Today, we looked at the first part
of the short story The Metamorphosis by
Franz Kafka. This story was the most interesting, emotionally provoking, and
powerful piece of writing I have ever read. The first few lines of The Metamorphosis hooks the reader in a way
every writer dreams of. Kafka uses the most descriptive, stirring imagery about
Gregor, the main character, turning into a bug overnight. The excerpts “He lay on his armour-hard back and saw, as he
lifted his head up a little, his brown, arched abdomen divided up into rigid
bow-like sections,” and “His numerous legs, pitifully thin in comparison to the
rest of his circumference, flickered helplessly before his eyes,” shows Kafka’s
in depth description of Gregor’s metamorphosis. In these passages, Kafka
appeals directly to the reader’s pathos and forces them to think about their
experiences and preconceptions of bugs. For me, these are not good experiences,
as I think of bugs as disgusting vermin. These are the exact feelings Kafka
successfully taps and harnesses to get his message across. If only I could
write such a thought inducing thesis paragraph. Genius.
Kafka’s intense pathos appeal
distracted me as I read The Metamorphosis.
All I could think about were cockroaches, spiders, centipedes, and other creepy
crawlies. I shuttered a few times as I tried to envision myself waking up as a
cockroach, and became horrified as I pictured myself turning into the exact
creatures I tend to avoid. Kafka’s descriptive imagery was so effective it
distracted me from the rest of his work.
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