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.