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The characterisation of the novel lord of the flies
The characterisation of the novel lord of the flies
Psychological factors to isolation
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Isolation is a place or situation when you are separated from others. Dehumanization is to take away a person’s humanity when treated inhumane. Isolation and dehumanization are primary motifs in the stories, The Metamorphosis and Lord of the Flies. The Metamorphosis is a story about a young man who wakes up as a large dung beetle and is starved and beaten because of his appearance. Lord of the Flies is a novel about a group of young school boys who go savage after becoming stranded on a secluded island. Have you ever felt alone? In the stories, The Metamorphosis and Lord of the Flies, the authors show the distress and emptiness that humanity goes through when mistreated by society.
In The Metamorphosis, Gregor is immediately treated negatively after becoming a giant bug. “But
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“The apple remained imbedded in his flesh […] reminded even his father that Gregor was a member of the family, in spite of his present pathetic and repulsive shape, who could not be treated as an enemy […] on the contrary, it was the commandment of family duty to swallow their disgust and endure him, endure him and nothing more”(Kafka-). Gregor is no longer being treated as a sibling or son, but as an inconvenience to the families lives. Gregor’s emotional stability is degraded more and more the longer he stays in solitude. Throughout the story, it becomes more obvious that Gregor is not wanted, “No plea of Gregor's helped, no plea was even understood; however humbly he might turn his head, his father merely stamped his feet more forcefully […] he drove Gregor on, as if there were no obstacle […] his father gave him a hard shove, which was truly his salvation, and bleeding profusely, he flew far into his room”(Kafka-). Gregor is now officially seen as an unwelcome pest that has no purpose. Only in a society, so impure, would a father purposely try to hurt his own
Gregor as a human loved and would do anything to help his family, even if the same affection was not reciprocated to him. As a bug, he attempted to stay true to his human values, even if he was no longer human. This can be seen in the very beginning of the story, when Gregor was anxious to get to work to support his family, even though he was a bug. But, as the story progresses, Gregor becomes less human and more buglike, as seen in this quote: “‘I hereby declare,’ the middle lodger said, raising his hand and casting his glance both on the mother and the sister, ‘that considering the disgraceful conditions prevailing in this apartment and family,’ with this he spat decisively on the floor, ‘I immediately cancel my room. I will, of course, pay nothing at all for the days which I have lived here; …’ In fact, his two friends immediately joined in with their opinions, ‘We also give immediate notice.’ At that he seized the door handle, banged the door shut, and locked it” (Kafka 66). In this scene, the three lodgers staying in the Samsa home spot Gregor for the first time, because Gregor was supposed to stay locked in his room always, and wasn’t allowed out. In coming out of his room, Gregor has betrayed his parents, and therefore also betrayed himself. Gregor as a human would never dare to disobey his parents, because he cared too deeply for them. But, as a bug, Gregor openly disobeyed them, and betrayed his own human values in doing
First and foremost Gregor was betrayed by his own parents who failed to care for him after his transformation. The initial reaction of the parents, especially his father, set the tone for the whole novel. Instead of trying to resolve the issue with a reasonable solution, his father physically abuses him, “when from behind, his father gave him a hard
He overheard his father speaking to his mother and sister about their financial status. As well as, how his father has been using the money he had saved from his business. Like any caring child, Gregor did not ask or question his father, just aided with no remarks. Even after his family started changing towards him, he only worried about cooperating financially in order to avoid any stress or family destruction. He slowly came to the conclusion that he will always be a bug, and because of that he isolates himself.
In fact, according to her, Gregor is contributing to the disintegration of the family and must be killed to help save the family. Grete was the concerned one and now she refuses to call him her brother, and insists that he has to be disposed of just like any old household pest. Franz Kafka had explored two conflicting ideas with the use of his protagonist Gregor: unity and isolation. Gregor’s transformation formed a whole life in which he could not escape. But on the other hand his family members were able to improve from his isolation.
Thirdly, he suffers isolation from the physical world, which he is no longer able to participate in due to his presence and lack of mobility. Lastly, he suffers isolation from other people around him, especially his family. By the end even his sister, Grete, the most compassionate member of the family, explanations that they should stop thoughtful of the creature as the person they knew. She says that “the fact that we’ve believed it so long is the root of our trouble” (Kafka 48), which can be taken to mean that at some point Gregor stopped being a person not only because of his entrance but since of his non-conformist actions. The beating he receives from his father shows the extent of the cruelty he endures, though his father knows that “family duty compulsory the conquest of disgust and the use of endurance, nothing but patience” (Kafka 36). The tragedy is that this alienation ends up killing Gregor, who “dies not as a vermin, but as a human being thinking of his family”. The transformation is an indication of the breakdown of Gregor’s psyche and alienation within his self. The reader is not told how the transformation
“It has to go”, cried his sister. “That’s the only answer, Father. You just have to try to get rid of the idea that it’s Gregor. Believing it for so long, that is our real misfortune. But how can it be Gregor? If it were Gregor, he would have realized long ago that it isn’t possible for human beings to live with such a creature, and would have gone away of his own free will” (Kafka 52). The relationship between family member’s in Kafka’s Metamorphosis is an interesting theme addressed, and somewhat distressing subject. Why is it so hard to accept that this monstrous bug is Gregor? Is it so bad for him to want to stay and be near his family- the only thing he’s ever had and known? For the sister to even come out and say these words seems somewhat selfish. Why can’t it be turned around to a viewpoint through which we have a family loving their son, unconditionally, regardless of what state he’s in? The word love is definitely one which is not seen in close companionship with the Gregor family. And we can see that this lack of affection carries on to be one of the driving forces behind the theme of alienation in the novel.
