Comparative Analysis "Metamorphosis"

Franz Kafka "Metamorphosis"

"The Metamorphosis" written by Franz Kafka is about a man is poorly treated by his family when he goes through a major change within his life. That change causes him to turn into an insect. Before he became an insect he was just a regular human being, he was a traveling salesman who never missed a day of work in five years, and he was the "breadwinner", basically providing for his family. If you compare his life story to a feminist analysis you'd realize how much the feminist role changes.

Kafka identifies the role of characters and their persona, especially the gender role. The mother doesn't work, she doesn't do anything around the house except the cooking and the cleaning. She relies on her son, Gregor, for everything. Her role is very similar to the father's role too. Gregor's father doesn't fulfill the role as a leader, him and the mother both caused a lot of debt in which Gregor is paying for. The sister, Grete, has a very strong role. She cooked and cleaned for Gregor after his transformation into an insect, taking on the mother's role briefly. As time progresses Grete's demeanor changed and she no longer accepted Gregor's change. She also felt it was Gregor's job to provide for the family, and when he doesn't get up to go to work she becomes upset. After awhile Grete took on the job as a salesgirl. Grete played the violin and she wanted her brother, Gregor, to come to her recital but when he came... she becomes ungrateful. She doesn't claim him and even calls him a creature. Because of Gregor's transformation it allowed Grete to step up within the family and take on Gregor's role. She's even getting married!

Gender roles are visible in the modern world. Women are suppose to equal the beautiful house wife, as with men equaling the support beam. But in Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, the characters aren't portraying the modernized role of women and men. The father is weak and doesn't support the family to any extent and he's irresponsible. The mother is your stereotypical house wife who cooks and cleans. But the sister, Grete, actually has a dominant role. She does what she has to do after her brother, Gregor, can't. Balanced gender roles promote growth; and that's what happened with Gregor and Grete.

Gregor was the provider. He's the definition of a true man. He portrays the dominant man role that his father lacks in. All before his metamorphosis which caused a nightmare. His biggest nightmare was when his family turned on him. Which led to his death. His sister, Grete, wanted to get rid of him and the family agreed.

In the end, Gregor was a good man. Although his physical changes made his lose his job, lose his family, and even worse...lose his life. Kafka had a poor relationship with his family as he went through tuberculosis, and because of that he wrote "Metamorphosis" in comparison to his life.

Work Cited

Sokel, Walter H. “Kafka’s Metamorphosis: “Rebellion and Punishments. The University of  

          Wisconsin Press. Web. 21 May. 2012

Bryans, Lauren. "Gender Equality in Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis." Voices.Yahoo. N.p., 13 10 2010. Web. 25 May 2012. <http://voices.yahoo.com/gender-equality-franz-kafkas-metamorphosis-6689656.html>.

Metamorphosis

Gender Studies Analogy

A Little GIRL Lost

The poem "A Little GIRL Lost" published in 1794 by William Blake, was written to show the discrimination of women within religion, with a little references to Adam and Eve. He portrays a "youth pair" that "met in a garden" after "the holy night had just removed the curtains of the night", basically describing Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. The "Golden Age" is in reference to the past returning again. Today's generation of youth is nothing like the "Golden Age", where the people knew where they came from and had morals. I feel like the society had a major affect on William Blake's views on women and how he portrayed women in his poetry.

William Blake is discriminating women in a way. What I got from the poem is that a young girl is rebellious until her father puts her in her place. He's saying women can't make valuable choices and decisions of their own. The world is predominantly male dominated, which means women have to play a major role in standing out and proving themselves.

Women are a lot more valuable then what males portray us as. Some men think women are weak and that is what I believe William Blake is trying to say behind the text. Women are very strong individuals which makes us stand out from men; we're more then just a pretty face.

Towards the end of the poem William Blake wrote:

 " To her father white, came the maiden bright. But his loving look, like the holy book, all her tender limbs with terror shook. Ona! Pale and weak! To thy father speak, O the trembling fear! O the dismal care! That shakes the blossoms of my hoary."

