How Are The Metaamorphosis And What, Of This Goldfish Similar

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In the stories “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka and “What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish” by Etgar Keret, the main conflicts are centered around the magical realism present in each story. In ”The Metamorphosis” a traveling salesman named Gregor is transformed into some kind of vermin and thus starts the main conflict of Gregor’s constant ostracization by his family after he’s unable to assist him anymore and slowly becomes consumed by loneliness. In “What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish” a man named Sergei is visited by a young boy who is making a special for TV about what you would wish of a magic goldfish Sergei having no interest turns him down but finds the kid in his house screaming about his goldfish this alarming Sergei he hit …show more content…

How magical realism affects the main conflicts of these stories differ greatly, but simultaneously are very similar. “The Metamorphosis” and “What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish” are similar in how the magical realism in their stories sparks the main conflict causing the protagonist to make tough decisions. In “The Metamorphosis” Gregor’s sudden transformation into some type of vermin, likely a roach, causes the main conflict throughout this story. At the beginning of the story when Gregor wakes up to find himself transformed into a roach he seems to be very unconcerned about what that means for some reason, only thinking about his job. “‘God in Heaven!’ he thought. It was half past six and the hands were quietly moving forward, it was even later than half past, more like quarter to seven.” This realization came to him after dwelling on how much he …show more content…

In “The Metamorphosis” Gregor’s transformation into a vermin causes him to choose to live with the hope he can become human again, or leave his home to allow his family to live without worry. Near the end of “The Metamorphosis,” his family decides in consensus that Gregor though still, part of the family needs to go: “I don’t want to call this monster my brother, all I can say is that we have to try and get rid of it.”(Gregor’s sister). After this statement, Gregor's father thoughtfully agrees with his daughter having their intentions clear he crawls back to his room and slowly passes away from his family's prior abuse having finally given up on becoming a human once more. The tough decision that Gregor was forced to make in the end was whether or not he would continue to live in his family home with no certainty that he could get better or leave his family home and relieve his family from having to take care of a grotesque monster. A similar but quite different choice had to be made in “What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish”. In “What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish” Sergei is forced to decide whether or not he wants to save his last wish or use it to save the boy. At the beginning of the story, Sergei having been concerned that the boy would steal his goldfish accidentally kills the boy leaving him

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