Kafka Reflection

In part one of  Kafka's The Metamorphosis the manager isn't sympathetic to Gregor and makes him feel like the situation is his fault. Gregor's mom is pleading with the manager to that he is sick and doesn't feel well but the manager isn't listening. He trys to explain to the mother that this is business and sometimes you have to get over your sickness in order to be successful. "On the other hand, I must also say that we business people, luckily or unluckily, however one looks at it, very often simply have to overcome a slight indisposition for business reason" (Kafka 4). Gregor works hard and hardly ever misses work but the manager does not seem to realize that he is really sick. The mom is trying to get the manager to realize that just because Gregor is sick, doesn't mean he is a lazy employee. The manager's plea with the mother isn't getting him anywhere so he decides to lay all the guilt on Gregor. "You are barricading yourself there in your room, answering with only a yes and a no, are making serious and unnecessary trouble for your parents, and neglecting-I mention this only incidentally-your commercial duties in a truly unheard of manner" (Kafka 5). Gregor is very proud of himself and his work and so the manager tries to target this by saying that he is purposely neglecting work by barricading himself in his room, when in reality, Gregor wants to get out of his room and go back to work. The manager doesn't see that Gregor is truly upset about missing work but he doesn't even stop to consider that he might be.

In part two of Kafka's The Metamorphosis the mother contradicts the manager by being overly sympathetic. The mom is worried about Gregor and truly misses him so she tries to visit him, but Grete and the father won't let her so she starts to get upset. "Later, however, they had to hold her back forcefully  and when she then cries, "Let me go to Gregor. He's my unfortunate son! Don't you understand that I have to go to him?" (Kafka 14). The mom sees Gregor as being "unfortunate" and wants to help him. She is trying to make sure he gets better because she realizes that he isn't well. She fights against the father and sister just to be able to comfort Gregor and even though she is scared of him, she wants to comfort him. Later, Grete and Gregor's mother are rearranging the funature in Gregor's room and his mom brings up the fact that he might not want this. "I think it would be best if we tried to keep the room exactly in the condition it was in before, so that, when Gregor returns to us, he finds everything unchanged and can forget the intervening time all the more easily" (Kafka 15). She is showing compassion to Gregor by thinking about how he would want things. She wants him to be able to forget quickly and knows that it would be easier if things were the same. The mother contridicts the manager's point of view because she goes out of her way to think what Gregor would want instead of not thinking about it at all.

Dante Reflection 3/8

The canto I found the most interesting was Cantos 34 and 35. Canto 34 is in the ninth circle of the inferno. I thought it was interesting this is the lowest circle of the inferno and in most modern day westerners mindsets, we would picture this being hot and fiery yet, it is just the opposite. This circle is covered in ice and contains the traitors to their benefactors. I was shocked that Lucifer's arm was bigger than all the giants from circle 8 put together. I also thought it was interesting that in canto 35 Dante places Brutus and Cassius in the bottom level of the inferno due to their betrayal of Julius Caesar. Dante also places Judas  the betrayer of Jesus in this circle which shows how Dante felt just as strongly about politics as he did about the church and religion.

Dante Reflection

I found Canto 17 interesting. This canto takes place in the 7th circle of the inferno. The sin in this canto is usery. I didn't understand how the punishment of having purses of the sinners' families around their necks relates to the sin of usery, which is making immoral and unethical loans or loaning money unlawfully. I also don't understand how being pelted with fire rain relates to the sin of usery either. I don't see how family relates to the sin of usery in any way. In the other canto's Dante is really clear in created punishments that match the sins, but in this canto they don't seem to relate as well. For usery, I  would make the punishment be something having to do with trying to get money and not being able to because in life, these people always got what they wanted when it came to money so they would be forced to have the opposite in the inferno.




I really liked the 20th Canto. Canto 20 is in the 4th pouch of the 8th circle of the inferno. This pouch is for fortune tellers. I thought the punishment of the sinners' heads being on backwards is really clever and representative of their sin. Because of the fact that the sinners weren't in the present moment and they always tried to look ahead and now they are forced to be stuck in their bodies and see what has come before instead of looking at what is to come. I also thought Dante's reaction to this was interesting. He is so taken aback by what is going on and starts to weep. That reaction really shows how Dante is compassionate and cares about the people in the inferno. I also didn't understand why this sin was so far down in the inferno, to me, fortune telling isn't that big of a sin.