Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Metamorphosis essay

In Franz Kafka's the Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa transforms into a giant bug. While Gregor's transformation is both physical and mental, his sister Grete experiences a metamorphosis, as well, in a less complex way. The metamorphoses contribute to the overall meaning of the work: beware of unexpected occurances and changes in life.

Gregor Samsa has a stressful and unhappy life. He has a lot of responsibilities, especially within his family. Gregor adores his sister and does not have a close relationship with his parents. To top off his unhappy life, he hates his job. Gregor's metamorphosis into a giant bug illustrates his deep feelings. The pressures that are put on him may be too great and he may feel as small as a bug in some cases. Before his metamorphosis, he felt as if he was an important link in his family. After, however, he feels like he has no use at all.

Grete samsa has not always been the apple of her parents' eyes and the responsible young lady that she has morphed into. All of this changes when Gregor morphes into a bug. Grete loves her brother and even respects him more than their parents. Grete gets a job to help her family just as Gregor had. With her rising to the occasion, there are no more thoughts of Gregor.

Both metamorphoses are significant to the novella. They contribute to the meaning of the work in different ways, however. Gregor's metamorphosis is more complex and perhaps more unexpected. Gregor deals with a lot and feels alone, he probably does not expect to wake up as a bug one day. Grete's metamorphosis is unexected in that she took on responsibilities because of Gregor's metamorphosis.

Though one metamorphosis is more complex than that of the other, they both have significant roles in the novella. They both contribute greatly to the meaning of the work.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Metamorphosis Chapter 3 Questions

Chapter 3 Questions

1) The family is so selfish and did not help Gregor because they were so concerned with the lodgers as well as their own financial problems. They probably did not even think that it was hope for him to recover from his condition.

4) I believe that it’s Gregor’s father that blames him for the situation more so than his entire family. Gregor’s father shows a lot more hostility towards him than the rest of his family.

6) In some way, I believe that Gregor’s family as a whole felt a slight relief when he died. Grete and his mother probably were sad for a while, but did not show it. The family probably had a plan on how to get through their financial problems without him being there.

10) I believe that Grete called Gregor a monster because in the end, he had turned into a monstrous bug. He was no longer keeping to himself; he went out into the main part of the apartment and started to be angry with the family.

12) Gregor stops eating because he wants to know if his family would even realize that he’s starving himself. He felt as if Grete was even beginning to stop caring for him as much. He wanted to know if anyone cared.

14) Grete played her violin because the lodgers wanted her to play. I think that she may have wanted Gregor to hear too; but she did not think that he was going to come out of his room.

16) Gregor’s family abandons him because they do not want to be bothered with him. He was just a burden to them entirely. He was not physically a human and they probably believed that he was going to act a lot differently too.

20) Grete decides to get a job to gain more responsibility and be more recognized by her mother and father. Maybe she wants to follow in Gregor’s footsteps.

21) I think that there is significance in the maid finding Gregor’s dead body and not his family. His family did not have him on the mind. I wonder when they would even realize that he was no longer living.

23) Kafka made Gregor die because he was dying slowly himself. I believe that it was intended for Gregor to be as much like Kafka as possible.

Friday, October 31, 2008

"Why Doesn't The Future Need Us" response

Joy's thesis is "Our most powerful 21st-century technologies- robotics,genetic engineering, and nanotech- are threatening to make humans an endangered species". Humans can avoid being unnecessary by becoming more advanced themselves. Humans can get more training and create less computerized systems to do their work. If humans do the work themselves, humans will not become unnecessary. Institutions are contributing to the inevitability of humans becoming unnecessary in that everything is becoming computerized. For example, schools are using computers to take attendance, whereas in the past, attendance was handwritten. The more computers are used, the more advancements are going to be made on computers, the more computers will become the more popular choice.



Aldous Huxley would respond to Joy's article agreeing that technolgy is indeed getting out of hand. Since Huxley illustrated the idea of technology advancement to the highest extreme, his ideas might have been taken from the same sources that Joy got his from.



One rhetorical strategy that Joy uses is introducing ideas and stating his opinion on them. He leaves room for readers to ponder his ideas and make an opinion. Joy also uses examples and quotes from books to enhance his argument.

I believe that Joy is a fear monger. His arguments are to set fear in readers' minds. Joy wants everyone to fear human extinction.

Joy uses a lot of personfication when speaking on robots and other machines. He gives them human characteristics to show that the machines will take over all human jobs and functions; leaving humans with nothing.

In the Brave New World, technology is used to control society. In essence, Joy's article connects to the Brave New World in that technology is crossing the line.


Monday, September 22, 2008

Writing Prompt 2 - 9/19/08

In George Orwell's 1984, a totalitarian government is present. There is a character named Winston Smith, who hates the government's pwoer and tries to break free from the "Party". The Party is the government's organization. Winston Smith is an individualist that has his own beliefs and George Orwell used his character and his struggles to enhance the novel.

Winston is an extremely curious person. Smith's curiousity about his past, in which the Party and Big Brother has totally wiped ou. Smith is also a rebel in the novel. He purposely does things that he knows is against the rules of the party. Smith, however, look for others that share his belief that the Party is horrible.

Smith struggles in many ways to free himself from the Party. He does things that he knows is against Party rules and regulations. He does not get caught doing his first acts of rebellion, however, that changes when he gets involved with a lady, also a member of the Party. Winston confides in a character that he believes is on his side. The same character that he believes that he can confide in, gets him caught. While Winston smith is being punished for going against the Party, he remains true to his beliefs. But in the endf, his strugles to break free puts him into a place taht he did not want to be, down with Big Brother.

George Orwell uses power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work in several ways. First he uses power struggle to prove a point. The point is that the Party is stronger and smarter than anyone person and no matter what that person does, he or she will get caught. Another way in which he used power struggle is to demonstrate the fact that there are individualists in a society that try to rebel and get they get so far and think that they have made it, but they did not. They are already caught by the Party. In all, George Orwell enhances 1984 with power struggle so that readers will be sympathetic for Winston Smith and be drawn into the novel.

In all that Winston Smith has been through, George Orwell made it a point to show him that he Party is smarter than what he was thinking it was.