The book I choose for my book report was "The Metamorphosis",
by Kafka. Its about a man, Gregor, who turns into a vermin.
His entire life changes and becomes dramatically different. He now
knows how his family feels about him. The narrator's of the story
are Gregor's parent's and sister. The story takes place in the early
1900's in the city. The type of conflict's presented are self conflicts
and inter family conflicts.
The main character of the story is Gregor Samsa.
He is the man who morphosis into a beetle. Gregor was a normal guy
working everyday and maintaining his parent's and sister. He never
had time for himself and was always ahead of time at everything he did.
He worked as a salesman to pay of his fathers debt in a firm. Gregor
interactions with all the characters is very important. He and his
father begin a different relationship, his sister learns to love him and
starts growing up by taking care of him, and his mother looses hope for
Gregor. The words that helped me understand this character were when
the story would mention that his job was very important and that he was
honest and prompt. Gregor changed greatly by the end of the story.
He didn't worry about working or being prompt but only worried about how
his family would manage without him. He learned to be patient and
less eager as slowly he knew there was no hope for him to be normal again.
I like Gregor best out of all the main characters in the book. He
was so brave and calm. He teaches me that you have to face your problem
head on even if you didn't cause then instead of complaining and making
it worse.
The second major character is Mr. Samsa, Gregor's
father. He was an old man retired and maintained by his son.
Living with his family that took care of all his needs and respected him
and his decisions. Mr. Samsa's main interaction is with his family
after the ordeal with Gregor occurs. He changes his ways and begins
to notice life once more. Some words which gave me an understanding
of Mr. Samsa was when the story described him as tough, hardworking, grumpy,
and insensitive. By the end of the story Mr. Samsa change a lot.
He now learns that he has to show his feelings and love his family before
he loses them. He begins to support his family with help from the
rest. At first I didn't like the way Mr. Samsa acted when finding
out that his son turned into a beetle. He thought of him as a vermin
but later on considered the vermin his son.
The third main character is Grete Samsa, Gregor's
sister. She's seventeen years old, goes to school and takes violin
classes as a hobby. She doesn't work and lives with her family.
Grete interacts mainly with her father and confronts him on matters concerning
Gregor. She matures and becomes responsible by taking care of Gregor
and getting a job to help her family. Some words that helped me understand
Grete was that she was obedient, honest, hardworking, creative, and brave.
Grete changes by the end of the story dramatically. She matures and
shows her feeling to her parents. She begins to appreciate life and
what she has. Grete was my second best character in the story.
She reminded me of myself. The she took her family for granted and
then lost them and grew up after the ordeal.
The first scene that expressed major conflicts was
when everyone found out that Gregor morphosis into a beetle. Everyone
started thinking about his health, how they would hide Gregor, and how
they would maintain there expenses. Everyone was effected and concluded
solutions to the problem. First Gregor's change into a beetle startled
the family and this led them to either love him the same or just forget
about him. Mr. Samsa saw Gregor as a beetle, Grete and Mrs. Samsa
saw Gregor as there family. So they argued and conflicted against
each other. Grete took care of him and loved him. Ms. Samsa
couldn't go near him but still loved and pitied him. Mr. Samsa only
saw him when he wanted to argue with Gregor over something he did.
The second scene that expressed major conflicts
was when one day Grete was moving furniture from Gregor's room. Her
mother volunteered to help and Gregor knowing this decided to hide and
prevent any problems from occurring. When they were clearing his
room of all his favorite things he got mad and crawled on the wall next
to his favorite picture. Grete saw him and got disgusted but avoided
confronting him in front of her mother. Mrs. Samsa saw Gregor and
fainted. Grete quickly gave her medicine and locked Gregor into his
room. He was punished by not getting any food and not being visited
by anyone except the maid, so that she could clean.
The greatest tension was when Gregor appeared in
the living room and frighten the three roomers. This was the last
time Gregor got out of his room. He came out only to hear his sister
play her violin and startled everyone until the roomers moved out and cause
chaos between the entire family. His mother nearly had an asthma
attack, his grew afraid of him and his father wanted to kill him.
The conflict ended with Gregor being locked into his room and dying.
This scene was the most important in the story.
It helped us understand how Gregor's actions could lead to dramatic endings.
When Gregor was being shot with apples by his own father it made you think
of the most horrible things. His sister scared of him and knowing
that that was her brother that got in trouble for being driven by her sweet
music. Only poor Mrs. Samsa understood that that was her son, but
since she is having an asthma attack by seeing her husband and daughter
attempting to kill there relative she can't help the situation.
The story end by Gregor dying of depression and
mal-nutrition. The rest of the family is taking a walk in the park
as they always did and realizing that their life must continue without
Gregor. They remember him before he transformed to keep his dignity.
I think the author's message is that after a great change everything around
it changes as well and that you have to confront these changes or you will
never understand it. He also states that life isn't for granted and
you have to live without so much order and routines. The theme applies
to people in general because everyone wakes up to go somewhere and has
a specific routine they follow. Who knows if what happened to Gregor
can happen to you in a different life changing way. The theme to
me applies almost in the same way. I always wake up having to go
somewhere and never living life for the fun of it. I need to explore
and change everyday to a different schedule.
At first I didn't like the book because it made
you feel sad to think that if the same thing that happened to Gregor happened
to you everything would changes so much. Your family could maybe
treat you the way Gregor's family treated him, which was in-human.
I started enjoying it at the end when I realized the lesson the author
was teaching his readers. The story changed my attitudes on the way
I live my life and how I take advantage of gifts I don't appreciate.
It teaches me to enjoy what I have and to not work so hard and enjoy my
family and love them openly. I would absolutely recommend this book
to others and hope that they take the same attitudes and teaching I've
learned from reading "The Metamorphosis", by KafKa.
