From Samana to Siddhartha

            Siddhartha, a Brahmin who believes the only way to find Enlightenment is to find it for oneself through their own experiences, not through learning from doctrines, even from the Buddha himself. Siddhartha is the story of he himself, and his journey of finding the Self and the true meaning of life. In the beginning, he feels he has learned everything he can from teachers of Atman, meditation, etc, and wants to see what else there is to learn in the world by becoming one like a teacher; a Samana. Once he dedicates his decision towards doing so, he confronts his father to leave and become a Samana, and from his way of protest, his father lets him go to live the life he wants. Before embarking on his journey to become a Samana, he questions his teachers in how they've not experienced what they teach, so how could he keep learning of these experiences from Brahmin who have not been enlightened themselves? "...not a single one had succeeded in reaching it, this heavenly world; not one had fully quenched that eternal thirst" (Hesse 7). It is interesting how Siddhartha looks at what he would keep learning and what he can learn if he goes to enlighten himself. Leaving his family to strive for something more is the moment of his Internal Calling, to become the hero and live as he feels is right. When he lives among the forest of the Samanas, he wears little clothing, fasts greatly, and meditates for hours to become one with the world and life around him. As this is a tormenting, yet amazing, experience to him at first, it became tedious and not worthwhile. "Even if Siddhartha fled the Self a thousand times, lingering in nothingness, in the animal, in stone, his return was unavoidable, the hour inescapable when he found himself once more, in sunlight or moonlight, in shade or rain, and once more he was Self, was Siddhartha, and once more he felt the torments of the cycle imposed on him" (Hesse 14). The first time he loses himself with the Self, he becomes one of many animals, such as a heron, and goes through their whole life cycle, in the end waking out of his meditation and finding his Self again, in the agony of his physical state. This is worth it to him until it becomes too familiar, too predictable and a waste of his life. He learns of the cycle of life in segmented hours, but he gains nothing back of the true meaning of life and of the Self; no knowledge, awareness, enlightenment, nothing. His soul mate friend, Govinda, and him travel to the Sublime One, the Buddha, in search of meaning from his holy doctrine. When they hear Buddha's words, Govinda becomes a disciple to him, while Siddhartha has a few things to say to Buddha instead. He is honored to listen to the doctrine, but he realizes that Buddha is only like everyone else, specifically his past teachers. They teach through doctrine for one to possibly find their own enlightenment, but Siddhartha realizes that one must experience it for themselves to truly reach Nirvana like the Sublime One. Buddha found meaning, Self, Atman, and everything for himself, but what he experienced is strictly for his enlightenment, how could his teachings of his experiences help anyone else? Only some tips and guidance are beneficial from his doctrine, but Siddhartha realizes one cannot base their life off someone's experiences, but experience life for themselves to reach their Nirvana. From this, Siddhartha leaves to find the meaning of life and Self for himself, while Govinda stays behind to follow the Buddha.

How Siddhartha sees life as Samana

            Siddhartha sees everything in the world differently now, trying to understand it all in a new perspective. Every object and living thing has meaning to him, and beauty. What he desired previously was doctrine, teaching, and a set way to find Atman and all for himself. Now he is finding meaning for himself by his rules, and it is beautiful to him. "I'll be my own teacher, my own pupil. I'll study myself, learn the secret that is Siddhartha" (Hesse 35). He is embracing life in a different way, a healthier way physically, mentally, and spiritually for him. After staying at a ferryman's house, he travels through the forests to find a new life style, and meeting a woman at the river, he starts to engage through lust with her. Before anything happens, his inner voice tells him to not do something for the pleasure, and to move on; he does. He overcomes lust, wanting to still reach Nirvana and experience life without pleasures such as sex. Then he meets a wealthy, beautiful woman named Kamala, who he talk with for information on how to be successful and live within the city she lives in. She tells him to get new clothes, money, and a job in which he can use his skills. "'I can think. I can wait. I can fast'" (Hesse 50). From his Samana life, all he'd learned to do is think, wait, and fast, and this is all he tells her. This shows how little he possesses in personal skills, and his new love for just experiencing life around him and nothing more. He 'learns' so much from Kamala of the ways of her lifestyle, and thinks she is a teacher to him. He is unaware that he is being hooked to being taught, the thing he wants to stay away from in his new life. Kamala gives him kissing lessons, yet mocks him, leading him on and pushing him away over and over again, but Siddhartha sticks with her for is in love with her. He soon reveals that he can read and write, and this is how he gets to interview with the tradesman Kamaswami. He sometimes is a good business partner, and sometimes not. When he makes mistakes, he doesn't care, nor does he care when he makes profit for Kamaswami. All he cares about is living a good and rather easy life, and experiencing joy, connection and people during his trades, along with nature. If he devastates the business, all he cares about is the experience he has, and how it can benefit him for getting closer to finding meaning, Self, and Nirvana. Thus far in chapters 1-6 in Siddhartha, Siddhartha is finding his own path in his own way, experiencing everything he can and embracing the life he has and has yet to discover.

