Metamorphosis

The short story “Metamorphosis,” written by Franz Kafka, holds a deeper meaning than just a human waking up transformed into a cockroach. That is only the surface of the underlying story behind Kafka’s deeper meaning. In short, the true meaning of this story lies within the journey, the trials and tribulations, that adolescents go through when entering into adulthood.

That journey is a transformation which we all go through and can relate to as young adults. There are growing pains, problems to solve, lessons to be learned, mistakes to be made and advice to heed. Even though we all go through that change into adulthood, it is highly individual. The experiences and the way we are affected by those experiences are unique to each person. While some manage to morph into something beautiful, others morph into something more hideous. All the while, both entering into adulthood in their own way.

 

 

 

Adulthood

Entering into adulthood is similar to waking up like a cockroach in the sense that one may not always evolve into the adult that society deems acceptable. A full and beautiful metamorphosis would include evolving into a pretty butterfly or a magnificent eagle. When one does not change into what is expected of them, in the eyes of society, the change takes on a more disagreeable form, such as that of a cockroach.
The phase between leaving adolescence and entering adulthood is different for every individual. For some, that phase is a cinch. For others, making that transformation is more difficult, not because of ineptitude, but because the path they have chosen to take is different than the traditional, “acceptable” way of entering into adulthood.

 

Compare and Contrast Joe and Armand

    

 

Joe, from the short story “The Gilded Six-Bits,” and Armand, from the short story “Désirée’s Baby,” have in common a loving wife and a baby with mysterious origin.

 

As for their differences:

In Joe’s case, he is patient, he is kind, he is unconditional in his love towards his wife. I am not claiming he was fine with what happened, because he was both shocked and very upset. But he was able to power through it and endure her betrayal.

In Armand’s case, he is judgemental, selfish, and cold towards his wife. He claimed not to care about his wife’s blood line, but when the baby showed signs of mixed-blood, his true colors shown through and he condemned his wife for damaging his family name reputation.

Although both babies have mysterious origins, we learn Armand is the true culprit of mixed-blood and Joe accepts the baby and wife as is.

 

“The Gilded Six-Bits”

The ending in “The Gilded Six-Bits” displays a reality that some marriages go through, that, if strong enough, the forgiveness that Joe demonstrates and Missie May’s continuation of the wife role helps bring the marriage together again.

I am not so sure if I were in Joe’s shoes, that I would have reacted in the same way. To find the love of your life in the arms of another, having an affair. I can only imagine the deluge of feelings he must have felt.

Missie May is wrong for what she did, Joe is also in part to blame, as is Otis D. Slemmons, a venomous snake that was fooling everyone with his “rich” façade while lusting after other people’s wives. Joe’s reaction to the affair is that of great restraint, and, once the baby is born, his reaction towards his wife and the baby is that of unconditional love.

 

 

 

 

 

Discriminatory Reaction

I’ve had acne for a while and still do. I made it worse when I was younger because I would keep touching my face, thereby spreading the acne gunk.

I knew my acne was bad, just didn’t realize how bad, until I was walking through a shopping strip and heard a female in passing say to another female, “you see her face, she is “suffering” from severe acne…” as if I had some infectuous disease on my face that they have studied and found it to cause victims “suffering” from the abnormal growth.

Until that point, I never thought of acne as a “disease.” After that point, having adopted that mind-set, my self-esteem went down. As I grew older, I later realized I was being judged for my appearance without my character, superficially instead of the rich sustenance of character that truly matters.

 

 

Coming from a low self-esteem experience, I try and find beauty in all things. It’s probably the reason why I am so optimistic. Now my self-esteem is much higher and I am stronger for having gone through my experience.

 

 

 

Plot Twist

*!Spoiler Alert!*

“Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, has a surprise ending I am going to reveal!

 

When the baby begins to show a darker complexion, Armand goes from happy and gentle to indifferent and cold. Désirés realizes that her baby is mixed and writes to her mother, whom invites her to live back home where she is truly loved and to bring her child. Armand has no objections and no feelings towards Désirée anymore and feels hurt by her; because the baby is mixed, he concludes that Désirée herself is of mixed race. Even though when he fell in love her he claimed that he didn’t care where she came from, he displays quite the opposite reaction when he thinks that she comes from a “degenerate” race. The twist here, is that Armand is product of a mulatto mother and white father, the true reason the baby came out mixed.