Blog Post #31

As we continue to discuss Franz Kafka and the Modernist idea, we were asked to evaluate and study the ideas of morality, existentialism, and empathy. All of these terms are hard to define, and the exact clarified meaning is debatable. In my own opinion, all three of these mean something that cannot be completely explained. To me, morality is like pity. To have morality is to have values, and values make you human. I feel that to have morality is to be a good person at heart. It is hard to have morality, and very few people are truly moral. To become a man is to define your own values, and to set your morals in stone. Your values cannot be changed once you state them as your own. Existentialism is a little different. I see Existentialism as being an active member of society. You have to do more than just exist. It is sometimes hard to get motivated for something like school or a long work day, but for the benefit of those you love and not only yourself is to be an Existential person. Empathy is one of the hardest things for a person to be. To be empathetic is almost impossible. Doing the right thing even when no one is looking is sometimes hard, but empathy can help you do it. Not a lot of people are empathetic these days, but I am trying to get there. If I could be moral, existential, and empathetic all at the same time all the time, I would be a perfect person. Obviously that's not true, but I will try my hardest. I hope to improve myself through these rights.

The more specific definition for morality is a little more powerful. Morality is the idea that everyone you know and have ever felt for has taken you into their heart and you have taken a little bit of them into you. Humans sympathize on a primitive level, and when it comes down to it we are all brothers and sisters... kind of. Existentialism is a little more debatable too. Existentialism is a way of describing people who are truly kind. To be selfless is to be Existential. There has been few people throughout history that could be defined under Existentialism, but even fewer are truly kind. The definition is skewed, and to be completely selfless is merely undefined also. Empathy is also hard to confine into a specific rule. Empathy is feeling emotion, any emotion for someone. When you see someone that is sad, unconsciously, you also feel sad. You have a connection with this person and it is human nature to want to help. You sympathize people, even if they are a complete stranger. All of these ideas are lined up in one direction: why do we feel? We have these funny things called emotions and for some reason we listen to them. It's all debatable, but in the end we have to obey what we know is always right. I bet that if you raised a child from birth in a complete isolation, he would still feel all the emotions and connections any other child would to his/her parents. You just know. It's not debatable that we have family, and it's also no surprise we relate to the people we love. Emotion is always differing, but we all feel. It is human nature to love, and you have to trick yourself into hate.

 

Blog Post #30: Kafka Reflection

Throughout all three parts of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, there is a lot of change and degeneration of the main character, Gregor. Gregor obviously goes through the physical transformation from a young door to door salesman to a dung beetle, but he goes through many different levels of mental and emotional change too. When Gregor was initially turned into a bug, he was still the same person on the inside. But as time dragged on and Gregor's condition worsened, his human traits began to disappear along with his state of emotional being. "He could eat only if his entire panting body worked in a coordinated way—but also because the milk, which otherwise was his favorite drink and which his sister had certainly placed there for that reason, did not appeal to him at all." (Kafka, 9) Even though he is still a conscious human being on the inside, his outer beetle appearance doesn't work with him. His emotional status is slowly being chipped away, and the things he loved in his human form now seem somewhat lesser. Even though being turned into a beetle could be the worse thing that could happen to a person, Gregor does get one advantage out of it. He begins to do what he never had time for in his human body-reflect. Now that all Gregor can do is sleep, think, and roll in his own filth, he finally found time to look back on his life. As he recalls, he also begins to realize just how little he lived for, and how plain his life was. "People don’t like travelling salesmen. I know that. People think they earn pots of money and thus lead a fine life. People don’t even have any special reason to think through this judgment more clearly." (Kafka, 7) As Gregor tries to remember the happy times of his life, he realizes that not enough of it was spent with the ones he loves. He was ripped from his real life and put into a fake one every day when he woke up to go to work. He was so caught up in keeping his family together and paying off his parents debt that he forgot all about his own personal happiness and the bond to his significant others. As Gregor begins to to lose moral, his physical condition worsens. He gets sicker and smaller. His body is giving up, and taking his emotional worth down with it. Gregor can barely move and has already given up eating. He is of no use to himself. "No request of Gregor's was of any use; no request would even be understood." (Kafka, 8) Finally, after dwindling in a half-alive state, Gregor dies to a demeaning burial. His family has accepted the fact that he is no longer the person he used to be, and that there is no trace of Gregor in this bug they no longer feel the need to take care of. Gregor died a long time ago, the bug he was condemned to has only just passed. No memory of Gregor is left except for the tiring burden he became to his family. The life of Gregor was interrupted abruptly, but not a lot was interfered with. He found that the only thing he could not do in his beetle form that he was doing in his past life was working, and knowing that is what ultimately made him give up. 