Siddhartha's new perspective experiencing life!

The Modernist Isolation

            

The Modernist Isolation

            The ideas from the modernist minds are concepts to be seen and understood throughout contemporary society and humanity. The philosophies and words of modernist literature come to life in exceptional, yet taxing, ways. The Metamorphosis, a short story written by Franz Kafka, exposes the ills of humanity in creative ways, metaphorically and literally explaining modernism, isolationism, and existentialism. All three of these philosophical concepts and movements are in the midst of this story, shown through the one hero in its entirety, Gregor Samsa. Gregor is a character that is locked in an eternal room of isolation, not to be appreciated, recognized, or loved whatsoever. From the outside elements of the story, his family, his job, and his bedroom, he is isolated from his life and life itself. Kafka is brilliant at writing of Gregor's loneliness and emotions through the use of antagonistic elements attacking him, either mentally or physically. Without metaphor, this story is only a painfully boring "sci-fi" short story that urges on and on. Of course, Kafka's intentions are far more complex and meaningful through his use of metaphor and symbolism. Kafka's purpose of this story is to get the reader to feel empathetic for Gregor, and to more importantly realize that Gregor's transformation into a bug is the representation of all humans, and all human beings are just as ugly and disgusting as cockroaches and insects like them. The reason modernist literature is written is to express the sadness of the era and connect with the reader, but to also bring enlightenment by allowing the characters to find the inner self and what life means to them in an existentialist manner, because of the hardships and isolation they have to face. Gregor is such a character, and his body, mind, and soul, who symbolizes the isolation of the people during the modernist era, and the isolation of humanity and individual beings in a contemporary context. Kafka's modernist style of writing conveys empathy at its finest to the reader, expressing existentialism and communion, as well as vampirism, irony, and isolation. Though, out of all of these concepts, isolation is the key modernistic idea that every other element ties in with from the contextual standards of modernism.

            The first ideas that express Gregor's isolation from the body to the soul are communion and vampirism. Communion is not something Gregor has, but rather the lack of, which creates his physical and emotional isolation. The concept of communion, as Thomas Foster explains in How to Read Literature Like a Professor, can be used in several ways as long as it pertains to the gathering of people who share beliefs, trust, and an intimate connection. "...whenever people eat or drink together, it's communion... breaking bread together is an act of sharing and peace " (Foster 1). The metaphor of breaking bread comes from the Christian communion, which is the act of literally breaking and eating bread and drinking wine, the body and blood of Jesus. In contemporary terms, breaking bread is the sharing of food and trust, thus a meal. A meal is really a sacred time, as eating is personal thing, and no one wants to eat with people they're uncomfortable with or don't trust. This is because meals have communion, and communions always have intimate connection, which is nothing but trust and a peaceful relationship of some sort. When one is left out of a meal from the rest, the bystander automatically is isolated in a state of no human connection and complete loneliness. This is what Gregor lacks, and the feeling of no communion is clear to Gregor. The fact that his family eats without him every night after he turns into a bug, shows their exclusion of Gregor from their communion-full meal. Already he is isolated from his family in general, locked in his room and never to interact and have relation with them, but not being able to eat with them just adds to Gregor's emotional devastation. Then there is vampirism, which is what takes away everything Gregor loves and cherishes, which affects him in every way, of course leading to his death. The exclusion from the dinner table and every civilized and filling meal is taken from him, which includes communion, and that theft of life occurs because of his family, making his family as a whole and individually, vampires. "...it's also about things other than literal vampirism: selfishness, exploitation, a refusal to respect the autonomy of other people, just for starters" (Foster 6). The popular vision of a vampire, a blood sucking, undead man, is rather a metaphor of the real meaning of a vampire. A literal vampire people think is one like Dracula, when in fact, a literal vampire should be one who 'sucks' the strength, innocence, and life of another person. Examples of vampires in reality are rapists, or abusive family members, or any person who doesn't physically kill one all at once, but slowly exploits, hurts, and scars until eventually leading to death. This death can be referred to as the death of one's passion, love, mind and/or soul. For Gregor, it is all of these, without one to survive. Obviously Gregor physically dies, but everything he has to give and live for is taken by his family, mostly by his father. Starting with his father, Mr. Samsa, he is the first vampire. Before Gregor turns into a bug, his family makes him use all of his money to basically pay off all of his family's expenses and their lives. Gregor being an adult doesn't have to let his life be controlled by his family, but he loves them so much, he feels the need to do so. Already this shows his family as vampires, since they're taking away all of his money for their lazy, worthless lives when instead, they could be living their own lives and paying it off themselves. The taking away of anything important to one's life is an act of vampirism, which his family does. Then when Gregor becomes a bug, his family fears him, but his sister and mother still know it's him deep inside. Mr. Samsa first as the vampire, takes away his wife and daughter's trust in Gregor, and their love they have to give for Gregor. "'...I will not utter my brother’s name in front of this monster, and thus I say only that we must try to get rid of it...'" (Kafka 23). This is a classic act of a vampire, because vampires leave their victims hopeless, and in need of following their predator, in which they become vampires as well. Kafka shows this by making Gregor's mother and sister shut out Gregor, not trust that he really is Gregor, and act as vampires against him. Before, Gregor's sister Grete feeds him what she can and still believes that the bug is Gregor, but once she becomes a vampire, she thinks nothing of him, forgetting all of the love she has for her brother. Through all of the family's vampirism, all directed towards Gregor, he is completely isolated. From lack of food, communion, space, interaction, and love, Gregor is basically 'sucked dry' by his vampire family, being the victim of such cruelty. Vampirism is the main element that's out of his control in his external life that puts him in complete isolation on every level until death parts him.

