trying to revisit my high school years, i decided to read franz kafka's "the metamorphosis" next. also i had read haruki murakami's "kafka on the shore" and had been meaning to pick up some kafka. all i remember from "the metamorphosis" was that gregor turned into a giant cockroach and of course that apple getting stuck in his back. for some odd reason, that apple stuck on his back really stuck with my group of high school's friends (we were dorks remember). i think my friend mona in particular was traumatized by its occurrence. i personally can't think of metamorphosis without picturing a large roach with an apple. (this would make a good halloween costume . . . my friend chrissie has a cockroach costume, i am going to recommend that she does it.)
back to the novel. on my second reading, i still felt bad for gregor. bad enough he turns into a bug but his family is frightened of him. (quick side note: but apparently gregor doesn't necessarily turn into a cockroach, the word kafka uses doesn't translate into cockroach, in fact it is closer to vermin, so it's kinda open to interpretation, for me personally i use the cockroach one.) it even sadder how his family abandons him, especially since he spent his human life supporting them. his sister does start off helping him, but then she grows tired of the task and disgusted by him. and which makes it even more heartbreaking is the fact that he was working to help support his sister in her violin playing. if my sister or brother or even close friend turned into a giant bug, i wouldn't abandon them like, but would take care of them. bugs don't gross me out so am confident i could do it. i would be like geena davis in "the fly". though in the end, she does kill him, but wasn't it as he requested?
i hate to brag but i was good student in high school yet i don't remember the analysis that was presented to us. now as an adult, i take it as a warning that if you become a slave to money and work, you'll eventually end up a cockroach. prior to turning into a roach, gregor had a sad life (possibly sadder than being a bug), he was a traveling salesman and all he did was work. he did not have a social life and only interacted with his family. this need or demand to work is not healthy for an individual. and in turning gregor into roach, kafka was critiquing the capitalistic emphasis on labor. i guess kafka was a marxist? (i googled but found no definite answer.) marx did have his theory on alienation of workers as a result to their laboring as part of the capitalist machine. and how much more alienated can one get then turning into a cockroach. greogr was alienated not only from his family but also from his own self-identity, he was a stranger in his own body. he turned into something beyond his own recognition. and if kafka wasn't a marxist, he does prove the harm of devoting one's life to work.
in college, i took a soci class and was assigned excerpts from "working" by studs terkel. our professor had us read it to demonstrate how a person's identities is tied into their occupation. it's interesting and true. when meeting someone for the first time, one of the first questions asked is "so what to you do?" this is definitely an american thing (it's due to our capitalist economy). when i was unemployed, i noticed just how frequently this question was asked. when working one doesn't notice but there was a bit of embarrassed me when i answered that i was unemployed though i did start to answer "hanging out" or "enjoying life".
during my two years of unemployment, i had one conversation frequently about this issue of one's work being one's identity. i have a friend who is the model of a worker bee, he is also a capricorn. and he couldn't stomach me when i was not working. but as i often reminded him, i do not want to be defined by my work but by my life. to demonstrate this point, i often said when i die, my gravestone will not list out my work resume, but will instead list if i was mother or wife. furthermore, people will talk about my quality of life at my funeral instead of my salary history. i mean when i am old and going senile, i want to think "wow! what fun i had!" versus "wow! wish i worked less!"
and let me clarify, work is important especially if you want finer things in life. and money is needed to have fun and experiences. however it should not be the source of your identity. and maybe instead of being a marxist statement, this could be what kafka was trying to explain. you should enjoy life because once its gone, you are going to regret that you spent your best years working.
i only read "metamorphosis", i tried to read some of the other works in here but they seemed like a snoozefest so i didn't.
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