After reading the very peculiar story The Metamorphosis (Part 1) by Franz Kafka, I tried to grasp the existentialist message of the story. What really stood out to me was Gregor’s heartbreaking optimism. Since it is written from Gregor’s point of view, the reader can see what a truly genuine and caring man he is. He has sacrificed his whole life for the benefit of his unappreciative family. From the way Kafka describes him, he seems like such a sweet man. It is apparent that his family is aware of his sweet nature, and is prepared to take advantage of that. His optimism toward life can be seen as synthesized happiness; however, when reading this story I found it completely heartbreaking.
“Oh God, he thought, what an exhausting job I’ve picked out for myself! On the road day in, day out” (pg 54). What I find ironic here is that he has not picked out this job. He is being forced to work at this job, due to the debt his father owns his boss. This statement first off shows a slight sense of optimism, and also a self-induced belief. Although he is being forced to work at this job, in thinking that he was the one that made this choice, he is able to synthesize happiness. After complaining about his hardships of his job he says, “Anyhow, that might be quite a good thing for me, who can tell?”(p 54). Again, this melancholy optimism may suggest a synthesized happiness, but it just seems like Gregor is forcing himself to believe a lie.
“Yet at any rate people now believed that something was wrong with him, and were ready to help. The positive certainty with which these first measures had been taken comforted him” (pg 64). Gregor is a bug. He has just been fired. His boss has just lectured him on his irresponsibility. People cannot understand him when he speaks. Yet, he feels happy that his family is showing some sign of love. It is quite sad that his family only starts to care when the chief clerk comes to fire him, and his voice sounds like an animal. Being the patriarch of the family, his parents should have begun to worry about him at about quarter to seven, when they could not understand him and he wasn’t leaving his room. Here is another example of Gregor’s heartbreaking optimism. The fact that he gains happiness, whether it is natural or synthesized, from such a small act of kindness, is truly upsetting.
“They should all have shouted encouragement to him…and in the belief that they were all following his efforts intently, he bit down frantically on the key with all the force at his command” (pg 65). This out of all statements, I found to be the most depressing. First of all, he felt content merely because the chief clerk noticed he was making an effort to turn the key. He felt that this was great encouragement. This is a perfect example of Gregor’s synthesized happiness. He gained a little bit of encouragement, but he had to convince himself that his entire family was encouraging him as well, in order to gain the strength to turn the key. He was well aware that they were not encouraging him, and he wished they would, but he was still optimistic about the situation.
Such instances portray Gregor’s humble character. He is in need of the love that he deserves, but he never seems to receive it. Most people would wallow about the fact that they are not receiving the love they deserve, but Gregor on the other hand displays naïve optimism. He knows that his family does not care, but he tries to convince himself that they do, in order to achieve synthesized happiness. Whether or not Gregor is truly content with these small acts of kindness, we will never know, but his constant optimism in tough situations is truly heartbreaking for the reader.
Pooja, I really loved reading your blog and agreed with many of the points you said. I think its excellent how you incorporated our discussion about synthesized and natural happiness into this blog because I never thought about that aspect before. I find it really interesting and agree that Gregor is synthesizing his happiness which is the only thing that keeps him motivated and optimistic about the situation he is living in.
ReplyDeleteI too find it very upsetting how Gregor's happiness comes from small acts of kindness from his family however, Kudos to Gregor! Living in this situation would make anyone depressed and he is trying to flip the situation around and make every little thing he can get to his advantage. I believe that Gregor is definately synthesizing his happiness and acting weak and cowardly by allowing them to manipulate him, but I think that Gregor is a truly strong character for him to MAKE himself believe that his family truly cares for him when in fact they don't. What do you think?
Monique,
ReplyDeleteYou make some good points but I'm afraid I disagree. When synthesizing his happiness Gregor is living in denial, and is not facing the real truth. In this case the real truth may be something quite hard to face, and the fact that Gregor denies to confront this truth makes him somewhat of a weak character. When it comes to family matters, Gregor is extremely submissive and does not speak for himself, although he is the main caretaker of the family. Perhaps in convincing himself that his family truly does care, he does not have to face the real truth; however, I feel that that is what this novel is about: the realization of the absurd truth. Perhaps Gregor is happier while synthesizing happiness, but that does not necessarily make him strong.
Pooja I think its important to consider that when we watched the TED talk they said how we underestimated synthesized happiness. How synthesized happiness is in fact as good as natural happiness this can be seen with the amnesia patients, I do agree with the fact that from our perspective he should not be happy but in fact his synthesized happiness is good. It helps move on and let go. I agree with monique the fact that beyond this he is able to still feel for his family is quite amazing I'm not sure if that makes him strong but it brings out how much love he actually has and how unconditional it is.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Gregor is living in denial and not facing the real truth but I do believe that this is what makes him strong not weak. I believe that for him to have the strength and willpower to truly convince himself that his parents love and appreciate everything he does for them is remarkable. I guess the word "strong" would be inappropriate to use to describe this because he is a weak and cowardly character to allow his parents to manipulate him. I guess the more appropriate word to use is fortitude?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Monique in Saumya in the way that his synthesized happiness could in fact allow him to be strong, and let go, however in this particular situation with Gregor, he never does let go (perhaps he is strong?). We can see that he doesn't really believe in his synthesized happiness, as he often mentions how he is content, when clearly he is not. In the end, synthesizing happiness doesn't seem to do him much good, because he ends up having to face the truth anyways, he begins to notice that his family truly doesn't care for him. Yes, he always tries to deny it, but in reality we can see that he never really succeeds. Maybe if Gregor had just accepted the truth, it wouldn't have hurt him so much, if he had really "let go" then he wouldn't have needed his family.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the synthesis of happiness didn't get him anywhere:
he should have first accepted that his family didn't care for him, then gone his own way.
At that point, maybe synthesized happiness would have worked, here he could have convinced himself that he didn't need his family.