            Kafka uses so many metaphorical elements and symbols, plus his modernist style of writing to convey a message. In The Metamorphosis, he conveys multiple messages, some more important to the story than others, and some for the readers. The idea that, through the character of Gregor, Kafka can show the concept of isolationism and how it's derived from so many other elements that affect Gregor in this way. There is the philosophy that Gregor seems to follow once becoming something unknown and inhuman, and that is existentialism. This is a concept not concisely defined to this day, as it has more meaning than most concepts in the world. ""Existentialism", therefore, may be defined as the philosophical theory which holds that a further set of categories, governed by the norm of authenticity, is necessary to grasp human existence" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Existentialism). This article has no set definition to define such a deep philosophy, but sections of material to interpret it. Modernism is meant for one to find the Self through empathy, experience, a journey in a way. Gregor goes through a tragic journey from the events that happen around and against him, and in his mind and soul. He realizes more than he does when he is in human form about his family and his own life, which ultimately leads to his death. Starvation is a physical factor no doubt, but the emotional devastation pushed him over the edge, and yet, he still does not act against his horrible family, but isolated himself in his final hour. His death could not be more brutal in his filthy and empty room, literally and metaphorically, and in complete isolation. "Besides he felt relatively content. True, he had pains throughout his entire body, but it seemed to him that they were gradually becoming weaker and weaker and would finally go away completely" (Kafka 25). Even though he had much more of a life to live, despite being feared by everyone as a bug, his death is the happiest moment for him, from the moment he turned into a bug until passing. This is because his life and every part of it is keeping him in the darkness and sadness of isolation, and no one wants to live a life of no freedom. His death is his freedom. The freedom to leave his family, his job, his room of darkness, and everything else he suffered from to go to somewhere better than life. From his isolation, no matter what he thinks comes after life, has got to be better than the isolation of his last life. From going through so much in such a small period of time in comparison to one's whole life, one is bound to experience something they hadn't before. No matter the realization of the drastic, dramatic, or traumatic experiences, one will have an existentialist experience. Existentialism is finding oneself, embracing nature, and experiencing the human race and life as it is. Gregor has many moments where he realizes faults of his life and his family's. "'O God,' he thought, 'what a demanding job I’ve chosen! Day in, day out, on the road. 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. To hell with it all!'" (Kafka 1). Here, right from the start, the transformation into a bug confuses and stresses him out enough where he finally realizes that his job is isolating him from the life he could have. The job itself is slowly killing him, keeping him from the unknown potential of life, but now his bug form is an unknown to himself. So much of his life is unknown to him as he is trapped by his own job, family, and bug form, this gives him an existentialist moment, realizing how much bigger life can be, but also how isolated he is. Many moments such as these make Gregor fight back against his current life, for a better life. A life to be discovered for himself and embrace it for an existentialist experience. These experiences should be something everyone feels at some point in their lives, or multiple times, whether it's letting out your pain and realizing there is more life to reach, or feeling empathy and realizing how one should embrace the beauty of the life that they've got. These existentialist experiences are what make Gregor have a more peaceful death, because they make him realize the life that's out of his reach, who he and his family truly are, and the pain of the life he's living.

