At first the long drawn out melancholy words, sentence after sentence, of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis reeked of monotone as I read. However, after a little background research and a second read through the sadness of Gregor’s experience spewed from the pages. At a deeper look and a little persuasion from Barry Creamer, a ministry blogger from Criswell College, it became apparent that Gregor’s misfortune and misery was in fact a reflection of Franz Kafka’s :

The Metamorphosis is in the realization that Gregor himself is Kafka’s prodigal—the prodigal who never “comes to himself,” never seeks help, never turns back, and never experiences the warm embrace of life-, purpose-, and for-giving grace in the arms of his true father or family. For genuine existentialists those experiences are as unrealistic as the love of Kafka’s father was (or appeared to be) to him. (That same sadness is mirrored by the family’s relief at Gregor’s loss rather than persistent pursuit of his restoration.) (Creamer) With this it can be assumed that Kafka portrays similar aspect of his own metamorphosis in his analogous story.

As a young man in the 1900’s Kafka inexplicably resembled Gregor in The Metamorphosis as the weary saddened dung beetle. Kafka too found himself pressured by his lethargic and indifferent father to provide stability for his family. While growing up in the bureaucratic wasteland of Prague, Kafka described his town as broad modern streets of dreams, disguised with traces of the old ghetto, with its dreary alleys, reeking taverns, ubiquitous corruption to be more real than the palpable for the residents of the new city (Sokel). During his time in Prague Kafka was faced with the infant death of two brothers and constant moving that would soon send young Kafka into a state of instability. Both Hermann Kafka (father) and Julia Kafka (mother) were industrious people and instilled the necessity of work to Kafka at an early age. Although, Kafka did exceptionally well in his jobs, first at the Assicurazioni Generali, an Italian insurance company, and later with the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia,  he often took long time off as an escape from fear of becoming just another pencil pusher (Wiki).  During his time off Kafka tried several attempts to purse his writing, but was shattered by his father when he wanted him to take charge of his brother-in-law Karl Hermann's asbestos factory, which took up a lot of his time until 1917 (when it was shut down) and literally almost drove him to suicide. (Wiki)

In  "The Metamorphosis" the latter Gregor spends his days pressed up against the window staring out onto the gray, contemplating thoughts of his earlier days. Gregor soon begins to fit the role as the unfit beetle, pondering over the meaning of his existence.

As a direct reflection of Gregor, Kafka in his depressed years at the firm was also known to have spent endless hours gazing out his bedroom window contemplating his purpose.

Kafka also developed early in life an inordinate sense of guilt. The idea of the insolubility of the most ordinary, even human problems depressed his youth and later inspired his art, Gregor in “The Metamorphosis” (Phillip Rahv 62).

Inevitably, when comparing Kafka’s life struggles of his time, with those of Gregor, the distressed insect, the similarity of the two are evident. This could be assumed as an arguable result of the unstable and depressed ethnicity Franz Kafka lived in. During his time he faced numerous hardships and obstacles that a young Jewish man went through in those times.

 

Work Cited

"If Kafka's “The Metamorphosis” strikes anyone as something more than an entomological fantasy, then I congratulate him on having joined the ranks of good and great readers…for we can take the story apart, we can find out how the bits fit, how one part of the pattern responds to the other; but you have to have in you some cell, some gene, some germ that will vibrate in answer to sensations that you can neither define, nor dismiss "(Vladimir Nabokov). Far be it for us to quibble with Nabokov. But agree, with each reader brings different minds which can fabricate different ideas and views of Franz Kafka’s tedious, although clever, fantasy of wordplay. For, literature is only an art that is perceived on an open canvas as the portrayer sees. For instance one artist, Carlos Atanes, an underground filmmaker, adapted in his 1994 “The Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka”; which entwines, loosely, the original story with Kafka’s reality. However, both tails circulate around one meaning Why do we exist? What does the transformation of Gregor Samsa symbolize? However, when inquired in different decades the meaning takes on a different sense.

In the original text, “The Metamorphosis”, Kafka paints a scene based out of a dying Central European town in 1912. Based on the speculation that Kafka portrays similar aspect of his own metamorphosis in his analogous story, one could assume the grey town is a shadow of his hometown of Prague. During the early 1900’s, post the rise of capitalism, Prague was a combination of ethical barriers. At the time Prague was segregated by Czechs, Jews and Germans, endeavoring to industrialize the advancing city (Tramer 305).  As Prague crept into the new age, Kafka described his town as broad modern streets of dreams, disguised with traces of the old ghetto, with its dreary alleys, reeking taverns, ubiquitous corruption to be more real than the palpable for the residents of the new city (Sokel). Where families struggled to survive, however managed to wear a lucrative mask, Kafka developed early in life an inordinate sense of guilt. The idea of the insolubility of the most ordinary, even human problems depressed his youth and later inspired his art, “The Metamorphosis” (Phillip Rahv 62).

