Siddhartha 1-2 (partner) late due to absence

In the novel Siddhartha, the main character Siddhartha is loved by everyone. Siddhartha, as a Brahman's son, is loved " That was how everybody loved Siddhartha. He delighted and made everyone happy" (Hesse 5). However he doesn't satisfy and wants something else. Siddhartha says "But Siddhartha himself was not happy..., beloved by all, a joy to all, there was yet no joy in his own heart" (Hesse 5). Being loved is a essential part of one's well being but, like Siddhartha, people may think it's not important because they have been always loved that way. Siddhartha is ignorant because he doesn't value what he already has.

Moreover, even when Siddhartha follows the Samanas, Siddhartha thinks there's nothing else to learn. He quotes "I believe that amongst all the Samanas, probably not even one will attain Nirvana. We find consolations, we learn tricks with which we deceive ourselves, but the essential thing-the way-we do not find" (Hesse 18). Siddhartha shows no respect to his mentors, the Samanas. Also when Siddhartha's friend, Govinda suggest to meet the Buddha, Siddhartha says "that I have become distrustful of teachings and learning and that I have little faith in words that come to us from teachers...I believe in my heart that we have already tasted the best fruit of it" (Hesse 23). Siddhartha is prideful of himself and thinks he knows everything thus don't need and teacher or learning even from the Buddha.

(an image of Siddhartha)

Since Siddhartha values little of what he got and Siddhartha is egoistic that he doesn't appreciate the teachings, Siddhartha is an ignorant person.

Kafka essay

Ashley Kim

1st period

Why did Gregor had to die?

In Kafka’s novel, The Metamorphosis, the main character, Gregor Samsa, is a caring young man who loves his family so deeply that he works without rest to pay his parent’s debt. He lives an isolated life with little communication between his family members due to his work. One day, Gregor turns into a bug and the family becomes cruel to him. It’s ironic that such a wonderful human being suffers the most than any of his family members who are worthless and cruel. Kafka tells the readers that being loving is beautiful and certainly nice but it can destroy one’s life.

Gregor’s family are like parasites which steal energy from him and abandons him when Gregor has no more to give. Foster explains, “A nasty old man, attractive but evil, …, steals their innocence -and coincidentally their ‘usefulness’” (Foster 16). Like vampires, the family make Gregor work and take the money for themselves. Also “Generally, eating with another is a way of saying ‘I’m with you, I like you, we form a community together’ and that is a form of communion” (Foster 8). Throughout the novel, sister is the only one who brings food to Gregor but the family never eats with him. This proves that the family has no intention of building a relationship with Gregor. Moreover Foster describes, “Nearly every religion has some linguistic or social ritual involving the coming together of the faithful to share sustenance” (Foster 8). Gregor’s family lacked this ritual thus lost the chance to become a group.. Gregor had a loving heart and a good soul but he lacked conscious thus didn’t know his family aren’t making an actual communion with him. His innocence and love blinded Gregor from seeing the truth.

Gregor realizes that his family are not as nice as he thought they were at last. But when he realizes it, it’s too late. Gregor says, “As he heard his mother’s word Gregor realized that the lack of all immediate human contact” (Kafka 14). Although Gregor knows he lacks social contact with his family, since his turned into a bug, he cannot rebuild the relationship with them. Wallace tells, “‘, and there the corner stands the trap that I must run into,’ ‘You only need to change your direction’” (Wallace 1). Gregor, in The Metamorphosis, already turns to a bug thus it’s too late to go back. Kafka bring the point to illustrate how modern people are chased in their works that they miss the important values.