            The amount of elements that Kafka writes for The Metamorphosis is unreal, and despite all the philosophical meanings, metaphors, and depressing elements of the story, there is one big part of the writing that Kafka tried to use and that is humor. No one thinks of the story of Gregor Samsa humorous, but in fact, it's obvious that Kafka is trying to be funny and connect with the reader on that level. Empathy is a huge factor in having someone feel for the character in the story and relate it to reality, but so are referential jokes and metaphorical humors. If the reader follows the humor, it connects with one on a whole different level than empathy, but leading to the same understanding. The story of Gregor is humorous when based to reality, because it leaves out aspects and layers of reality and replaces them with fictional metaphors. "Both depend on what some communication theorists call "exformation," which is a certain quantity of information apparently removed from, but evoked by, a communication in such a way as to cause a kind of explosion of associative connections within the recipient" (Wallace 1). This taking away of certain modernist era problems and things makes the situation seem of no importance to the story. Once the writer replaces them with objects, concepts, or things contextual with story that in fact do have metaphorical meaning to the original things from reality, the scene becomes a sort of puzzle to figure out. Once one finds out what the writer is trying to get at through complicated metaphor, it makes it a literary joke, and that much funnier. "...at that moment something or other thrown casually flew close by and rolled in front of him. It was an apple" (Kafka 18). During this scene, Gregor's father is throwing apples at him. Not looking at the story in a metaphoric manner, it seems either stupidly funny that his father is throwing apples at him instead of something more damaging, or just sad that one's own father would throw stuff maliciously at them. Looking at the meaning of the apple, derived from the apples in the story of Adam and Eve, the apple can mean many things, but most importantly knowledge. When interpreted this way, Mr. Samsa throwing apples at his bug son is him throwing the information of their hatred for Gregor right at him. When the apple impales Gregor, he quickly gets the information that his family doesn't want him in their presence right when the apple strikes him and nothing else. The apple is clearly the symbol of knowledge, in the case of Gregor it is threatening, but when the reader knows of this metaphor, it almost makes it ironic or funny that the weapons of choice are the apples of knowledge. To some, this may not seem funny no matter the circumstances, but Kafka's intended humor is supposed to be of tragedy. "...tactic doesn't begin to countenance the deeper alchemy by which Kafka's comedy is always also tragedy, and this tragedy always also an immense and reverent joy" (Wallace 2). The laughing or joking of something of heartbreak may bring one guilt, but only because some form of empathy should be felt instead. Kafka uses humor in a dark way, but he still is in fact trying to convey humor to the reader. If the reader does not understand the humor, the story of Gregor may only seem depressing. As this is one of the feelings Kafka intends for the reader, the story is so bizarre, yet meaningful and saddening, that the reader should almost laugh at themselves for feeling such empathy. Connecting the story to reality, the feeling of empathy for life should be real and worth crying for. In the story itself, the metaphors and events should be of some comic, to bring life to the story and the reader in a different way, and enlighten the modernist depression of the writing. It depends on how one looks at it, but Gregor's life is one of empathy and humor, and the blend of these two elements makes a truly meaningful and compelling story of a human in isolation trapped in a bug body.

            Gregor Samsa, the man trapped in the body of a bug, is the selfless being full of love who gets none in return from his family and life itself. The Metamorphosis is a short story of modernism, involving many concepts, philosophies, metaphors, and ironies. Existentialism is a philosophy that Gregor experiences in certain situations, finding out what life is to him, how it treats him, and what is really worth living for. He goes through a major physical transformation, but his mind and soul do as well, from the drastic realizations of his life and who his parents and sister truly are. His physical suffering and emotions slowly ruin his poor life more and more, so when he feels a moment of joy or realization, it is an existentialist experience to him. Leading up to his death is a state of weakness, yet peacefulness, and this is what he treasures in the end of his life. Becoming isolated for so long from people you love and care for is like betrayal, and Gregor can only take so much isolation from love and life. At that point, death is the best and only way to get out of the isolation of his room and his soul, and is why his death is in fact the happiest turning point of the end of his life. Vampirism and lack of communion make his isolation more severe, which ultimately makes his life worse than it ever could be. When outside forces, especially from the people he cares for and trusts the most, isolate and ruin his life, it starts the downslide to his emotional death and makes him ruin his own life by the feeling of guilt, sadness, and undeserving of love when none of it is his fault. The style of modernism in the writing and the story brings all of these concepts into effect, and brings life to the meaning of the story itself. Even yet, Kafka writes the story to be humorous on a complex and standard level, but create empathy for the reader from the heartbreak of Gregor. Except in the end, everything comes down to the element of isolationism and how it affects Gregor. All the elements in this story of modernism tie in with isolationism, creating the total isolation of Gregor's life physically, emotionally, and spiritually; isolation is the most important aspect of this entire story.

