that went to the theater to see tragedies like Oedipus Rex to grow as a human being, society today goes to movie theaters and watches a contemporary tragedy that hopefully makes us leave as slightly changed people. This unit has really furthered my awareness on how literature truly is a huge component in society and how it has changed the world.

Now that tragedy, a some what depressing topic, has come to an end, we are taking a turn for an even darker subject... hell. I am a little excited to read more about the scary place in Dante's Inferno, but I have a feeling this class will be dreary which kind of brings down my mood. So far we have only written an "inventory" on what our personal hell would be like. I wrote about how every soul would be punished differently according to their sin. I also created the hell to have no escape; once you are put there, there is no getting out. It was fun in a way that we could be like God inventing a place that punished bad souls. I don't know what our assignment will be for the Dante's Inferno unit but for the most part I am excited.