Aimee Bender's The Rememberer and Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

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The characters in Aimee Bender's “The Rememberer” and Franz Kafka's “The Metamorphosis” are all adjusting to life after their love ones started to change. On each story the characters behaviors change and the reaction to each citation take a different perspective on life. Bender’s “The Rememberer” the narrator and Ben are lovers presenting a physical and intellectual connection to each other sadness “He was always sad about the word. It was a large reason why I love him. We’d sit together and be sad and think about being sad and sometimes discuss sadness” (Bender 101).

The narrator becomes sadder as Ben transform from a human to an ape, and finally a sea turtle. She is aware that Ben is somewhere inside the ape. At first she wanted to find the reason for the transformation. She becomes his protector, telling strangers and coworker he was ill, she did not want anything to happen to Ben. Then she fells lonely and she want to “to take care of my lover like a son, a pet” (Bender 102), hoping to retain Ben as long as she could. But the reality was that he is gone and she could not see him again. She finally realizes she have to let him go, because it was difficult for her to continue to see Ben in these conditions and without a sign of the human being she love so much.

The characters of Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” are similar in the aspect that the family members of Gregor the main character are going to a transformation as well. But they take a different approach than the Narrator and Ben in Bender’s “The Rememberer”. In Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis Gregor is traveler salesman that becomes a giant insect. He is his family providers and this transformation jeopardizes his job. As he struggles with his physical condition and worri...

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...ntil people do not become familiar and educated they do not know how to handle such situations. These histories have a relation to people suffering with mental or physical conditions. The person affected by such personal change may do not understand what is happening to them, while the family and friends may do not how to approach changes. They may feel alone and make difficult decisions like separate them for the ill person. Instead of providing the love and comfort on times of need we become cowards and look the other way pretending nothing is happening.

WORK CITED

Bender, Aimee. "The Rememberer.” The Story and Its Writer. Charters, Ann. Compact 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/ST. Martin's, 2011. 100-102. PRINT.

Kafka, Franz. "The Metamorphosis." The Story and Its Writer. Charters, Ann. Compact 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/ST. Martin's, 2011. 471-505. PRINT.

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