Communions and Vampirism

            Eating is not only the act of indulging oneself and requiring the needs of hunger, but rather, a sacred act. When eating with others, those people should have a connection with you. Eating with others that one doesn't trust is unheard of, and when it happens the meal usually leads into some distress, where one or everyone leaves, starts arguing, or in the worst cases, starts fighting because of it. The sacredness is present when eating, because when eating with others, it's with people you like, people you admire, trust, and have a mutual relationship with that you and a stranger would not have. Having a personal connection in some way with table mates when eating is what brings the life to the act of eating; its sacredness. Also, eating as a life process is very personal, and doing personal things with strangers or people you don't trust would kill the sacred aspect of it all, or the communion.  Communion is defined, in the non-religious way, as the share or exchange of intimate feelings with one through a human connection. This human connection, mental or spiritual, is what brings people together to eat, and not apart. "...whenever people eat or drink together, it's communion... breaking bread together is an act of sharing and peace " (Foster 1). Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis is a lonely soul, being used and not appreciated by his own family for years until his saddening bug death. Gregor during the story is home from traveling for his job, and wakes up as a bug. From this, his family not only doesn't love him the way one should, but they now fear him, and shut him out from their life. Deep inside they know it's Gregor, but they are too afraid and don't have the human compassion to love Gregor as the "bug monstrosity" that he became. There are multiple scenes where Gregor is trapped in his room, starving and alone, listening to his family converse and eat out in the kitchen. Gregor feels ashamed for becoming a bug and shaming his family when he did nothing wrong, because of these moments of being left out from the kitchen to eat with his family. The whole story he feels resentment of being a bug, but certain triggers get him going more than the pass time he spends for example, crawling up and down his bed room walls. He feels these emotions not just because of intense hunger and knowing there is food to eat, but from the exclusion of the act of eating with the people he cherishes and loves more than anyone else. The sense of communion is present, yet, too far for his reach from his imprisonment. This example shows how the act of eating is a sacred moment of communion, and when left out by people you have an intimate connection with, it's a bigger loss than one would assume. There is also the idea of communion that involves sharing peace and trust, along with the human connections. With the connections at the dinner table, peace and trust are the elements that go along with them, and are things that everyone at the table, once seated, unconsciously and spiritually agrees on, and pursues. "...if you're breaking bread you're not breaking heads" (Foster 1). The idea that peace and trust are always a part of a communion and meal explains Foster's quote. The 'breaking bread' reference goes to the religious definition of communion with the ceremonial foods of bread and wine, but also how eating any food, no matter the situation, will never pertain to the 'breaking of heads', mistrust, violence, and war. If a group of people are eating together, they are in harmony on some level or another, not hurting each other in any way whatsoever. When Gregor is listening to the welcomed lodgers and his family eat together, he feels worse than ever that his family would chose to eat with strangers rather than family. Of course at that point, he is also mad that he is given scraps of food in little portion while strangers are enjoying a nice, filling meal. But Gregor, always thinking his family is right, blames himself for being the ugly bug, and knows that his family and the lodgers are at peace with each other. Gregor, aware of the hate he has received from his family, knows that the lodgers wouldn't act any different from fright, and because of this Gregor doesn't want to disturb the communion his family and the lodgers have created. Even though he has every right to disturb the communion from how they've treated him and has every right to be accepted into the communion, once it's started, the people of that meal have a mutual connection that anyone who is not a part of the group would not be able to connect with in time. Gregor wants to join, but also doesn't want to be the person "breaking heads" when the breaking of bread is occurring. Kafka shows what Foster talks about in the communion of eating through Gregor as a bystander witnessing the meals and their importance to the story by showing Gregor's loneliness, but meanwhile the enjoyment of Gregor's family. Eating can show and reveal many aspects of a story in literature, and always has meaning no matter the scene or how it's used in the story.