What I got from that text is that the girl's father is the Lord and the young girl is unhappy. Unhappy with the decisions she has chosen in life; Similar to Eve going against God's word and eats the apple. Because of her unhappiness her father uses his bible to talk and reinforce her. She begins to tremble with fear that she might be punished. While the young girl is talking in her defense her father shows he doesn't care and he gets stressed, from his stress his hair begins to turn grey.

The illustration above is one of the main reasons I believe William Blake is referencing this poem toward Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and how a young girl can make a bad decision that affects others. The tree in the illustration references the tree that the apple came from that Eve ate when she was told not to, by her father... the Lord. The young girl is lost in her own world and needs guidance to learn whats right from wrong.

Sources:
http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=songsie.b.illbk.34&java=yes

http://www.online-literature.com/article/blake/7394/

http://www.eliteskills.com/c/5110

William Blake "A Little Girl Lost" a Feminist Critique

Here is my Critical Analysis on "A Little Girl Lost" by William Blake. I chose to do a feminist critique on the poem; the link is attached below. The essential question that ties to the Feminist Literary Theory is, What does the work say about women's creativity?

http://storify.com/_AKFortySeven/william-blake-s-a-little-girl-lost#publicize

About Me

I chose this photo of me because Cheerleading is a major part of my life. It's basically who I am as a person. Majority of the people that meet me will say I'm always smiling, or I'm silly or goofy. All of those characteristics are true. I like to have fun and brighten up the room when I walk in. I have a very warm and loving personality, I don't judge or discriminate people; and I love that about myself.

If you look up the definition of a Cheerleader you will find that they are joyful, very spirited, they like attention, they're always smiling, and mainly they are supporters. Most importantly they are leaders aside from just wearing a uniform and looking a certain way. "Be a leader not a follower", I live by this quote.

I may come off as quiet, but once you get to know me you'll understand that I'm more then what you view me as. I am the true definition of a Cheer(leader). :)

Final Assessment

     In my final assessment for this English course I will discuss the goals I have improved on and achieved on. In the beginning of the semester I was very hesitant and skeptical with this course. I felt as though it was way to much work given for no reason. I thought all of the website accounts we had to have was a waste of time. I had a very bad attitude for this course, I felt like I wasn't going to learn anything from an online class. I felt like I wasn't going to get the real English class feeling. I didn't like the fact that we were writing blog posts instead of actual writing papers like the typical English class. But through it all, I managed to have a different mindset as the course went on. I realized that the assigned work we did was actually beneficial. My professor, Mrs. Sasser, also helped me have a change of heart for the course after my first couple of blog posts; I thank her for that.

     One of the goals I have improved a lot on is learning how to brainstorm and map out ideas for my writing. I have always been able to brainstorm ideas for my writing but this course has helped me improve on different ways to brainstorm and keep them organized. A well organized brainstorm equals a well organized paper in most cases, and it really helps out a lot with a finished product. One of my piece's of writing that demonstrates brainstorming is http://skittlezzzz.blogspot.com/2012/01/as-writer.html because before I posted this blog I mapped out my ideas on what it takes to be a writer. I then wrote down my strong points in my writing and my weaknesses in my writing. After I had everything mapped out and organized I was able to write a decent blog post.

     My second goal I have really improved on is how to effectively compose a rough draft. I can't say I have really achieved this goal perfectly but I have greatly improved on it. I have always had trouble composing a rough draft because it seems like I'm always leaving something out that needs to be included. In this specific piece of writing http://skittlezzzz.blogspot.com/2012/03/if-its-boring-to-you-its-boring-to-your.html I actually wrote it as a rough draft before I posted it. Since I got the topic from a post Mrs.Sasser put on the Google+ site I figured it should be up to her potential when she reads it. I know it's not perfect but I actually did brainstorm, mapped it out, and wrote a rough draft before I posted it to my blog.

     Another goal I have learned so far is effective consideration of writing purpose. In the beginning of the semester I had no idea what it meant to write with a purpose. I didn't know how nor had I heard any other English professor talk about it. So I was clueless. I believe in this certain blog post, http://skittlezzzz.blogspot.com/2012/02/improvement-throughout-years.html, I achieved this goal. The purpose of this blog was to explain how my writing has improved over the years. I feel very confident with this certain blog post because I know I wrote with a purpose. I expressed how I've never really been a good writer and I'm showing improvement and also how my mother can see improvement in my speech.