Another central theme in The Metamorphosis is the perception of Gregor's room, and what it represents in comparison to his life. When Gregor wakes up and before he knows he is truly been turned into a bug, his room is described as plain and tidy, ready for the work day. His walls are surrounding him like a coffin, and the door to his room is locking him in. The window is dull and grey, leaving no escape from his life he has cornered himself into. The picture of the elegant woman he has cut out and frame on his wall shows just how lonely and disconnected he is from himself. He unlocks himself from his room to go to his abusive job where he gets paid to work off his parents debt by getting doors slammed in his face. He has ended his life without even knowing it. "He was only just inside his room when the door was pushed shut very quickly, bolted fast, and barred." (Kafka, 24) His family has only had a part in trapping Gregor, he had himself demoralized long ago. His attitude, his lifestyle, and his actions have all but become automatic and sad. He no longer has any characteristics or even a personality. He has no preference, no disgust to himself, and most depressingly, no self respect. "Gregor squirmed his way through the accumulation of junk and moved it. At first he was forced to do this because otherwise there was no room for him to creep around, but later he did it with a

growing pleasure, although after such movements, tired to death and feeling wretched, he did not budge again for hours." (Kafka, 21) Gregor has given up on his life. He is still living, but his identity is missing. He does nothing more than a beetle, and that is why he has turned into one. Gregor knows that something is missing from his life, he just can't pinpoint what. He is too far lost in the sadness, and too far detached from the life he was meant to live. "For him it was as if the way to the unknown nourishment he craved was revealing itself." (Kafka, 22) Gregor knows that true happiness is always through the ones you love, but he is still lost in the way of expressing that. He wishes he could send his sister to the Conservatory, but he doesn't even remember why. His social appearance is torn to nothing, and his kind heart has been crushed by every agonizing day with no yielding or reward. The message so relentlessly driven in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is simply this: life your life to the fullest, and the happy moments should never be traded for money. Don't let yourself become a bug, work not to see your family less, but to see them more. Happiness is not wealth. 

Blog Post #29

This past week, as we finished our essays on What Dreams May Come and wrapped up our Divine Comedy project, we began reading Franz Kofka's The Metamorphosis. Kofka is known as one of the most influential modernists in all of history, and The Metamorphosis is one of his best works. It opens up the human mind to the ideas of self-oppression, inner tunnel vision, and most of all, self-loathing. Kofka is a hard piece to read mostly for the extreme sadness expressed, and I haven't read too far in it yet. So far, I have only seen one layer of symbolism expressed: blindness. "The stresses of selling are much greater than the actual work going on at head office, and, in addition to that, I still have to cope with the problems of travelling, the worries about train connections, irregular bad food, temporary and constantly changing human relationships, which never come from the heart." (Kafka, 2) The main character, not even having the slightest concern that he is now a vile bug of some sort, is repressing himself. The dark, twisted reality he has cornered himself into is just now catching up to him, and yet he still refuses to acknowledge it. "'What’s happened to me,' he thought. It was no dream. His room, a proper room for a human being, only somewhat too small, lay quietly between the four well-known walls." (Kafka, 1) The horrible soul-crushing world he lives in is almost too hard to bear, so his mind has created a new one for him.
My prediction for the plot of this depressing story is with a bleak outlook. I think it is only going to get harder to read. I have barely made it past the first few pages and I'm already feeling a little suicidal. There is hints that the main character will persevere and the plot will come to a happy ending, but by this point in the year I know better. I think that the story of this lonely bug will come to a devastating end.  "They would only have had to push their arms under his arched back to get him out of the bed, to bend down with their load, and then merely to exercise patience so that he could complete the flip onto the floor, where his diminutive legs would then, he hoped, acquire a purpose." (Kafka, 3) The reason I believe this story will end grimly is summed up in this phrase. As a normal person would react to this situation as a complete horror, Gregory is simply trying to carry out his day. He is blind to anything in the future except what he is told, and the end result is not always pretty for people of that nature. He is too caught up in the rat race, as some would say. "Things are not yet going as well as I thought. But things are all right with me. How suddenly this can overcome someone! Only yesterday evening everything was fine with me." (Kafka, 5) Gregory is a prisoner to himself, and to everyone trying to keep him free. Sometimes when you work so hard to become something, you get there only to find you have nothing to show for it. Life is complicated like that, and without stopping to smell the roses every once in a while, you could be doomed to live a very sad, dark life. You may not turn into a bug, but you will be no better than one.

