Skip to main content

Home/ Ruddy's Research Group/ Group items tagged he

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Jesse Oseafiana

The Kafka Project | Special issue: The Metamorphosis | (SP:) Franz Kafka's personal lif... - 1 views

www.kafka.org/index.php

shared by Jesse Oseafiana on 24 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • It shows the difficulties of living in a modern society and the struggle for acceptance of others when in a time of need. In this novel Kafka directly reflects upon many of the negative aspects of his personal life, both mentally and physically. The relationship between Gregor and his father is in many ways similar to Franz and his father Herrman. The Metamorphosis also shows resemblance to some of Kafka’s diary entries that depict him imagining his own extinction by dozens of elaborated methods. This paper will look into the text to show how this is a story about the author’s personal life portrayed through his dream-like fantasies.
  • He lived his life in the shadow of his dominating father under constant pressure to take over the family business. Kafka’s father viewed Franz as a failure and disapproved of his writing because he wanted Franz to become a business man like him. This obsession with wanting Franz to become a businessman led Herrman to beat his son.
  • rom the moment we meet Gregor Samsa’s father we are shown how short tempered he is. He "came on, hissing like a wild man" when Gregor first exited his room in his new state as a bug. Gregor’s father chased after him with a cane and newspaper making a hissing noise that annoyed Gregor. Just this passage here shows how alike Mr. Samsa and Herrman Kafka are. Kafka was subjected to abuse and constant yelling from his father because he was a failure in his eyes. When Samsa sees what has happened to Gregor he is immediately outraged, either out of confusion or disappointment towards his son. His father was retired and his sister was still young and not working. Gregor felt as if he had let down the family because he had provided for them up until this point where he could no longer work. He thought it would be very difficult for his family to be financially secure without him working. When Franz Kafka was a boy his father abused him.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Whenever Kafka disagreed with his father or told his father that he wanted to be a writer, not a shop owner, his father got very upset. In the book Mr. Samsa displayed a violent temper from the very first encounter with the transformed Gregor. When he chased Gregor back to his room, he kicked him in the back as he reached the door. Another event in which Gregor encountered violence from his father was when Mr. Samsa threw an apple at him and it lodged in his back. From this point on the physical and mental condition of Gregor steadily decreased. The apple began to rot away and he felt weaker and experienced more pain than usual. Gregor even lost his appetite.
  • The feelings of seclusion and not being wanted entered Gregor’s thoughts. He could tell that his sister did not care as much as she did when he first became a bug. These feelings could have been the same feelings of seclusion that Kafka felt in his own life after abuse from his father. "The image of a wide pork butcher’s knife, swiftly and with mechanical regularity chopping into me, shaving off razor-thin slices which fly about due to the speed of the work." This is one example of the many painful means of death that Kafka imagines and writes about in his diary. It may be that all the physical and emotional abuse Kafka suffered, in some way inspired him to write about his own extinction. The writings obtained from his diary were never intended to be seen by the public. These writings contained detailed descriptions of his own death that were very disturbing and grotesque.
  • Throughout The Metamorphosis, Kafka uses Gregor to make constant reference to the slamming doors in the background. Kafka lived with his parents most of his life even when he was able to support himself. They lived in a small apartment and Franz could not concentrate on writing because of the yelling, screaming and slamming of doors. Maybe Kafka makes reference to slamming doors, which seem to have no relevance to the story, because it happened so often during the times he was trying to write, it happened unknowingly. When comparing Franz Kafka and his personal life to The Metamorphosis it is obvious in more ways than one that he was writing a twisted story of his life. The emotional and physical abuse Gregor goes through are similar to what Kafka went through in real life. They were both abused and neglected by their fathers when they were disappointed with them. Kafka uses Gregor transforming into a bug as a way of exaggerating himself, trying to express his feelings and point of view. When writing, Kafka felt as if he was trapped in his room which he referred to as "the noise headquarters of the apartment". Gregor was an exaggeration of this because he could not leave the house to escape the noises and abuse.
  • Jesse Oseafiana on 24 Sep 14
     
