The True Metamorphosis Essay Example for Free

The True Metamorphosis Essay The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka offers much to be critiqued, including the reason why Gregor Samsa was transformed into a hideous beetle. The truth is Gregor had put himself into a position of demise long ago. Over the years, he had worked himself into both physical and mental exhaustion. Gregor was the sole provider, and eventually his family grew less appreciative of him. His relationship with his family had gone south. They were no longer as close, and it were as if he had become isolated. In Education for Tragedy, Walter H. Sokel elaborates on that point. According to Sokel, the change from human to insect occurred due to the alienation he faced from his family. That alienation continued throughout the novella, eventually leading to Gregor’s death. Several times, Sokel refers to Gregor as being a â€Å"prisoner†. For example, he writes â€Å"Gregor, an adult, is a prisoner in his own family†¦. On the other hand, he is a total stranger in the family and lives in their midst in the state of exile† (Sokel 164). This quote can be interpreted as saying that Gregor is trapped in his own house, and stuck there with little hope as he is not close with the rest of the Samsas. To further show his disconnect from his family, Sokel writes about Gregor’s decision to lock his door. He states â€Å"When Gregor wakes up as a vermin, his main problem, since he has locked the door of his room, is reaching the others out of his literal seclusion† (Sokel 164). For Sokel, Gregor locking his door shows that he is living in a different world from the rest of his family. Gregor did everything that he possibly could for his family, and they never really opened their arms for him. They enjoyed the rewards Gregor brought them from his labor, but never showed gratitude to him. The metamorphosis of Gregor into an insect did not just highlight how insignificant he was to his family after the transformation, but also proved the insignificance he had to them before the transformation. It is very accurate that Gregor was alienated from the rest of his family. This alienation had occurred as a result of the oath that he took several years ago. He had promised himself that he would exert all of his energy toward getting his family out of debt. Gregor was forced to do this single handedly. Gregors physical metamorphosis is a metaphor for the mental metamorphosis of a man alienated from his family. It is no coincidence that Kafka had transformed Gregor into an insect. The insect that he has transformed into is a symbol created by Kafka that shows what Gregor’s true identity had been all along. Many insects, such as ants and bees, have workers that provide for the rest of their group. Similarly, Gregor must provide for his family. He states that he felt his family was no longer capable of working. His father â€Å"had not worked for the past five years and who in any case could not be expected to undertake too much†, his mother could not work for she suffered from asthma, and his sister for seventeen years â€Å"was still a child† whose life consisted of â€Å"wearing pretty clothes, sleeping late, helping in the house, enjoying a few modest amusements, and above all playing the violin† (Kafka 27). While all three members of his family are at home living their leisurely lives, Gregor is out in the working world. Clearly, there is a huge gap between these two worlds, and that is a factor in why Gregor feels so far apart from his family. It did not help that his job made him miserable. When he wakes up in Chapter 1 as an insect, he is not overly concerned that he is no longer human- instead he worries that he will be late for work. While he prepares, he thinks about how much he hates his job. â€Å"Oh God, what a grueling job I’ve picked! Day in, day out- on the road. The upset of doing business is much worse than the actual business in the home office, and besides, I’ve got the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate. To the devil with it all† (Kafka 4). The working world that Gregor is stuck in is a miserable one where he finds no enjoyment. He is extremely lonely, and feels by himself. Unfortunately for him, those feelings remain unchanged when he does return home. Sokel’s essay also details the role reversal that had occurred between he and his father after his transformation. Sokel writes â€Å"through Gregor’s metamorphosis, the father becomes masterful again and reasserts himself as head of the family. Thus The Metamorphosis is the resurrection and rejuvenation of a father held to be senile. The son, for his part, sinks into a dreadful state, which far exceeds the degradation of senility† (Sokel 165). It is true- Gregor had been transformed into the lowest of life forms. He was imprisoned in his room, and locked away from not just society, but his family as well. His father, meanwhile, became the main provider in the family, becoming a bank messenger. He was not the only one who changed for the better though- the rest of his family did as well. His mother knits clothes to be sold, and his sister has become a salesgirl. By the end of the novel, the Samsas have moved on from their old lives. They take the trolley into the open country, and are prepared to look for a smaller and cheaper apartment, one that they could manage. They now all understand their capabilities, and are no longer the same Samsas who lingered at their home while Gregor attempted to keep the family afloat in terms of money. Gregor should not be forgotten though, as his change was the catalyst for his family’s transformation. Sokel writes, â€Å"Gregor’s metamorphosis is sacrifice† (Sokel 174). He was forced to give up his life in order for his family to find success on their own. His transformation opened up his family’s eyes that they would not be able to survive living the way they did. Is it unfortunate, but their existence at the end of the novella can be attributed to one thing, and that is the demise of Gregor. Had he not been changed into an insect, his family would still linger and accomplish little to nothing at all. The story of Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis seems ridiculous and hard to comprehend at first, but the true message of the story becomes clear toward the end. Kafka wants the audience to see how cruel and uncaring society is. Gregor gave up on his own life to work nonstop just to keep his family afloat, and they were never really appreciative of him. All he wanted was to see his family be able to prosper. In order for this to occur, Gregor had to be sacrificed. Perhaps it is not fair that he had to be turned into an insect and eventually die for his family to realize what was wrong with them. They exploited him to the point where he could offer them nothing else, and he eventually became a burden for them. Nonetheless, without including physical change, Gregor was the character that changed the least. He still showed much care for his family despite the lack of care back, and even in his dying moments, he â€Å"thought back on his family with deep emotion and love†. Kafka wants the audience to see that Gregor was a martyr. His death occurred for the greater good of the family, and that is shown when they are ready to live their new lives.

