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Gregor samsa metamorphosis essay
Critical analysis of the death of Ivan Ilych
Critical analysis of the death of Ivan Ilych
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A death in the family can really make you think about that person; fond memories, bad memories, your relationship with them, etc. It can make you realize that you loved them more than you thought or that you really didn’t like them that much. When the death is long, drawn-out, and agonizing, it gives you more time to realize these things, but it has the potential to cast a sour light on them and the situation. The person dying, meanwhile, has time for introspection as they go through the stages of grief associated with one’s own death. In The Death of Ivan Ilych and The Metamorphosis, this is basically all that is happening: a lengthy and excruciating death, introspection while dying, and a family reacting. In these two stories, the persons dying have very different attitudes toward their families, and the reactions from the families are likewise different, but there are similarities.
Ivan Ilych’s relationship with his family was not the worst, but it certainly wasn’t the best. I’m not sure if it could even be considered good, and I think Ivan Ilych did not consider it such either. In the beginning of their relationship, Ivan and his wife were cordial, but within a year, they were less-than. Their relationship remains rocky and argumentative throughout most of the story unless they are furnishing a home or something similar. His relationship with his daughter is somewhat distant. When the injury occurs, his family appears to be irritable about it while he is seriously reflecting on his life and decisions. Ivan Ilych realizes that he built his life upon falsities, and so has everyone around him, but it isn’t something he expresses to them. He ends his life by uttering words of pity. So, for most of his life, Ivan Ilych has been ...
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...eatly, especially Grete. Ivan Ilych’s and Gregor’s protracted suffering both catalyze change, but in different ways. The death and dying of a relative is always a huge ordeal for the person, their family, or both. It can be a sort of enlightenment directly caused by being consumed with your own death, like Ivan Ilych’s case; it can alternatively be a subtle maturing from the stress and caretaking of a dying person, like Grete’s. Many significant reactions come about only when death looms.
Works Cited
Kafka, Franz. "The Metamorphosis." Trans. Stanley Appelbaum The Metamorphosis and Other Stories. Ed. Stanley Appelbaum. New York: Dover Publucaitons, Inc., 1996. 11-52. Print.
Tolstoy, leo. "The Death of Ivan Ilych." Trans. Louise Maude The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Short Stories. Ed. Stanley Appelbaum. New York: Dover Publicaitions, Inc., 1993. 15-63. Print.
Tolstoy provided us with two perspectives to view Ivan’s life in “The death of Ivan Illyich”: an omniscient narrator and Ivan himself. What I plan to do is give another perspective, not necessarily to view his life, but rather to his experiences after he realized he was dying. This perspective will be an analytical and psychological; the perspective from Kubler-Ross’s Stages of death (or stages of grief, as they are better known for). These stages occur when we are faced with an event that is usually connected with death. The “normal” order in which these five stages occur, though may not go doctrinally in this order, are as such: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.
Tolstoy immediately absorbs you into the novel by beginning with Ivan’s death. The actual death scene is saved until the end of the novel, but he shows you the reaction of some of Ivan’s colleagues as they hear the news of Ivan’s death. You are almost disgusted at the nonchalant manner that Ivan’s “friends” take his death. They are surprised by his death, but immediately think of how his death will affect their own lives, but more importantly, their careers. “The first though that occurred to each of the gentlemen in the office, learning of Ivan Ilyich’s death, was what effect it would have on their own transfers and promotions.” (pg 32) As a reader, you have to wonder how Ivan must have had to live in order for people close to him to feel no sadness towards the loss or even pity for his wife. In fact, these gentlemen are exactly like Ivan. The purpose of their lives was to gain as much power as possible with n...
The relationship between Gregor and his sister Grete is perhaps the most unique. It is Grete, after all, with whom the metamorphosed Gregor has any rapport, suggesting the Kafka intended to lend at least some significance to their relationship. Grete's significance is found in her changing relationship with her brother. It is Grete's changing actions, feelings, and speech toward her brother, coupled with her accession to womanhood that seems to parallel Gregor's own metamorphosis. This change represents her metamorphosis from adolescence into adulthood but at the same time it marks the final demise of Gregor. Thus, certain symmetry is to be found in "The Metamorphosis." While Gregor falls in the midst of despair, Grete ascends to a self-sufficient, sexual
Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is a masterfully written short story about Gregor Samsa, a man who devotes his life to his family and work, for nothing in return. Only when he is transformed into a helpless beetle does he begin to develop a self-identity and understanding of the relationships around him. The underlying theme of The Metamorphosis is an existential view that says any given choice will govern the later course of a person's life, and that the person has ultimate will over making choices. In this case, Gregor?s lack of identity has caused him to be numb to everything around him.
Angus, Douglas. Kafka's Metamorphosis and "The Beauty and the Beast" Tale. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 53, No. 1. Jan., 1954, pp. 69-71. Print.
2. Franz Kafka, "The Metamorphosis," The Metamorphosis, The Penal Colony, and Other Stories, Trans. Willa and Edwin Muir (New York: Schocken Books, 1975), 67—132.
Kafka, Franz."The Metamorphosis." The Longman Anthology of World Literature. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2009. 253-284. Print.Works Cited
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th Compact Ed. New York: Longman, 2013. 268-98. Print.
Tolstoy, Leo. "The Death of Ivan Ilyich." Norton Anthology of World Literature: 1650 to the present. 3RD ed. Volume E. Puchner, Akbari, Denecke, et al. New York, London: W. W Norton, 2012. 740-778. Print.
Both Gregor and Meursault have pivotal experiences with denial, the first stage of the grief process, in their respective novels. While Gregor refuses to accept his transformation in order to remain a part of society, Meursault denies God in the religious culture of Algeria, proving his individuality while isolating himself. Gregor’s denial takes place when he prepares for work, ignoring his transformation, “First of all he wanted to get up quietly, […] get dressed, […] have breakfast, and only then think about what to do next” (Kafka 6). By characterizing Gregor as determined, Kafka shows his protagonist’s resolve to remain firm in ignoring his transformation for his family’s sake. Typically, such a metamorphosis would warrant panic, but Gregor is so selfless that he denies his own emotions to be useful for his family. Through the sequential syntax employed in this quoate, Kafka shows that Gregor does not want to stray from his usual routine. This attribute, along with his physical transformation, separates Gregor from humanity. With his unfamiliar mindset, seen through the denial of his metamorphosis, and his lack of human physical charac...
Tolstoy, however, has a fatalistic approach to the subject. In The Death of Ivan Ilych, the chronological end of the story is placed at the beginning. From the very beginning, the reader is aware of the title character’s fate. The story then tells of the long and grueling battle with death that Ivan Ilych faces.
We as readers will never know the true reason behind Kafka’s Metamorphosis, but it is a masterpiece. It relates surprisingly well to today’s society, even though it was written between 1912 and 1915. The topic of metamorphosis is really universal, we as humans are constantly changing, growing and evolving. Works Cited Aldiss, Brian W. “Franz Kafka: Overview.” St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers.
Kafka, Franz. "The Metamorphosis". The Metamorphosis. Trans. Donna Freed and Ed. George Stade. New York: Barnes and Nobles, 2003.
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories. 1st ed. Translated by Stanley Appelbaum. New York: Dover Publications, 1996.
Death can be very scary for the elder and young. One never really knows how they will react to the event of death. Even though inevitable, death can be shocking for some or troubling for others. A shocking and a troubling reality of death are depicted in two short stories, Used to Live Here Once by Jean Rhys and A Father’s Story by Andre Dubus. How characters in a story react to death are often different from one another.