Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Metamorphasis Reference
I know we talked about the reference to Frued in class, but I just wanted to expand on it a little more. On page 36 it says, "He was holding himself very erect, dressed in a tight fitting blue uniform with gold buttons, the kind worn by messengers at banking concerns...darted...peircing. Talking about the father of gregor. I think this has a large symbolism to a penis and in the days that kafka was writing, Sigmund Frued came out with his pychoanilitical theory and he believed that a penis symbolized power and anything described or shaped in a penis symbolizes power. In this passage I believe that the father is described as a penis to symbolize that he is in power now and that he gregor is not.
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I think you are so right. Gregors father gets power because he has to get a job and start acting like man so the penis is a great way to show that. I never even thought about in the book :/
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Freudian reading, Michael. I think it's likely that Kafka was influenced by Freud's writing-- most intellectuals were in the first half of the 20th century-- and I think the symbolism fits with the rest of the novella.
ReplyDeleteI have heard about falic symbols before, but i wasn't aware that there was actual pyschological research and background associated with it. Sigmund Frued was a brilliant intellectual so ,although be it a weird topic, i can easily see his psychoanilitical theory behind a penis symbolizing power--i mean, hell, most of the classical weapons like swords were long, stiffly erect tools used to inflict physical power.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm back in AP Psych. I agree with what you said in the post and what we discussed in class. Whether or not Freud's theories were accurate, which we know a lot of people don't think so, the phallic symbols are pretty clear in this passage.
ReplyDeleteWay to make the connection to other classes Michael. I have no doubt in my mind that Kafka was influenced by Frued because his works clearly shows that. Gregor's dad had his own metamorphosis from being a weak, feable man to a strong, erect individual. Very interesting.
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