Nina G. 20th Century Novel

From the first line of The Stranger, we are introduced to what would seem to us as a very important female character: Meursault’s mother. However, when talking about it, Meursault focuses on the time rather than who died or the verb “died”. As he goes on, he doesn’t pay much attention to the event at hand but instead is nervous about his work, his temperature and his appetite. To some people, that can send a message of not caring, showing little love for his mother. For others, this can convey how he deals with his grief. At first, I was more supportive of this being the way that he deals with his grief. However, my opinion of this event has fluctuated throughout what we have read of the book. Later Meursault introduces us to Salamano and his dog. He explains that the dog has an intense skin condition and that Salamano abuses his dog. When asked his opinion on this matter, he doesn’t give one. He believes that it isn’t his place to judge or intervene. He doesn’t even voice his op...

The minute I read the first line of The Metamorphosis, I wondered why Gregor turned into a bug. Why not a reptile or mammal? What made an insect so special? One argument would be that Kafka had a fascination with bugs. However, I don’t believe that to be a substantial reason. For bugs such as ants and bees, they have one purpose in life. This reminded me of both Kafka and Gregor. Kafka was known to be an ordinary man with a secret writing life. The people that surrounded him in his work environment (most of the time) were most likely “ordinary men” like himself. Before he died, he wanted all his works burned so that no one would discover his secret. He could have wanted to conceal this part of him in order to maintain his “normal presence”. For some reason, he could have felt that he wasn’t supposed to be writing, being in the environment he was in. This idea of having one purpose aligns very strongly with insects and the possible mind mentality of Kafka. We also see this narr...