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| I wonder what Simba would think about the story... |
However, once Gregor turns into a bug, the family is frightened by him and eventually ignore him all together. Why? Because they no longer have any use for him. His role as the provider is gone, and his sister Greta has stepped in to take his place. When Gregor was in his human body, HE was the one who his family depended on, and Greta stayed out of the spotlight. Yet, at the end of the story it's the parents asking GRETA what she thinks about things and letting her take charge.
Which leads me to pose this next question- Is the "Metamorphosis" mentioned in Kafka's title also referring to Greta, not just Gregor? I think you could argue that it's possible.
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| Oh, hey brother. Want some rotten cheese? |
"As they were conversing, both Mr. and Mrs. Samsa, upon seeing the daughter becoming more and more vivacious, realized almost in unison that lately, despite all the sorrows that had left her cheeks pale, she had blossomed into a lovely and shapely girl."
I did not even consider Greta being referred to in the title until Dr. Serrano made a comment about how that sentence provokes imagery of a butterfly coming out of its cocoon to her. No one else really mentioned any agreement, so she carried on the conversation about a different topic. Yet I could not get that thought out of my mind. It makes sense. Greta seems to be as important of a character as Gregor, for it is her transformation of how she views her new hairy legged brother that is a major part of the story. The following days after Gregor wakes up as an insect, Greta really cares for her brother and gives him special attention. However this soon wares off, and she suggests to her mom that they move the furniture out of his room so he can climb up the walls more easily. Her mom thinks on page 2016 that:
"It would be best if we tried to keep the room just as it was, so that when Gregor comes back to us he will find that nothing's been changed and it will be much easier for him to forget what happened."
Yet Greta sees no use in this because Gregor does absolutely nothing with the furniture. This is when Greta starts to first see Gregor as nonhuman and loses hope that he will return. One of the most pivotal remarks of Greta's is when she tell her father this on page 2027:
"You simply have to try and get rid of hte idea that it is Gregor. Our real misfortune is that we believed it for such a long time. Just how can that possible be Gregor? If that were Gregor, he would've realized long that human beings can't possibly live with such an animal, and he would've left of his own accord...Instead, this animal harries us..."
This is the final step in Greta turning into who she is at the end of the story. She no longer sees him as a human, and her parents listen to her calling her own brother an animal and agreeing that he needs to die. Greta believes that for the family to move on and go back to the normal life they once had, Gregor must die, placing her at the head of the family. He parents are already planning on finding her a "decent husband" (page 2030) so that they can mooch off her until the end of their days.
Therefore, though Greta has blossomed into a young woman with the world ahead of her, really, she has only swapped places with Gregor. Her future may look bright, in the long run, will she just turn out like her brother? Going through the motions of life, but not really making a mark? Putting family obligations over self-happiness?
I hope that Greta has learned enough from the pathetic life of her brother not to make the same mistakes. If so, then she really has metamorphosed into a butterfly. If not, then she could meet the same end as Gregor and metamorphosis into a big, ugly insect.
Isabella- I really liked how you mentioned at the very beginning of your blog about how the moral of this story was if anything about familial ties because that's really one of the main things I got out of the story too. I feel as though it's reflected all throughout the book, and is definitely poignant in your quotes from the text.
ReplyDeleteIn your first quote on page 2030, it shows how ironic life can be and how people can be selfish, especially when they have the opportunity to have power over others whenever it is seemingly in their best interest to simply use them.
I agree with the fact that Greta is very kind and thoughtful towards Gregor at first. However, she gradually becomes annoyed and disgusted by him and finds excuses within her own daily struggles between managing work and her small social life, to not have to take care of her brother. She eventually has a complete transformation in that she grows into this independent girl with high prospects, along with "advancing" her family along the way, while Gregor almost becomes this abandoned, unhappy creature. I think that Greta really took advantage of all that Gregor did for their family, and tries to overcompensate through being the pretty, successful contributer to the family. This is just ironic to me because it almost seems as though there is a bit of irony in the siblings relationship in that she is becoming to the family, what the big brother once was when he had love, acceptance and independence on the better end.
In your third quote from page 2027, that really characterizes Gretas shift from a child-like, caring, and passive daughter to a "mature," powerful, and unnerving head figure of the family. She gains a complete sense of pride in her and her family's materialistic gains, yet she looses complete perspective on how much her brother cared for them by basically convincing her The Samsa's to give up on any chance of the bug actually being their poor struggling Gregor.
I hadn't considered Gretta's transformation to be somehow included in the title, however I do remember Dr. Serrano mentioning the change from a cocoon to a butterfly. I have to agree with you, I think that it is possible that the title of the story also applies to Gretta's transformation. Her character does evolve into an important voice in Gregor's household, and eventually turns into the parents hope. To your question : will she just turn out like her brother? Going through the motions of life, but not really making a mark? I think that she will; at the beginning of the metamorphosis Gretta is just Gregor's sister, she has no real meaningful role. And despite the fact that she does take an active functioning in the house (Gregor's vulnerabilities in a way), does not really change her character. I think that she is prone to just go through the motions of life, caring for insignificant things and looking out for number one. To me, her selfish character really hasn't any depth to it and I don't believe that this will change because she is now more "useful" to her parents and herself.
ReplyDelete