The apple doesn’t just bounce off of Gregor as one would expect, it instead lodges into his shell and begins to weaken Gregor. Like a poison, over time this apple keeps Gregor in a weakened state. This is another example of how Gregor 's father moves back into a position as the leader of the family. This moment is the turning point in the views of the family. The family as a whole now turn to the father as a provider and protector, not Gregor "then he saw his mother rush to his father 's side … and, embracing him, in perfect union with him" (Kafka 1902). Previously Gregor felt weak but it is at this moment his family views him as week and unwanted, a burden, a
To his surprise it takes him much longer to get up from his bed, and so he starts worrying and overthinking about his job as a salesman and how he is going to finish paying off his parents debt if he gets fired from his job. Gregor is now overwhelmed with thoughts that keep protruding out like how, “he thought back on his family with deep emotion and love. His conviction that he would have to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister’s” ( Kafka 51). The cruelty involves Gregor having to get out of bed on his own with nobody caring to help him, and, to top it off, he does not worry about being late as much as not getting to work, which could lead to him getting fired, and, therefore, he will not be able to pay off his parents’ debt. When Gregor reveals himself to his parents, his mother faints, and his father, on the other
I think Gregor's family treats him as an outsider because they misjudged him for example Gregor can't communicate with them. Gregor's family doesn’t understand what it's like to be a bug so they treat gregor differently because of that. They don't know what he thinks or even
of Louis XIV was that he thought human nature would always be the same. The
Franz Kafka illustrates in his book the struggle that most humans have throughout their life: ‘Who am I?’ He demonstrates this through his radical and exaggerated formation of The Metamorphosis, a man becoming a bug; or a bug always thinking he was a man, then realizing that he is and always has been a bug. This bug, Gregor Samsa, goes through an immense psychological realization at the beginning of the book; he had been deceived by his own mind from the beginning of his life. Throughout Gregor’s Metamorphosis, Gregor experiences the loss of his self actualization, recognition, belonging, security, and physiological needs. His situation had taken away all the basic psychological needs of any human as illustrated by Maslow’s Hierarchy of
... was, in my opinion, the leading factor towards Gregor difficulties with dealing with himself. The complete lack of help from his parents, and the mild disgust with which his sister took care of Gregor’s even the most basic needs might also point to emotional neglect, and could have been the main reason for his issues with identity in the first place.
His family used to care about him but after the transformation, they were no longer concerned for him. Every time the family talks about money, Gregor feels guilty and embarrassed because he can no longer provide for them. When he was able to work before, he had brought money home and “They had simply got used to it, both the family and Gregor; the money was gratefully accepted and gladly given, but there was no special uprush of warm feeling” (Kafka Ch 2 pg 6). Now that he can no longer provide, the family had to come up with ways to keep up with finances. Gregor is dehumanized each time his sister Grete walks into the room to look after him because she cannot bear the sight of him so he hides each time. Each day following Gregor’s transformation, the family’s behavior towards him became more cynical and resentful towards him. They do not allow him to leave his room and worry about how they can go on living with him. They think of him as being a creature, losing their view of him as a human being and no longer important. When Grete decided to take his furniture out of his room, Gregor feels he is dehumanized because they are taking away the link to his humanity. When it came to Gregor’s father, Gregor would “run before his father, stopping when he stopped and scuttling forward again when his father made any kind of move.” His father then threw at apple at him which ‘landed right on his back and sank in; Gregor wanted to drag himself forward, as if this startling, incredible pain could be left behind him” (Kafka Ch 2 pg
through the story we see how Gregor and his father don’t get along through Gregor’s point of view. When we read we see through Gregor the gain of a picture of the father as a lazy and depressed man whom Gregor appears to feel sorry for but not necessarily the respect. We learn about the failure of the father’s business, for example, from Gregor’s thoughts as he overhears the father explaining the family’s financial situation. When we learn that Gregor runs out of his room for the first time in a few weeks in Part 2 and sees his father for the time, Gregor’s opinion of the father changes. This is shifting evidently through Gregor’s description of his father’s uniform, which gives his father a whiff of dignity: Gregor then notices the “smart blue uniform with gold buttons” and thinks his father looks to be “in fine shape,” suggesting his father’s self-respect has been restored, and with it Gregor respect for
Gregor’s own decisions, along with others, ultimately cause his isolation and lead to the dehumanization