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World Literature Videos 44 videos
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The Metamorphosis 65826 Views
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Description:
We'd all like to think our families would accept us if we turned into giant bugs, but for Gregor Samsa, that was not quite the case.
Transcript
- 00:04
The Metamorphosis a la Shmoop: A Bug’s Life Let’s talk about change for a minute.
- 00:11
Nice… but we meant this kind of change. Change may not be the easiest thing in the
- 00:17
world. . .
- 00:17
. . .as this guy could tell you. . .
- 00:18
. . .but sometimes. . . it’s a good thing. Unfortunately, for poor Gregor. . .
Full Transcript
- 00:23
. . .it’s not one of those times. So, why did Kafka turn our hero into a giant
- 00:30
bug? Was Gregor’s transformation into a cockroach.
- 00:33
. .
- 00:33
. . .a stand-in for Kafka’s own feelings of being alienated in life?
- 00:38
Maybe… Kafka was a Jew…
- 00:41
. . .and Anti-Semites actually referred to Jews as Ungeziefer <un-getz-ee-fer>. . .
- 00:46
. . .Kafka’s original word defining Gregor’s new form.
- 00:50
Just because English translations use “bug” or
- 00:52
“insect” . . .
- 00:53
. . .doesn’t mean that Kafka wasn’t trying to make a point.
- 00:56
Another popular theory. . .
- 00:57
. . .is that Gregor’s transformation into a disgusting bug. . .
- 01:01
. . .was to symbolize how workers in our capitalistic society were being dehumanized.
- 01:07
To put it another way, people were feeling small and unappreciated. . .
- 01:09
. . .kind of like… you guessed it. Since bugs don’t have thoughts or feelings.
- 01:16
. .
- 01:16
. . .they can easily be squashed without guilt.
- 01:18
Heck, even Gregor’s loving sister, his own flesh and blood, wanted him gone.
- 01:23
But here’s something else to chew on.
- 01:26
Gregor didn’t seem all that unhappy being a cockroach.
- 01:30
Maybe Kafka meant his story to be about the refusal to conform.
- 01:34
Gregor hated his boring job. . .
- 01:35
. . .and found a way to get out of doing it.
- 01:39
Okay, so he did die in the end. . .
- 01:43
But the only reason he shipped off to cockroach heaven. . .
- 01:45
. . . was because somebody else had a problem with his new look.
- 01:49
So, what was Kafka trying to say? Was that giant insect supposed to awaken our
- 01:55
feelings of alienation. . .
- 01:56
. . .make us think about the dehumanization of the species. . .
- 02:02
. . .or just point out the joys of doing our own thing?
- 02:05
Shmoop amongst yourselves.
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