Blog Post # 27

Franz Kofka was a German-language novelist of the 1880, and was one of the most influential writers of his time. Born in the Prague, Hungry (now the Czech Republic) on July 3, 1883, Kofka lived in a modest home with his middle class family outside the Old Town Square. He was raised by his mother, Julie Kofka in his home with five other brothers and sisters until he was sent to school in 1889 at a German boy's elementary school outside of Mansa Street. Franz was raised by the Jewish faith, and of the time it was expected that a Jewish boy would get good grades and exceed educationally in school. Franz did, and never thought of himself as much more. He did well, but did not pursue any kind of higher education after a few years of Philosophy at Warsaw. He was said to be a shy boy, never really having much to say but when he did it was profound.




After his studies, Franz went out into the world and was first hired by an insurance company. Franz worked there for less than a year, and didn't enjoy it much. It took too much time out of his writing-which was growing in importance. Franz was said to develop the first "hard hat" for worker's safety while at the firm, but his job never took off that much from there. He was a simple paper-pusher, and was only working to keep food on the table. In 1915 Franz received a letter for the draft of WWI, but due to his tuberculosis he was diagnosed with soon before kept him out. He tried to enlist many times, but the army wouldn't accept him. Franz never seemed to have time for a family, but he did admit to be tortured by sexual addiction. People often regarded him as emotionally repulsive, and not someone that you would want to hang around with. He had a dry sense of humor, and didn't posses much of a personality to mention. Later in his life he found an interest in swimming which he proved to be quite good at, but soon that too had to be sacrificed for more writing time.



Franz Kofka had many influences on people not only of his own time, but is still opening people's eyes today. His writing was inspiring, dark, and very well written. He inspired a form of fluency called "Kafkaesque" to set in motion a whole act of speaking out against injustice, particularity in Germany, and is commemorated in Warsaw every year. Kafka is rarely quoted by others, but many idealists have similar opinions as his stated in his books. Kafka often painted a picture of a dark, strict bureaucratic world. His symbolism and influence helped shape our world today, and has been used to stand out against tyranny all throughout history.

 

Franz Kofka died on June 3rd, 1924 at the young age of 40. His influence lived on, but he as a person was gone forever. As a result of the tuberculosis he had been suffering from since a child, his condition worsened into a terrible throat problem. His official cause of death was starvation, but only because his throat made it too painful to eat. At his funeral, only his immediate family mourned. Franz was not yet famous, and his ideas weren't always shared mutually. We now know that he was a great writer, and even if he wasn't the most fun person to be around socially, its what he spoke out against that counts. His first piece, The Metamorphosis, wasn't published until almost 20 years after he died.




Nervi, Mauro M. "The Kafka Project." The Kafka Project. Linkit, 06 June 1990. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. <http://www.kafka.org/>.