Moreover, Gregor dies because he has been naive. When the sister announces to get rid of Gregor,“... Gregor did not have any notion of wishing to create problems for anyone” (Kafka 24). Gregor does nothing to protect himself and instead sits quietly waiting to die. Gregor’s love toward his family at the end ruins him. If Gregor stood up and cared for himself, the situation may have been different. Also Gregor still loves his family. He quotes, “he felt a great pride that he had been able to provide such a life for his parents and his sister in such a beautiful apartment” (Kafka 9). Gregor, even with the hate from his family, feels proud of himself for establishing such a luxury for his family rather than getting mad at them. Wallace explains “No wonder they cannot appreciate the really central Kafka joke, that the horrific struggle to establish a human self results in whose humanity is inseparable from that horrific struggle” (Wallace 3). Gregor had to know that, the horrific days he has been having will not suddenly change. Gregor’s thinking about sending his sister into a Contrary while the sister is thinking of killing Gregor. He was naive to his family thus lost his life.

Therefore since Gregor’s innocence and love results in a tragedy of him getting killed, Kafka is suggesting that one’s innocence can result in a destruction of one’s life. If only Gregor noticed that his family is not caring fast enough to make a turn and not be naive, The Metamorphosis may have a different ending to it.

Nice to Eat With you and Nice to Eat You?

 Eating in literature has more meaning than just consuming the energy. In literature, the act of eating is used to create a family-like and loving feeling. Foster states, "Once again the act says, 'I'm with you, I share this moment with you, I feel a bond of community with you'" (Foster 11). In contrast, bad meal is seen a cold, strict, and lack of love. Foster says, "If a well run meal or snack portends good things for community and understanding, the the failed meal scands as a bad sign" (Foster 11). This is what Gregor and his family was like in the Metamorphosis. Since Gregor was so busy working, he didn't spend his time with his family, resulting in a failed meal. The family lacked understanding and communication,

(an image of family dinner)

(an image of bad dinner)

Foster also talks about vampirism in literature. He suggests, "But it's also about things other than literal vampirism: selfishness, exploitation, a refusal to respect the autonomy of other people, just for starters" (Foster 16). Foster states that vampires are not just bloodsucking monsters but also portrait cruel instincts of human. Gregor's family is a form of vampire because although they look like humans, they have sucked blood, in this case, money, from their son Gregor. "The essentials of the vampire story, as we discussed earlier: an older figure representing corrupt, outworn values; ...a stripping away from her youth, energy, value" (Foster 19). Gregor as a young man supports his family financially. His parents, like vampires, sucks Gregor's youth and energy. 

(an image of Gregor's family from The Metamorphosis)

Empathy for Gregor

The Emphatic Civilisation by Jeremy Rifkin, according to the research in Italy, human are "soft wired" which means being able to feel what others feel. At first human could feel the feelings within their tribal group, then religious group, and then a national society. Moreover from the incident in Haiti, Rifkin states people living far away from Haiti felt empathetic toward the Haitian. Rifkin also points out that human gene traces back to a single woman and a single man, which means all human population are connected. What Rifkin tells the viewers is called "existentialism." Existentialism is a philosophical theory that being human starts with feeling the emotions of others.

(an image)

Kierkegaard and Sartre are philosophers who introduced this idea. Kierkegaard is considered to be the first existentialism philosopher. His works focused on the importance of personal choice ans commitment. Sartre is also a writer who wrote about existentialism.

Then how does this term related to Kafka's The Metamorphosis? Kafka is a modernist writer who criticized how inhumane people are due to their commitment to jobs. Kafka constantly points out the fact that Gregor, the main character, has no connections with his family. Although Gregor feels what his family feels, his family cannot feel what Gregor feels. Kafka illustrates Gregor's family as inhumane beings. Kafka formats his work that way to bring empathy to Gregor, in other words, to bring humanism back.

What Family Means To Gregor

In Kafka's Metamorphosis, the main character, Gregor, turns into a bug one day. He instantly realizes that he turned into bug but Gregor worries more about missing a train. "'Good God!' he thought. It was half past six, and the hands were going quietly on. It was even past the half hour, already nearly quarter to'" (Kafka 1). Gregor doesn't seem to care what he looks like. I believe it's either Gregor is so focused on other issues (like missing the train) that he can't care about his look or simply he think his look doesn't matter. If I turn into a bug, the first thing I would worry is what if my family doesn't recognize me. Gregor seem like he's believing in their family to notice him whatever look he have. The quote also explains Gregor is tied to his work.