            Vampirism, from Dracula to the serpent who seduces Eve, is an important term used in literature all the time, including The Metamorphosis. Vampirism doesn't just mean the act of mythical vampires who have fangs, suck the blood of their victims, and hate sunlight and mirrors. Vampirism covers much more than that and it is from what mythical vampires do that metaphorically represents what real vampires do. Real vampires are people, or animals such as the serpent, but are defined as someone who "sucks the blood" from someone else, which can mean anything. Usually vampirism is defined from a sexual basis, because of examples like Dracula. He seduced young virginal women, and in a sense "sucked their blood" by taking away their innocence and he himself gaining the feeling of becoming younger. In reality, rapists are vampires, by taking away the innocence of their victims, leaving them mentally scarred forever, while the rapists only gained evil pleasure from the horrid act. The sucking of blood is really metaphorical to things such as these, but vampirism of course can be tied into many other examples. "But it's also about things other than literal vampirism: selfishness, exploitation, a refusal to respect the autonomy of other people, just for starters" (Foster 6). Foster explains the true definitions of vampirism, and from these, Gregor fits perfectly as the victim of a vampire. The clear vampires of the story are his sister Grete, and his parents. The worst of all the vampires though is his father, Mr. Samsa. There are too many examples of where Gregor's father takes something away from Gregor and his little life left as a bug and an outcast in his own home. The first scene that comes to mind where Mr. Samsa is "sucking the blood" from Gregor, is when he is throwing the apples at Gregor, which of course the scene has much more meaning in itself. But focusing on Mr. Samsa physically forcing Gregor into his bedroom is the big act of vampirism. Gregor at the point of being hit by his father with apples and a newspaper, goes to his room voluntarily, but can't because he gets stuck in the doorway. Mr. Samsa doesn't care and pushes him as hard as he can into his room, scraping Gregor against the doorway, severely cutting and tearing his bug body, and breaking a leg. From this his father stole two things: Gregor's health and strength, and his freedom. From here and on, his father would force him back inside the bedroom if Gregor ever tried to get out making his room like a prison. Gregor, the victim, was left in much pain and in a trap, while Mr. Samsa got the pleasure of teaching Gregor a lesson and imprisoning him by his brute force. This is true vampirism, and Mr. Samsa is the kind of vampire one would see in reality. Of course, all of Gregor's family members are vampires, but because of his family's vampirism, it creates another vampire: his starvation. "Franz Kafka, a latter-day Poe, uses the dynamic in stories like 'The Metamorphosis'... in a nifty reversal of the traditional vampire narrative, crowds of onlookers watch as the artist's fasting consumes him" (Foster 8). Foster is mentioning not only The Metamorphosis, but specifically referencing A Hunger Artist, also by Kafka. The artist's fasting is the vampire, slowly taking all of his life away from him, as the starvation Gregor's family puts him in is the vampire. Whether it be fasting to death or starvation from one's family until death, the vampire is quite clear. Gregor has to deal with many vampires throughout the story, from his family, and the vampires they create such as the emptying of his room, the filth of his room, his imprisonment, and starving Gregor. When Gregor dies, he is described as flat, as if he had no blood, which is a direct metaphor to being the victim of vampires. Vampirism is everywhere in The Metamorphosis, and Gregor is the one true being with a heart, yet, he is the one who is excluded from communions, his rights, being loved, and is the only victim of vampirism in the entire story.

Empathy for Gregor Samsa

            The idea of empathy in human beings, our existence, and life itself, is one of the hardest things to grasp and fully understand. Empathy is the feeling of sympathy, but to the highest, most difficult to reach, possible level. Unless you're apathetic and/or a Nihilist, it's common ground to say for example, that the murder of a human being is saddening on so many levels. The question is, does everyone feel empathetic, where you instantly feel total sorrow for the death of another being of our race. They may have been a complete stranger living across the country, but you can feel the human connection of a loss of another human being, and in a way, feel their pain through empathy. Certain people are, by fact, wired differently in their minds through difference in how their mirror neurons work, their emotional mindset, and literal capability of empathy in the mind. The period of modernism in art and literature, was a time of depressions everywhere, and because of that, the modernist writers of that time wanted to write in a style that is bound to make you feel the pain of others. Physical pain of the wound of someone else is of course impossible to feel through empathy, but through modernist writing, the writer can make one feel the emotional and mental pain of the wounded one. Empathetic people don't spiritually receive this pain from the injured souls, but rather create our own pain through our sorrow for the injured being. Existentialists are generally always empathetic, because embracing life, the existence of oneself, and trying to find the self in the life one gets makes them feel an intense empathy for others. No matter if they're Nihilists, if they're a human being and are in some pain, empathetic people feel their pain, because that's just how these people are wired, and how every human in this world should be. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa is a hard working soul, who is only trying to help his family get by, from suffering through his unhappy life. He works a stressing job to pay off his family's debt, only caring about them and not himself, when he could be living his own life, on his own. In return, his family gives him nothing back, no relation, no love, no respect, no attention. When Gregor wakes up as a bug, he only cares about how he is going to break the news to his parents, his sister, and his boss without them giving him a hard time back, instead of caring about his own situation. He is helpless, in pain, and is fearful of his own self. In his room there is nothing to look to, nothing outside, in his room, or from his own family, but only the stranger woman he framed on his wall, and other objects that actually have a connection to him. The one thing he can look to is his inner self, and find himself; become an existentialist in a sense. Kafka was brilliant when writing The Metamorphosis because as a modernist writer, he wrote the most empathy deriving story one can write in the most creative fashion. Not only is the story of Gregor's life and problems pain-staking, but the style of writing goes on and on with descriptions that create so much empathy for Gregor, it's impossible not to feel some of Gregor's pain! Of course this was on purpose, because the modernist writing style was created to try and bring the human race together through mutual empathy, as world literature is written to do the same thing in different ways.

