Assignments for Tuesday, 8 February 2000

 

Read the following:

Answer the following questions and be ready to discuss them in class:

Section II:

  1. The story is fantastic, realistic, and extremely funny. What are some of the comic moments in the story, and what makes them comic?
  2. Describe the pattern of communications in the story: what is Gregor's language?
  3. In section II, how has Gregor's father damaged him from his actions in section I?
  4. How does Gregor's father control his family?
  5. What is Gregor's great fear for his family?
  6. What sorts of spaces does Gregor now inhabit?
  7. Why is it appropriate that Gregor's family now take care of him?
  8. What happens to Gregor each time he tries not to be his family's creature?
  9. In what ways does communication take place between Gregor and his family?
  10. What is happening to Gregor physically?
  11. What do you learn about Gregor's father's business collapse?
  12. What happened once Gregor began to earn money for his family?
  13. What does Gregor learn about the family finances?
  14. Discuss Gregor's guilty feelings. Why does he have them?
  15. What becomes the focus of Gregor's life now -- that is, what does he enjoy doing?
  16. Why does Gregor's furniture become the scene of the next conflict?
  17. How does Gregor try to save the picture of the lady? What is the significance of this scene?
  18. How does Grete become like her father?
  19. What is the climactic moment in section II? How is it like that of section one?
  20. Desribe the metamorphosis of Gregor's father.
  21. What do you learn further about the relationship between Gregor and his father?
  22. Look at the final scene of section II. How would you analyze its symbolism?

Section III

  1. Again, how has Gregor's father damaged him?
  2. How does Gregor's family react to him now?
  3. What have his mother and sister begun to do to help the family? Why is this important.
  4. Describe Gregor's father's "mulishness."
  5. Why does the family not move into a smaller apartment?
  6. Describe Gregor's earlier repressions.
  7. Describe Gregor's rage.
  8. Describe Grete's metamorphosis.
  9. Why is the charwoman the only one not afraid of Gregor?
  10. Describe the lodgers. In what ways are the scenes with them comical?
  11. What is it that Gregor wants to eat?
  12. Describe the episode of the violin-playing. What scene goes through Gregor's head?
  13. What is the climactic moment of Section III? How is it like those of sections I and II?
  14. What is Grete's resolution?
  15. In what way does Gregor understand them, and what does he do about it?
  16. Discuss the repeated use of creature.
  17. What is the object of the last glance of Gregor's life?
  18. How does Gregor regain something of his humanity?
  19. What are Gregor's last thoughts?
  20. Gregor's family is not afraid of him dead. Why not?
  21. Describe the comedy of the final scene with the lodgers.
  22. How do you think the charwoman got rid of Gregor?
  23. How does Gregor's father react now that he's the only man around?
  24. Why does the family take the day off? What happened to Gregor when he tried that?
  25. What do Gregor's mother and father realize about his sister?
  26. What are their plans for her?
  27. Why is Grete's poetential for marriage important for them, and why was Gregor's potential for marriage threatening to them?
  28. What does the story end with an image of Grete in an animal gesture?