The Character of Puck in A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay -- Midsummer

The Character of Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream      Ã‚   Considered one of William Shakespeare's greatest plays, A Midsummer Nights Dream reads like a fantastical, imaginative tale; however, its poetic lines contain a message of love, reality, and chance that are not usually present in works of such kind. All characters in the play are playful, careless and thoughtless, and Puck: one of the central characters in the play: is significant to the plot, tone, and meaning of A Midsummer Nights Dream, thus becoming a representative of the above-mentioned themes.    The plot in this one of Shakespeare's plays is comical and, at times, ironic. As summarized by Puck in the last stanza of the play:    If we shadows have offended Think but this, and all is mended: That you have but slumb'red here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme No more yielding but a dream Gentles do not reprehend: If you pardon, we will mend. And, as I am an honest Puck If we have unearned luck Now to scape the serpent's tongue We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call: So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restorer amends. (Shakespeare 89)    Puck suggests to both the watchers and, consequently, to the readers, that if they did not enjoy the tale, they should pretend it was a dream: a notion so convincing that at times the audience is left bewildered; this effect of his works made Shakespeare seem so cunning, like Puck. The lines above formulate the ending of the play to be ironic and humorous, much in the same way as the rest of the story was told. The general plot, with certain char... ...ctions and attributes of other characters and Puck helps contribute to deceitful aura of the play. Another key factor of this play were its many inclinations toward a comical relief and Puck's involvements of making mishaps occur. The mood, implication, and scheme are all carefully weaved together in the play, with Puck being a symbol or a catalyst for nearly every one of them.    Works Cited Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston. New York. 1997.    Works Consulted    Briggs, Katharine M. The Anatomy of Puck. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1959.    Nevo, Ruth. Comic Transformations in Shakespeare. New York: Routledge, Chapman & Hall, 1981.    Rhoades, Duane. Shakespeare's Defense of Poetry: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "The Tempest". Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,1986.