Assuming that events are symbolic to his life, Gregor is also faced with similar obstacles. In the story the protagonist, Gregor, undergoes a gruesome transformation into a retched dung beetle. With his transformation Gregor became compulsorily distant from his work, society, his family and eventually himself. Which before long has him pondering what he knows, or thought he knew, and asking What is my purpose?. Given the obstructions Gregor faces, the meaning can be concluded that humanity is susceptible to forcibly reforming to an authority. Rather susceptible to settle for an expected job, lifestyle, or accepted idea, Kafka suggests that we are all insects in society, going through the same routine, decade after decade, week after week, day in day out, that eventually the custom becomes instinct. 

 

Throughout history there has been compelling evidence of illicit force being used to reform humanity. For example, during the early 1900’s life for Jews in Prague changed from tolerable to unbearable. This was a result of the uprising of German Nazis in the 1920’s. Reputations of Neo-Nazis racial propaganda ripped through the population of Central Europe, inevitably causing the segregation of communities. With popularity of the regimes fascist views growing, Jewish families living in Prague were stricken of rights and suppressed in the community by their fellow, Czech and German, Spaniards.

“Our personal problem was not, in fact, what our enemies were doing, but rather what our friends did,” stated Hannah Arendt, Jewish German-American political philosopher, to a friend about her escape from a death camp in Germany,1940 (Hannah Arendt). In Carlos Atanes film adaption of Kafka’s original work; that is exactly the lesson Gregor learned. Atanes’ placed the Samsa family right in the middle of late 1930’s fascist tainted Prague. Effects of Jewish segregation faded in and out from outside the family’s house, while inside, a half man half bug, Gregor tries to understand and cope with his unfamiliar form. Gregor’s transformation into an insect, or Ungeziefer, with a human-like appearance also echoes a grim realization of the Jewish torment. Ungeziefer, German for unclean animal not suitable for sacrifice, is a term that the Nazis used to refer to the Jews (Bruce 113).  

Gregor’s figure in the causes his family to lose their companionship for him, like the betrayal Jews experienced by their neighbors and friends. After all, how could an unclean animal not suitable for sacrifice really be a human?

Even though both Kafka and Atanes symbolic morphing toys with the question, Why do I exist, what is Gregor’s purpose? The times of the events are different, ultimately causing two different conclusions. In one Kafka suggest the formation of Capitalism and falling into uniformity. However, Atanes implies the same meaning; he strengthens it by adding symbolism of the Jewish population’s suppression by society during the German reign. Given each portrayal of “The Metamorphosis” the way an artist decides to set the scenery ultimately affects how an audience receives the underling question or meaning.

Have you ever heard the phrase “if you don’t use it you’ll loose it”? So if you do not use your skills, like reading. You may not loose your ability to read, but may struggle with higher literacy. Think about the brain food quote. If this is proven true think of all the educational hours we have lost. In CliffNotes I brought up the statistic that 25% of Americans will not read a single book in a year. After some thought on the matter I have decided I would personally like to change this.

As of today I am setting myself a personal goal to read as many books as I can by the end of the year. (20+) However, I do not only want to read the books, but I also want to find ways to interact with them. For example in high school I had found a few authors my friends and I really liked and we would take turns reading the books. One book I remember reading is The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. While reading we would jot down our thoughts as side notes, and then pass the book on to a friend to read and add their thoughts. Finally after the book made it around the circle I would go back and reread the book. This was such a great experience, because every time reading was like reading a whole different book.

With all the hype over The Hunger Games movie what better book to start with then The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. What a great opportunity to read the book then watch the movie and be able to compare the two. My second book I would like to read is The Rum Diaries by Hunter S. Thompson. I have seen the movie and can not wait to read the book. Hunter S. Thomson is my journalist/writer hero and I would like to eventually read all of his works including: Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, and Where the Buffalo Roam. I would also like to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower again to see how my thoughts have changed over the years. Those are only a few and I have a lot of catching up to do on my reading. So if anyone has any ideas for books I MUST read please let me know.

---

Am I a great writer? No, in no means am I anywhere near being a perfect writer. However, I do pride myself with having common sense, and being a pretty “darn good” typographer. (Typography, in print journalism, is the detail of layout of the newspaper, magazine, flier, exedra; that is the key to what makes the text appealing to the eyes.) So yes, I do know a little something on what is news worthy and appropriate. That is why sometimes when I am reading smaller papers I really would like to call up the editor and ask “WHAT!?!”.