Blog Post # 26

As we transition from Dante's Inferno and begin our evaluation of Vincent Ward's What Dreams May Come, we were asked to compare the two works in a way that each of these pieces would reflect each other. After hearing all the presentations about Dante's Inferno and watching What Dreams May Come, I see that there are many similarities and references to Dante in the film. The first and most symbolic of all the relations was Chris Neilsen's guide into Hell, The Tracker. He is the depiction of Virgil. Both are guides into the underworld, and both act as a mentor to the one they lead. Later on the watcher finds out that The Tracker is actually Albert, the medical expert Chris trained under in college. Albert led Chris in his life, and now he leads his soul through Hell. They have a special kind of relationship, one that allows them to always count on each other. It also shows the path of life, in the sense of the soul. Albert was black in a physical condition on Earth, but his soul always viewed himself as the old wise man he was when he appeared to Chris in Heaven. Together they pass through many regions of Hell similar to those described in Dante's Inferno. The gates of Hell is a ship graveyard, filled with battleships and other wreckage. Violent, tortured souls slum about, waiting to be lowered in through the gates. The first level, or plane, they both reach is the "sea of faces". This is the Illustration of The River of Styx. It is not exactly the same, but you can see the connection. When Chris falls into Annie's personal Hell, he finds it to be their house in a giant upside down church-the church they were married in. This is using Dante's idea of Contrapasso. The sin the soul commits should fit the crime. Each person is punished differently, but they are all divided up into different levels. Albert helps Chris, telling him to make sure he comes back out of the house in under three minutes otherwise he will be pulled down into Annie's world she created for herself. When Chris decides to stay with Annie, Albert helps them both escape before both of them got stuck in Hell forever. Albert is not only a great friend that Chris will have for many more lives to come, but also the ideal Virgil to him. He fits the part, and plays it beautifully.
The second most notable association between Dante's Inferno and What Dreams May Come is the gates of Hell. Both appear as a huge, gaping, horrifying place that you usually wouldn't return from. They both symbolize the many people sinning, for the gate is swarmed with incoming souls in both these pieces. Each of the main characters make it back out of Hell, and are both led by a guide through the gate. The entrance of Hell is a dark place, one with people of all wars and all sins, usually violent ones. The gates of Hell in What Dreams May Come  is a ship graveyard, filled with all the tired souls of soldiers and sunken battleships. This is the wrathful level of Hell. You could get lost in it, and all those waiting are violent, not saying that soldiers go to Hell. The main and final ship is called the Cerberus, the three headed dog of Greek Mythology that is so often used in Dante. Everything is red and burning, and all the souls carry a white flag - surrendering their will and giving in. War is Hell, and this representation in both of these works says something. The use of boats as the main form of transportation all throughout What Dreams May Come is symbolic, its trying to make it seem older and more connected to Dante. The colors noted all point to those represented in the many Cantos of Hell, and the sense of life and what to make of it ties in with Dante's reason for writing The Divine Comedy. In the end, both of these works were working for one simple thing: the realization of what happens when we die, be that good or bad. There are different beliefs, different religions, all kinds of opinions from all over the world but one may never know for sure until it happens. Life is a mystery, but not one to solve. Dante's Inferno and What Dreams May Come are both beautiful representations of what the afterlife could be.

Blog Post #25

All this past week, we have continued to present our Dante's Inferno projects. It has been going well, and not a lot of people have been absent. Basically, we have been counting up through the levels of Hell, deeper and deeper into the center of Earth. The last Canto is obviously where Satan resides, and I think we are only two away from wrapping it all up. Personally,I think it's fun to see all the sins and their ironic Contrapassos. It is interesting to see which sins Dante sees as almost unforgivable, and which are punished the most severely. Overall, it is a good learning experience and I find it more rewarding to present something to the class visually instead of just having a paper to read. Prezi is a little complicated, but it always looks good and having something you made to prove you took the time gives you a deeper, more personal understanding.

Out of all the projects we have seen this week, the two I like the most were Noah's and Tiffany's. I liked Noah's mostly because he did a good representation of falsification. His idea to fill a pinata with brussel sprouts was tricky. It was mischievous and insidious, a perfect visual for his Canto. It went well with the symbolism of the Trojan horse too, and the way he linked it to other historical events. It was a solid presentation, and it was obvious that he really cared. He did a good job, honestly. Tiffany's was the other presentation that I enjoyed the most. She really didn't do a good job explaining it, but she did make a nice jail cell for her visual. She had a hard Canto to dissect, but I think she gave it her best in the time she was provided with. All of the projects I have seen so far have been great, but these ones stand out the most. The artwork, the presentations, and the all-around positive attitude on such a dark subject was really enjoyable for me. I think this project, even though scary and violent on the surface, has had a positive impact on me.

Blog Post #24

For the first half of this week, everyone was given work time in class to collaborate and ask any questions they may have. Everyone seemed to be understanding it well, and the syllabus helped a lot. It seemed like a lot of work, but it really wasn't that much. Depending on how many Contrapassos the Canto had, it was either a little work in a little amount of time, or a lot of work it a lot of time. Parts of it was a little consuming, but in the end it will be interesting to see how all the Cantos fit together. The story of Dante through his Divine Comedy is an interesting one. It would be even more interesting to read Dante's Paradiso. Hell is a little depressing to read about. 

As a personal reflection of the week, I did not enjoy it. I felt rushed, and I was absent the day I was supposed to present my Canto. I had a small family emergency, and as a result didn't get much of the project done anyway. I really didn't like relating a part of our world to Hell, that seemed a little too dark for me. Overall this project was a really good learning experience, but I would have liked to get the same experience out of a happier story. Dante's Inferno is a disturbing story, and I think that it may be pushing the limits of religion in public schools. Overall, I am glad for this project, but in the same sense that I'm just glad it's over.