After reviewing the four arguments posted in the "Imaginary Panel of Experts", it seems to me that the second expert appears to have been the most accurate in his interpretation of the text. Expert #2 believes that Gregor has transformed into an insect only because Gregor has felt like an insignificant being for so many years. The expert argues that Gregor has always been a disgusting groveling, abject, vermin-like creature his entire life – yet in human form. Only now has Gregor completed his metamorphosis and taken his true identity as an insignificant insect subservient to society.
As my selected expert points out, Gregor has adopted a vermin-like posture towards his family and the other authority figures in his life. Gregor seems to care only to please those around him and believes that he is insignificant to those around him. Even after he discovers he has taken the shape of an insect, Gregor can only think about how he is late for work. Gregor worries about his superiors reaction, Anyway I can still make the eight o’clock train. I’ll be showing up at the office very soon. Please be kind enough to inform them, and convey my best wishes to the director." As Gregor further pleads with his office manager to keep his job he says, "You will, you will let me go, won’t you? You can see, sir, that I’m not stubborn and I’m willing to work; the life of a traveling salesman is hard, but I couldn’t live without it. As you know very well, I am deeply obligated to the director." Again, Gregor grovels to his superiors as an insect just as he had groveled in his human form. Even as a human, Gregor never had given himself enough self-respect. As he continues his transformation into an insect, Gregor finds that he only enjoys eating garbage. As many people say, you are what you eat, and in Gregor’s case, he feels like garage. Even when Gregor rolls over and dies, he is so insignificant that his own family will not even take the time to mourn him. His new insect body severs to exemplify how his inner identity has transformed not only his mind, but also his physical form.
Gregor has been an insignificant insect for years in both his family affairs, and in his interactions with his boss. Gregor’s new physical appearance serves only demonstrate his true sense of worthlessness. Although the other experts provide valid arguments, the second expert’s interpretation of the text provides us with the most appropriate explanation for Gregor’s strange metamorphosis. Gregor’s mental state of worthlessness has finally caught up to his physical perception. Gregor has finally become the disgusting, cringing, abject, vermin that he has always felt he was. (457)
1 comment:
W--I think what you're doing here (and it's a kind of reading that Kafka's stories lend themselves to) is to see the story essentially as a parable, a way of taking an abstract idea and embodying it in a concrete narrative. The Prodigal Son, for example, provides a way to understand the nature of unconditional love, while your reading of this story casts it as a means of illustrating the consequences of unquestioning submission to authority. A good idea and a thoughtful explanation.
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