If you have attended Jacksonville State University then you have surely heard or read the notorious Chanticleer. In the latest publication there was a lengthy opinion article on Rick Santorum. After reading this article this defiantly made me say out loud, WHAT!?But, before I go into the errors of the article itself, let me just touch on this page. First, the filler the paper uses are atrocious. Second and the font in a paper is ALWAYS justified. Third, this slandered article should have never had a full page. However, all of my newsy pet peeves aside lets move on to the article.

How many times have you written an essay and said “I am writing this essay about...” or “This essay is about…”, only to have your essay returned inked to death. Well this article starts out just that way. I quote, “I am so blessed to have the opportunity to write a political opinion article,” which translates to “I am writing an opinion article about…”. I do not believe this line should have ever made it to the final cut. Later on in the piece the writer also mistakenly says, “Now with that quote in mind,”but never addressed a quote, only his thoughts on what NPR (National Public Radio) had to say on the matter. There were several other “no no’s” in the article, but the one that stood out to me the most was in the last paragraph. “…a cheating, selfish, b----, who wants to colonize the moon.” WOW, when did the writer ever feel it was appropriate to use the word bitch (even though the last four letters where blanked out) in a new article! Internet, okay but this is like turning on abc 33/40 and James Spann saying “you is a dumb bitch if you don’t take cover now”. Even if you are writing for a college newspaper using profanity is never okay.

However, do not get me wrong I am not for Rick Santorum nor do I believe any of the “santorum” spewing out of this mans mouth. I am just frustrated as a journalist and writer at the nonsense and errors that actually get published in Newspapers and magazines. I know I do not have the best grammar skills or am the best editor, but my fondest memories were always on Thursday’s when my old advisor would bring in a few big named papers and we would spend the class period giving it the red ink of death. Maybe this is why little things in articles irk me more then others.

For many years now the film industry has played fantasy on virtual vision. For example the one I can think of off the top of my head is the Terminator films. In these films director James Cameron introduces the 80’s to “cyborg vision”. This vision is a virtual computer based vision equipped with face recognition and commands. Fast forward 28 years into 2012 this once farfetched vision is more realistic then one might have thought.

Earlier this week information from Google X Lab was leaked the release of the android powered Google Glasses. Essentially these sunglasses will be a virtual interaction with your smartphone. The glasses like Bluetooth will be synced with your phone and will allow the user to interact with their phone with out looking at it. How do Google Glasses work?  The glasses will be equipped with one computerized lens and built in camera. The camera records and assesses what you are looking at and portrays the content on the computerized lens overlaying it on reality. For example, say you are at a historical landmark, the glasses will recognize the landmark and display facts and comments on what you are looking at. For more of a social example, don’t you hate when you run into someone and they obviously know you, but you are not sure who they are or how you know them. Well Google glasses can help, because the glasses have face recognition. It will be able to access your accounts (Facebook) and show you who they are and maybe how you know them. How do you command Google Glasses?  The glasses are operated by head nods and side-to-side motion.

Wow, who knew this technology would come so soon? Personally this excites me to think how advanced everyday technology has come. However, I can see the cons this product may bring about. Don’t you hate being around someone with a Bluetooth set on and the awkward moment you realize they were never talking to you? Well now you’re going to have that and someone who is head-bobbing coming toward you. (Talk about awkward)  Also, as if our generation is not already dissocialized enough with texting, tweeting, Facebook, and angry birds the Google Glasses take this to a whole new level. Now you can do these things everywhere at anytime. I also could see the threats users could cause. We already can see the issues with texting and driving, but now Google Glasses make this easier and could possibly cause even more of a distraction than before. With that being said, think about the phrase “the government is tracking us”. Well now that your every move will be recorded this could be more true then ever.  As exciting as this new product is I find it just as scary.

As a writer I know one of my challenges is organizing my thoughts and getting my point across the way I would like to. When given a topic I find my thoughts racing and struggle in putting my thoughts out there so that my audience understands fully. Students at the earliest ages have various formulas (on how to brainstorm and organize thoughts) engraved into our heads. For example: webs, charts, lists, ect…

However, what if these tools do not help you to your fullest? That is the issue I find sometimes. I know that I can be a great writer, only sometimes it takes me a lot longer then I would like to perfect one of my writing. Sometimes this is the cause of different variables like: If I fully know about what I am talking about. (Like most students in high school I perfected the art of how to bullshit people.), If I really cared about what I was writing about, and If I took my time in writing about the topic.

I would like to improve on these problems. I know every now and then I should research, try to care, and not procrastinate on my writings. Other then these issues, what could I do to help organize my thoughts? [Not including the graphs, charts and webs I already use is there any helpful advice?]