            In Jeremy Rifkins video on empathy in its entirety, he explains how empathy is felt from one person for another, feeling the same pain on a different level, and how the minds of the human race that are wired right for empathy, very empathetic or not, can make a mutual connection between other human beings. Worldwide population of empathetic minds is something to be achieved, but probably never will, because some apathetic minds will never change, and some minds psychologically and neurologically cannot process empathy. It is safe to say, however, that throughout The Metamorphosis, the reader connects with the mindset and emotions of Gregor, and it is very hard, from Kafka's purposeful writing style included, to not feel some of Gregor's pain. The general population can feel sympathy, and more so than apathy, the average person can feel empathy. But empathy is something that has to be found through feeling rather than the simplified feelings of sympathetic reaction. There are many instances in the story where Kafka explains Gregor's feelings through symbolism or the literal aspects. The descriptions of dark versus light, how his bedroom changes, his size changing scene after scene, and more, all are symbols of how Gregor is at that point in the story. Gregor's thought processes, actions, and words that he says (but his family can't hear) all are literal ways Kafka explains Gregor's feelings. Even as a fictional character from a story, there is a connection between the reader and the character, sometimes stronger than others. Of course Gregor doesn't really exist, but Kafka's writing about him does, and that is what the reader interprets for themselves which creates the empathy for the character, ultimately making a connection with something non-existent. Because empathy is derived for Gregor, but he is non-existent, it makes one find out more of life and oneself from the empathy. This is a big way in how existentialism is tied in with empathy, and what it's all about. As a philosophy, existentialism needs something that people can feel, connect with, and believe in to embrace existence, nature and the self, and more, and that is why empathy is important. Empathy is and should be felt for Gregor, and if that's true, empathy should be felt by everyone in one way or the other throughout the world.