    This really has all we need
Jesse Oseafiana

The Metamorphosis Background | GradeSaver - 1 views

www.gradesaver.com/...about

shared by Jesse Oseafiana on 24 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • Kafka wrote The Metamorphosis in 1912, the year he felt his creativity finally taking a definite form. It was one of fairly few works Kafka was to publish in his lifetime. In 1913 he turned down an offer to publish the story, possibly because he was saving it for a book he was planning called Sons. A year later he sent the book to a friend who was prevented from publishing it by his conservative editors. Finally, The Metamorphosis appeared in print in 1915, after Kafka asked a publisher to put it out in a very unusual display of concern for publication.
  • Kafka's views of humanity found their origins in his idiosyncratic religious views, lying somewhere outside the mainstream of Judaism. Speaking with his friend Max Brod, Kafka once explained that he thought human beings were God's nihilistic thoughts. Brod asked whether there was hope elsewhere in the universe. To this, Kafka replied, "plenty of hope, for God? only not for us." This vision of human beings trapped in a hopeless world never leaves Kafka's writing, and it is present in The Metamorphosis, where Gregor's only option, in the end, is to die. Ironically, the story ends on an optimistic note, as the family puts itself back together. Yet after having written the story, Kafka criticized its imperfections, reserving his harshest remarks for the ending and insisting that it was "unreadable."
  • The style of the book epitomizes Kafka's writing. It was common for Kafka to present an impossible situation, such as a man's transformation into an insect, and develop the story from there with perfect realism and intense attention to detail. The style seems to ground the story in reality, cutting off any possibility of its having been a dream, and yet the story itself is of an impossible occurrence. As a result, the reader is forced to look for deeper meanings within the story.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The idea of writing about an insect appears in Kafka's writing as early as 1907, while he held on to his idealism with regard to the writing process. He imagined his body moving around in the world while his true writing self remained behind in the form of a beautiful beetle. This image changed drastically in 1912. In September Kafka wrote "The Judgment," possibly his most autobiographical story ever, in a single sitting. He wrote in his diary that the writing flowed smoothly and that this is the only true way to write, with "a complete opening out of the body and soul." Reading the proofs for the story a little later, Kafka found himself disappointed by the imperfections in the story. It was as if he had let out the story in a perfect form, but now realized that it was covered with "filth and slime." Writing, when it springs from within, is like giving birth, and the child is covered in mucus. The insect, Kafka's metaphor for his writing self removed from the everyday world, was no longer a beautiful thing, but a repulsive and filthy one. This is exactly the image he gave us in The Metamorphosis.
  • Finally, The Metamorphosis is an autobiographical piece of writing, and we find that parts of the story reflect Kafka's own life. It is well known that Kafka felt like an insect in his father's authoritative presence and even developed a stammer while speaking to him. Gregor, likewise, cowers in fear of his father, who finds him repulsive and attacks him at every turn. Kafka even wrote that he was pleased with the similarity of Samsa's name to his own. Kafka's mother, like her alter-ego of the story, hid silently behind her husband's presence. Out of a sense of duty to his parents, and because he needed money for his planned marriage, Kafka was forced to take an office job he did not enjoy. Furthermore, his family insisted that he needs to spend his afternoons in the office. Kafka himself felt that his presence at the office was pointless, but it took up enough time that he would not be able to write, alienating him from his creative needs. Kafka had been very close to his sister, Ottla, and she usually understood him. In this dispute, however, even she turned against him in insisting he stay at the office in the afternoons. Kafka felt that she had betrayed him, and that night he actually contemplated suicide. This happened in November. Less than two months later, in Kafka's writing, Gregor's sister betrays him by insisting that the family must get rid of him.
  • Jesse Oseafiana on 24 Sep 14
     
    Google is great tbh
tiyram

SIRS: Camus's "The Stranger" - 2 views

sks.sirs.com/...hst-article-display

stranger albert camus

shared by tiyram on 19 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • the hero of L'Etranger is basically a brainless idiot
  • the hero of L'Etranger is basically a brainless idiot
    • tiyram
      tiyram on 19 Feb 15
       
      Mersault is indeed amoral, but he has a brain and it appears to be working. He is not brain dead, he simply lacks the ethical knowledge of a common human being (maybe he has the knowledge and chooses to disregard it). 
    • tiyram
      tiyram on 19 Feb 15
       
      Mersault is indeed amoral, but he has a brain and it appears to be working. He is not brain dead, he simply lacks the ethical knowledge of a common human being (maybe he has the knowledge and chooses to disregard it). 
  • However, a close reading of these first lines makes clear that Meursault is not expressing indifference to his mother's death; he is exasperatedly alluding to the vagueness of the telegram (whose wording itself is callous)
    • tiyram
      tiyram on 19 Feb 15
       
      Contrary to the majority of the class' beliefs, Mersault is not expressing any indifference to his mother in the first page. It was simply assumed that because he wasn't aware of the exact time of his mother's death, he didn't care.  
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • tabula rasa
  • Ostensibly
  • Alice Strange has recently expounded this view of Meursault, arguing that he "permits others to define his reactions and to create a social identity for him."
    • tiyram
      tiyram on 19 Feb 15
       
