Classics for Beginners discussion

I finished the story but I can't look at the spoilers in previous posts or hide spoilers in my own posts from my iPad so I'll comment and add to the discussion sometime when I'm at home. I did enjoy re-reading this story.

You can post/check spoilers by opening Goodreads on a web browser on your ipad. As of yet, the app does not have the option to view spoilers.

Excellent choice. I appreciated this story so much more second time round (in my mid-30s) than I did first time in my early 20s.

(view spoiler)[I think this is because I had more sympathy for Gregor's situation as someone slightly wore down by the world of work. To my mind, the story reads like a critique of capitalism, and its dehumanising effects. Also agree with many of the views expressed so far about Gregor's family -- what a dreadful, heartless bunch! Grete starts out sympathetic but this soon fades.

Two things not clear in my mind, though, are the role of the lodgers and whether or not there's a black humour at play. Are the lodgers just a plot device or representative of something or the other?

And just to reference Holls' point about the story's humour, I must say I didn't detect it so readily, though I've read that other writers like to emphasise a comedy in Kafka's writing that often gets lost in translation (see David Foster Wallace's essay here: http://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads...). My overriding feelings while reading Metamorphosis were dread and sadness, but perhaps there's a subtlety that I'm missing here that doesn't cross so easily across the cultural divide. (hide spoiler)]

Dave wrote: "Excellent choice. I appreciated this story so much more second time round (in my mid-30s) than I did first time in my early 20s.

I think this is because I had more sympathy for Gregor's situation ..."

(view spoiler)[ What I got out of the role of the three lodgers was how the family treated them with utmost respect while at the same time neglecting Gregor. The lodgers were supposedly a source of income, whereas Gregor was useless. Notice that when the lead lodger states that he refuses to pay rent and may even sue, the father treats him with hostility. In the morning, he yells at the lodgers to get out, and then the family watches them until they feel secure enough that they will actually leave. Contrast that to the way the father chases Gregor back into the room at the beginning of the story. Both the lodgers and Gregor are surprised at the amount of hostility the father shows.

It seems to me that the lodgers were put into the story to let the reader know that the family treated Gregor with hostility and neglect because he was of no use to them anymore, not because he was an extra burden. (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Thanks, Melanie.

(view spoiler)[That does help to bring the role of the lodgers into sharper focus -- a device for Kafka to compare the family's kindness to strangers with their contempt for a family member. (hide spoiler)]

Just finished it. What a creepy book.
(view spoiler)[Very interested in all your views. Vermin suggests to me something truly disgusting. The fact that he's changed is bad enough but he's not changed into a cosy, cute and cuddly teddy bear but something which makes people squirm and frightened. He didn't seem to live a nice life before and his family took him for granted while he diligently worked to keep them afloat. After Gregor changed, they had to take responsibility which showed that they were taking advantage of him and could have worked sooner. Mr. Samsa is horrible. He seems like a big child being pampered by the mother and the sister. He's furious that Gregor has changed and now he can't be lazy. Maybe that's why he throws apples at him, because he now has to provide for the family. The sister tries and you can see that they had a good relationship, he likes to hear her playing the violin. But even she by the end has had enough. I know that Kafka writes a lot about the relationship between fathers and sons so maybe that's why Mr. Samsa is the worst character towards Gregor. What does it all mean? Is everyone indispensable? Life does go on when people die. What a morbid thought. Therefore to make it positive: make the most of your life and don't get stuck in a rut. (hide spoiler)]

"I know that Kafka writes a lot about the relationship between fathers and sons..."

That's a really interesting point. In this short bio of Franz Kafka, his own father sounds pretty scary: http://www.biography.com/people/franz...

Perhaps there's a little of the autobiographical coming through in the characters (including those from Gregor's horrible job!), but also things like the significance of the window in Gregor's room.