     My fourth goal I have learned is how to have effective consideration of audience. The audience is a big aspect you have to remember when writing a paper, blog post, or etc. I never really understood how important the audience was until this course. The audience is more than just someone who reads your writing, but also someone who has to "feel" and relate to your writing. I think this blog post really appreciates my consideration for the audience http://skittlezzzz.blogspot.com/2012/02/ithoughts.html. I feel like the audience can really relate to what I wrote. Some people use the same writing techniques that I wrote about in this post and because of that they are able to relate to me. I believe I kept the audience entertained, and that is also a very important thing to remember when considering your audience.

     My final goal I have improved on and learned is how to have effective consideration of my role as a writer. Like in my previous paragraph I explained you have to entertain your audience and try to get them to relate to your writing. That is your role as a writer, to entertain, to persuade, to express, to describe, to explain and to inform. I believe this post, http://skittlezzzz.blogspot.com/2012/03/procrastinator.html, really shows how I have given the audience a chance to relate to my post about procrastinating. I expressed and explained how I have a problem with procrastinating. I entertained the audience with personal issues they can relate to. I persuaded them that nobody can procrastinate forever and there must be a breaking point for this bad habit.

     These are some of the goals I have improved on, achieved, and learned so far in this English course. The goals I have yet to achieve and need more help with are: how to effectively revise my writing, how to effectively edit and proofread my writing, how to develop a thesis, and how to support my thesis. I know these are major aspects when it comes to writing and I plan to make a lot of effort in learning how to achieve these goals in a timely manner. I will be taking your English 102 course this summer Mrs. Sasser, and because I know I learned so much in this English 101 course I am very confident I will learn a lot more and will achieve the goals I have not met yet. Even on my own I will continue to work hard towards my goals and learn more about the goals I have achieved already only to better myself in becoming a better writer.

Movie Trading Cards

For this assignment I had to make movie trading cards. Similar to Pokemon cards that us teens use to trade with our friends in elementary school. I used my all time favorite movie for this project, Titanic. I used the main characters of course which are Jack and Rose Dawson. I would say these cards are the exclusive cards, and only 10 of them were printed and sold. I showed that the cards came from Titanic INC. and are $1.00 each. I had really fun doing this assignment because it's different. People can trade these cards for other characters that were in the movie as well, or people can collect them and keep them forever.

Deserted Island

I really liked this project on the DS106 website. I felt like I could get really creative with this because I wanted to use real-life photos of me instead of photos off the internet. Growing up people have always asked me what I would take with me on a deserted island. My response would always be "Well, you know... my cellphone, etc, etc.", basically materialistic items that doesn't have any worth. But doing this project really opened my eyes because all I would really need is my friends to keep me occupied, my parents because I wouldn't want to leave them, and food to eat so I can survive. Who needs a cellphone to text from when you have your friends right there with you? That's how I view it. I feel like if I really was on a deserted island with these 3 things then I would have the time of my life. I would have so much fun just hanging with my friends and family, relaxing on the beach, playing in the water, then sitting down eating dinner at night like one big happy family. I would love that actually. So yes, these are the 3 things I would take with me on a deserted island. :)

What People Think College Students Do

This assignment is called "What People Think I Do". I addressed doing this assignment in my last blog post so here it is.This is my perception on what people think college students do. Nobody really knows what we do unless their living our lives. But until then, these are their assumptions. I think a lot of students can relate to this because they'll also think it's true.

Our professors think we study for all of our tests, we don't. Our society thinks we only come to college to party, we don't. The police think all college students smoke weed, we don't. Our friends back home think all we do is drink and get drunk, we don't. Our parents think we're in class being studious 24/7, we're not. To be honest, the only thing I really do... is sleep and eat. Yeah, we party and have fun but some of us also have limits on the partying we do so we can still accomplish our class work to the best of our abilities. We just want to have fun and also learn in the end.