Local substance abuse: Atlanta, Georgia

Georgia Council on Abuse impact study states that 50% of all homicides and 62% of assaults is associated with substance abuse. Georgia’s population of 369,393 in 2003 statistics showed that 32.1% was composed by White and 59.3% by Black African American. In 2004 Atlanta was reported to have 151 homicides. 18% of aids in Atlanta were also found to be related to injection users. Substance abuse is defined to be the excessive use of a substance such as drugs, tobacco or cigarettes and alcohol for mood altering purposes. The profile of substance abuse in Atlanta seems to scare the national strategy on drug control. The third principle referring to disrupting the market may not be able to effectively invade the already ongoing drug war in the vicinity. I think there is a cross country need to look into the problem of intergenerational healing of families in Atlanta than just mean policies and intervention. Users of drug Methamphetamine (Meth), being readily available in Atlanta nightclubs, ranges from ages 13-30, White. Atlanta is defined to be the drug smuggling corridor of the east coast being the largest city in the South. Being the center for all East-West and North-South travel, it became a haven for most Mexican-based traffickers. Atlanta’s strategic location made it Georgia’s largest source of supply of Meth coming from Mexico, California, or Texas, from the lairs of Europe in transit for distribution to other states market. (ONDCP 2005). The Meth epidemic in Atlanta poses significant effect to socio cultural factors, state policy and programs for intervention. Atlanta is presently a major distribution hub for the crystal rock form of Meth commonly called as Mexican ice. The impact of the substance abuse epidemic on tobacco, alcohol, cocaine and other illegal drugs among infants delivered by users has significantly impede the quality of life in Georgia’s future generation being a recourse for open-air drug markets. Their quality of life is pretty disturbing to note that first use of drugs was reported to start as young as 12 years old due to parental permissiveness on drug use. Studies showed that parents were even underwriting keg parties for teenagers. This was their unique experimentation and response to providing safe drug alternatives among teenagers. This will also lessen potential dangers brought by drinking and driving. Somehow Georgia legislature in 1997 implementing stiffer penalties to teenagers driving while impaired by alcohol consumption has even increased the population for substance abusers in an unknowingly different way and at an unknowingly different rate. It was seen that parents who initiated such keg parties are the ones who grew up from a generation of high drug used. To illustrate more on the problem of substance abuse, the University of Georgia is now even planning to send creepy emails to all of its college students regarding the effects of Meth. The intensity of substance abuse and the insensitivity of the parents with diverse ethnic origins to adopt a new life from the neighborhood they knew were quite amazing and does coexist with the rampant drug trafficking Atlanta scenario. Interventions come in diverse approaches according to the needs of the individual and the situation of the state itself. Since 2000 Atlanta has been delving on the aid of local television advertisements regarding the harmful effects of drugs. A centralized phone number is then provided where calls were then referred to the appropriate centers or programs the caller needs according to the intensity of the abuse. The selection of drug rehab treatment and facility is ultimately based and tailor made depending on the choice of the patient. Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) and the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N-SSATS) were the ones collecting data on different States for monitoring. TEDS provides information on the demographic and substance abuse characteristics based on annual admissions while N-SSATS provides data based on the location, characteristics and use of treatment facilities and services. TEDS is admission based and does not have the appropriate technology to monitor such admission based on the individual. It can count on an individual twice if it will be admitted twice in a row at that period of study. Knowing that substance abuse patient’s characteristics come and go from admissions to outpatients, the population generated by its study does not represent the true value of the population and is thereby misleading. TEDS is not capable of following an individual in their treatment episodes due to the confidentiality of assigning a unique ID identifier at State level. There is one big probability that the number of admissions population that was gathered by TEDS could mean the number of treatments an individual had not to mention cases of subsequent transfers done to different service types for a single treatment program. Promptness of reports also matters since late reports for that period will be integrated with the next period’s report. States continually review TEDS data and revisions may occur at any given time during the review even for a period of five years. N-SSATS on the other hand collects data from all known treatment facilities in voluntary form. The term voluntary itself would mean incomplete information.   (SAMHSA 2005). The local and national reports could well differ in terms of the population. Statistics is vital for use in the treatment and intervention programs that will be created by ONCDP for Atlanta. The unique ID identifier made by the State is good enough to track the substance abuse patient’s admissions and transfers. The report system of the facilities and the government is not integrated and does not support each other. The structure of their IT must be studied and immediately remedied to achieve appropriate data to be able to create appropriate measures for substance abuse control. References ONDCP. (2005). Atlanta, Georgia: Profile of drug indicators February 2005. Retrieved April 13, 2007 SAMHSA. (2005). Treatment Episode Data Sets (TEDS) and National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N-SSATS). Quick statistics from the drug and alcohol services information system. Retrieved April 14, 2007 Website: http://wwwdasis.samhsa.gov/webt/tedsweb/tab_year.choose_year?t_state=GA         

The Management Game At Coventry University - 1844 Words

1. Introduction This paper mainly focuses on what I experienced and obtained from the Coventry Management Game took place at Coventry University. The management game provided participants with a variety of opportunities to work as a group with diversity. Accordingly, they were aware of the importance of internationalisation, positive and negative sides of working at the internationally diverse team. Throughout this module, they have learned what are important to do job-hunting such as how to create good CV, how to take job interviews etc. in this report, those what we learned and experienced are explained in more depth dividing into some categories. 2. What is the importance of internationalisation? According to Investopedia, the term†¦show more content†¦Indeed, they kept having dialogues with me not only about tasks and assignments but also a variety of topics, which cultivated our international outlook and an ability to work with a diverse team. In terms of point 4, Hawkins argued in his statistics book about immigration in the UK that â€Å"immigration has grown faster than emigration, leading to an increase in net migration from an annual average of 37,000 in the period 1991 to 1995 to an annual average of 249,000 in the period 2011 to 2015†. (House of Commons 2017) This means more and more people from outside of the UK have been coming into the UK in the past years, and it is easy to find people from different background in the workplace in this country. Thus, people living in the UK should be able to adapt the internationalised society. 3. Which management game I attended and why? I have attended the Coventry Management Game since the first Management Game in Groningen was full though I had hoped to go and join it in. 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