Metamorphosis (Kafka, not Ovid) -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 18:46:48 04/25/08 Fri
Author: Erin Risch
Subject: Metamorphosis (Kafka, not Ovid)

I was academic-mentoring in one of the freshmen dorms last night and I was talking with a student in Dr. Smith's class about what they had read this semester. She said they had recently finished Kafka's "Metamorphosis," which is one of my favorite stories (tell me how you can not love a story that begins, "One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin."). I was telling the girl about the two conflicting readings I had been presented with when I read it:

1. Gregor is a parasite on his family and ought to have killed himself instead of imposing his gross self on his family for months and months.

2. Gregor is a Christ-figure (carpentry as a hobby, dies in the Spring) and saves his family by forcing them into self-reliance and liberation, since they can no longer rely on him for income after he's become a giant bug.

The girl wasn't overly concerned with these readings, and she kept saying, "But he was a giant bug! It was sooooo gross!" Then Kiernan pointed out, "Like the pharmakon," and we realized that it is indeed possible to reconcile the two conflicting readings. Gregor is both the disease and the cure. Yes, his family is disgusted by him and blames all of their problems on his fantastically horrific experience, but through his verminhood and death, they acheive self-reliance. The last lines reflect the cathartic harmony that follow the scapegoat's death:

With all the worry they had been having of late her cheeks had become pale, but, while they were talking, Mr. and Mrs. Samsa were struck, almost simultaneously, with the thought of how their daughter was blossoming into a well built and beautiful young lady. They became quieter. Just from each other's glance and almost without knowing it they agreed that it would soon be time to find a good man for her. And, as if in confirmation of their new dreams and good intentions, as soon as they reached their destination Grete was the first to get up and stretch out her young body.

I haven't read the text in a few years, and I'm sure Dr. Jackson knows a lot more about this than I do, but I was so pleased to see mimetic theory in action, resolving what Dr. Jackson referred to as "intractable problems" in his office the other day.

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