      This is definitely true. In the novel, Raymond asks Mersualt to help him beat his woman who he thinks is cheating on him. Mersault has no problem helping him by writing the letter. Mersault had no personal emotions/afflictions about this action.
  • Meursault an irrational, unintelligent child, a "juvenile delinquent" (531) who kills a man because he wants attention from society
    • tiyram
      tiyram on 19 Feb 15
       
      Contrary to Strange's opinion of someone who is easily impressionable, Girard believes that Mersault acts out in order to gain attention from society. 
  • egotistical martyrdom
  • "ultra-romantic conception of the self'
Jesse Oseafiana

Look at this another annotation - 1 views

"Throughout The Metamorphosis, Kafka uses Gregor to make constant reference to the slamming doors in the background. Kafka lived with his parents most of his life even when he was able to support h...

started by Jesse Oseafiana on 24 Sep 14 no follow-up yet
camillanadine

The Kafka Project | The Metamorphosis | Kafka~Samsa. Reality Through Symbolism - 1 views

www.kafka.org/index.php

franz kafka project metamorphosis reality symbolism

shared by camillanadine on 17 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • camillanadine on 17 Sep 14
     
    Batson, Robbie. "Kafka~Samsa. Reality Through Symbolism." The Kafka Project. n.p., 01 August 2011. Web. 17 September 2014. .  Here, the symbolism of the Metamorphosis is analyzed.  He uses a writing method that voids all aspects and elements of the story that defy interpretation. In doing this, he leaves a simple story that stands only for an objective view for his own thoughts and dreams. Kafka focuses the readers' attention on a single character that symbolizes himself and his life..." Rate Source: 4
  • B. Johnson on 17 Sep 14
     
    A gift for you all. I added your names to discoveryeducation.com Go to this website and view lots of quality videos on Kafka. http://app.discoveryeducation.com/player/view/assetGuid/9018B546-ACC6-4DAD-9ACF-00596FC0AC2A Login in first-lastname - password: panther
simplysteph

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) - 1 views

webpath.follettsoftware.com/...viewurl

shared by simplysteph on 17 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • simplysteph on 17 Sep 14
     
    This article not only gives information pertaining to the birth related aspects of the writer, but also includes personal reasonings of why the author wrote what he did.
esther101

SIRS: Franz Kafka - 0 views

sks.sirs.com/...hst-article-display

shared by esther101 on 17 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • esther101 on 17 Sep 14
     
    This article goes in depth about Franz Kafka. It contains his work before he wrote the book Metamorphosis.
endynovoa

Kafka, Franz - 0 views

web.a.ebscohost.com/...detail

shared by endynovoa on 17 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • endynovoa on 17 Sep 14
     
    (1883-1924), Czech novelist and short-story writer, whose disturbing, symbolic fiction, written in German, prefigured the oppression and despair of the middle and late 20th century. He is considered one of the most significant figures in modern world literature; the term Kafkaesque has, in fact, come to be applied commonly to grotesque, anxiety-producing social conditions or their treatment in literature.
Jesse Oseafiana

Kafka, Franz: EBSCOhost - 1 views

web.a.ebscohost.com/...detail

shared by Jesse Oseafiana on 17 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • Kafka, Franz (1883–1924), Czech novelist and short-story writer, whose disturbing, symbolic fiction, written in German, prefigured the oppression and despair of the middle and late 20th century. He is considered one of the most significant figures in modern world literature; the term Kafkaesque has, in fact, come to be applied commonly to grote
  • Jesse Oseafiana on 17 Sep 14
     
    A little about Kafka
tforcha

The Stranger Background - 0 views

www.gradesaver.com/...about

albert camus belives and how he was influenced in the stranger

shared by tforcha on 09 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • tforcha on 09 Oct 14
     
    Camus was influenced by a diverse collection of foreign authors and philosophies in the 1930s. The mood of nihilism was high. Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky had remained significant in thought since the turn of the century. German phenomenology was flowing into France. Sartre was struggling against the shallow rationalism of Cartesian thought.
tiyram

SIRS: Ibsen's "A Doll's House" - 0 views

sks.sirs.com/...hst-article-display

shared by tiyram on 03 Dec 14 - No Cached
  • This offense against motherhood
    • tiyram
      tiyram on 03 Dec 14
       
      Ibsen focuses on more than just  the themes of finding yourself or stereotypical behavior. He also subliminally comments on patriarchal corruption.  
1 - 11 of 11
Showing 20▼ items per page