THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY AND LITERATURE

“The New Psychology and Literature,” please read the excerpt from Kafka’s short story, “The Metamorphosis.”  Consider Gregor’s metamorphosis from human to insect in light of the time period of Kafka’s life (1883-1924).  Think about how his relationships to his mother and father, his employer, and society in general during a time of modernism, industrialism, and war, may have led to his non-human transformation.  The New Psychology and Literature,

What does his metamorphosis say about the pressures and expectations of modern society – about Kafka’s (or his character’s) lonely search for the meaning of individual existence in a meaningless or indifferent world?  Consider the Existentialist attitude — living with a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. How can an individual artist find meaning and fulfillment?

Please address the above questions in the first half of your response (approximately 125 words).  For the second half (approximately 125 words – for a total of 250 words for the entire post), please pretend that you are Gregor.  What will you do?  Write an ending to your story as Gregor!  Even if you are familiar with the entire story and ending, please create your own ending!  Have fun, but also consider your choices in ending the story.  Justify in your own mind a happy or sad, fantastic or realistic ending.  Use your creative skills and be original!

If you’d like to read the whole story, please click this link: The Metamorphosis