 Another quote describes Gregor's boss, "The boss would certainly come with the doctor from the health insurance company and would reproach his parents for their lazy son and cut short all objections with the insurance doctor's comments; for him everyone was completely healthy but really lazy about work" (Kafka 2). Gregor's boss is very mean and selfish. Gregor obviously doesn't like his job, however he thinks he have to work for the company. It's because Gregor has to pay back his parent's debt. Gregor most worries about the boss telling his parent that he is lazy. He wants to please and not disappoint his family.

Gregor is a selfless and kind man who is not confident of himself. His room has no signs of friends or a lover. I believe for Gregor, family is the only thing he got. Family isn't like friends or lover that you have to make and can break up. From the moment one's born, he or she is part of the family. Since Gregor has no self confidence, he finds the meaning of his life from his family. By paying his parent's debt, Gregor feels prideful of himself. He also loves his family and wants to prove himself. But Gregor's parents are arrogant, selfish, and mean people. They let their son work without his own life and enjoys luxury life. Gregor probably knows how their parents are, but he constantly asks for love and finds the meaning of his existence from his family.

(an image of Gregor: left to right

1.2.3 Gregor's childhood with a frame of his mother and him on the background

-> 4.5 Adult Gregor crying)

Franz Kafka Biography

Birth:
 Franz Kafka was born in a German-speaking Jewish family in 1883 in Prague, Bohemia, modern day Czech Republic. He was the eldest of six children. His father was a shopkeeper and his mother spent most of her time helping him. Therefore the children were mostly raised by servants. Kafka illustrates his father as a tyrant.

(an image of Kafka's childhood)

Adult Life:
He got a law degree in 1906 from Charles Ferdinand University of Prague. After he graduated from college, he worked for an Italian insurance agency; he quickly quit the job. Then he was hired by Worker's Accidental Insurance Institution for the Kingdom of Bohemia.

(an image of Kafka drawn by Andy Warhol)

Influence:
He wrote many plays, including the famous The Metamorphosis in 1912. He was a unknown writer in his lifetime but after his death, his works became so influential that the word "Kafkaesque" which means senseless derived from him. His works often portraits social problems by creating a character that is in a absurd situation. The Metamorphosis is a satire to modern life.

(an image of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis)

Death: Franz Kafka died at June 3, 1924. He always had health issues but the tuberculous is the cause of his death. He also suffered from mental problems such as clinical depression and social anxiety. He quotes "kill me or else you're a murderer" to his doctor due to his pain. He was hospitalized in ENT Institute, in Vienna until he passed away.

(an image of Franz Kafka's gravestone)

Bibliography:
Nervi, Mauro. "Kafka's Life." The Kafka Project. Link.it, 08 Jan. 2011. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
"Franz Kafka." Franz Kafka. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
"Franz Kafka Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
SUMMER EH102. WORDPRESS.COM, 18 May 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
D, Felisati, and Sperati G. "Works of Kafka and His Relationship with the Disease." National Center for            Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 26 Mar. 0006. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

What Dreams May Come

What Dream May Come was a it-gave-me-a-headache-movie. Some movies are so full of allusions that it gives the viewers headache. This film, What Dreams May Come, is a movie about the afterlife in a completely different view from Dante's. While Dante's Inferno portrait hell as a place where the devils torture sinners, the sinners in What Dream May Come torture themselves, mentally. The film focuses more on soul than bodies. For instance Chris's son and daughter, Ian and Marie, was in a different look.

(an image of Marie, in form of Leona)

Also the film uses colors to express the emotions of characters. In the scene when Annie suffers after Ian and Marie's death, she appears in a garden with a green clothing. Annie is hiding herself from the world due to her suffering.

(an image of Annie wearing green in a garden)

However the film shares some traits with Dante's Inferno. When Chris enters the hell to find Annie, he encounters his father. His father and many other souls are trapped on the ground only exposing their heads. This looks like the punishment for the falsifiers where the sinners are trapped in a cold ice. Also Chris, like Dante, has a conversation with the damned. 

(an image of Chris talking to his father)