The Metamorphosis of Humanity

The Metamorphosis of Humanity

            The story of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a giant metaphor to what human beings really are, and the ills of humanity and society. Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning and sees himself as a bug, and then realizes he really is a giant bug. From here and on, he is seen as only a pest and a monster, rather than a person, only because he is of different form. His parents and sister, Grete, don't know the bug is Gregor because he can't communicate with them in his disgusting form. Gregor, when he was in human form and was treated like one, was still used by his family. Gregor was a traveling salesman, which made him never able to connect with his family or make friends. From the start, he was deeply alone, with no true relationships, and thus was in a state of sadness. Kafka shows Gregor's loneliness in many ways and to such a level, that Gregor feels more like a human being than he did before. "He felt himself included once again in the circle of humanity and was expecting from both the doctor and the locksmith, without differentiating between them with any real precision, splendid and surprising results" (Kafka 6). The fact that Gregor feels more included and attended to than ever when his parents finally worry about him being in the bedroom for so long, and try to get a doctor and locksmith to open his door and see if he's okay, is saddening. They're paying more attention to Gregor than they ever do, only because they are worrying. His parents are probably wondering if he's okay so they can keep living off of his money for their riches, not at all wanting to converse with their own son. Once his family gets in and finds out he's a bug, they are frightened and all at once don't care that Gregor is in trouble and stuck in the form of a bug, but only that he is now a bug and not a human being, so therefore he's not their son/brother anymore and should be treated like a pest. "...'things cannot go on any longer in this way. Maybe if you don’t understand that, well, I do. I will not utter my brother’s name in front of this monster, and thus I say only that we must try to get rid of it. We have tried what is humanly possible to take care of it and to be patient. I believe that no one can criticize us in the slightest.' 'She is right in a thousand ways,' said the father to himself'" (Kafka 23). Instead of helping Gregor and being compassionate with him even though his form has changed, they totally disregard that and automatically assume he is no longer Gregor, but a different form and soul, and thus treat him worse than before; like a monster. His father being the most ignorant and the mother the least, the parents and Grete all just don't understand that the bug is Gregor, and that he is not trying to scare them or intrude, but rather be close to them like he would as a human being. He is still a human being inside, but he is trapped by a fearful exoskeleton on the outside. Before this whole transformation, Gregor was the member of the family who had to do everything to keep his family with a home, and not allow himself to live his own life and pay for his own expenses. His family relies on him, even though out of choice, Gregor would rather only rely on himself, and let his parents live their own lives as well, not live off of him. From this forced way of living, Gregor has become a man who is considered for everyone because he has had to live a life of consideration for his family and not himself. "He scarcely wondered about the fact that recently he had had so little consideration for the others. Earlier this consideration had been something he was proud of" (Kafka 22). Gregor was used to this style of life, and came out to be good at the forced consideration for others. He thought of this as one of his skills, in which it was, but not something to be really proud of considering his circumstances. He realizes how much he is feared, hated, and the lack of compassion and treatment from his family, that he figures out how much time and energy he has wasted on these people by allowing them to live the way they want, when they won't even give him the care and respect that he deserves back. This is all because he is now a 'different creature', but Gregor realizes that he's been treated this way, to a certain extent, his whole adult life. He has so little consideration for people once he's been a bug for a couple months because he no consideration to give anymore, as he is in his own hell.

            The way Gregor's room connects with his emotional and physical state is pretty great, and many events in the story happen in his room, as well as many descriptions are about his room. His states and the room's state are linked most of the time, and everything that's put into the room or taken out, Gregor responds to, and everything that Gregor feels has a metaphorical response from the room. The first element is the color of what he is able to see, which is seen through Gregor's window, and it always connects with Gregor. "The hospital across the street, the all-too-frequent sight of which he had previously cursed, was not visible at all anymore, and if he had not been very well aware that he lived in the quiet but completely urban Charlotte Street, he could have believed that from his window he was peering out at a featureless wasteland, in which the grey heaven and the grey earth had merged and were indistinguishable" (Kafka 13). The color of grey is used to describe what he not only is believes to see, but what he feels. He knows the image of what there is to see outside his window, so when he sort of makes out something in the distance, he imagines it as it would be in full clarity because he knows what it really looks like. Instead this color of grey outside fills the light, blocking out buildings that he normally sees. The analogy he uses to describe that everything is a mesh of grey, like the heaven and earth have meshed into one grey life, shows his sadness. Heaven and earth should be easily recognizable and different from one another, but to describe the image outside that it's like they're one is saddening. The color grey also represents a moody state of nothingness in a way, whereas clear represents visibility and freedom of soul. Another element is the weather, and how it connects with Gregor's emotion. There are many examples of weather metaphors as well, but the most recognizable one is rain. "Gregor’s glance then turned to the window. The dreary weather—the rain drops were falling audibly down on the metal window ledge—made him quite melancholy"(Kafka 1). This sentence itself describes Gregor's feelings with the weather, and how they're one. Rain symbolizes sadness, and Gregor definitely feels this way when he wakes up as a bug. There are other scenes with rain, or dreary weather, and others with clear weather. In this whole story, besides moments of pleasure from food and attention, he is never happier than he is from the day before the next morning when he wakes up as a bug. The weather is definitely a key element of describing these emotions. The other important element of Gregor's room is how it gradually dies as he does, and changes whenever he does. "...he had to tell himself unequivocally that he would not be able to endure all this much longer. They were cleaning out his room, taking away from him everything he cherished;" (Kafka 16). This is one of the many examples of scenes when the room changes, and Gregor responds, or vise versa. When his mother and Grete are moving things out of his room, Gregor feels a sadness that all the things he was actually familiar with are also leaving him, as his family has already left him. He cherishes the few things he can connect with left, which are his personal belongings and room furniture. He can't take it and goes to retrieve the picture of the random woman from the magazine that he loves and has his lonely connection with. This is one big scene where the room empties and depresses, as he does. There are so many elements to talk about in the story, and so many that explain what Kafka was really trying to convey through Gregor and his story.