Kafka (1883?1924), Austrian novelist, Jew. He has a famous saying that illustrates his weak character: "On Balzac's cane is engraved: "I can destroy all obstacles." ?On my cane is engraved: ?All obstacles can destroy me. ?Some people call him a weak genius. He did not pursue fame or fortune. There are currently 9 volumes of his works, but he only published 6 novels during his lifetime. He said: "The word "publish" has nothing to do with me, just like the sky does to fish. ?He did not win the Nobel Prize for Literature, but he is more famous than some winners. He is recognized as a literary pioneer of modernism. The novel's story, "The Metamorphosis" (1912), is a classic short story of modernism. Describe the story of Gregor Samsa turning into a giant beetle. The novel is divided into three parts. The first part is about the traveling salesman Gregor Samsa who wakes up in the morning and finds that he has turned into a huge beetle lying in bed. The company no longer wanted him, and the whole family's attitude towards him suddenly changed. His father drove him back to his room with his cane. The clerk was afraid of being hit by the cane, so he desperately crawled towards the door, but it was difficult to turn his body, his waist was sprained, and his feet were bleeding. He finally entered his room, and with a bang, his father closed the door with a stick. The second part is about a clerk who loves his family. The crueler his family is to him, the more considerate he is of them. At dawn the next day, my sister sneaked in, stopped giving him milk, gave him rotten vegetables, rotten meat, and a basin of water. She put them all on the ground, went out again, and locked the door. Two days later, my father began to worry about life. Although the clerk was locked in the room, his father could hear clearly what he was saying outside. He felt very sad. I thought: How can we save our family from this catastrophe? The family's income depends on him alone, but now that he has turned into a beetle, he thinks of his sister again, who is only 17 years old. He plans to let her enter the music conservatory next year. The more he thought about it, the more painful he became. He left the crack in the door and threw himself on the sofa. Gregor Samsa now had a habit of crawling up and down the walls and ceiling. He found it more comfortable than crawling on the ground. His sister immediately discovered his idea and wanted to move the furniture out of the room. His mother also came in. The sister wanted to take away a portrait on the wall. This was Samsa's favorite thing. He hurriedly crawled out from under the sofa. , climbed up the wall and pressed his body against the painting. The mother saw something brown on the wall and fainted from fright. The clerk hated himself and was worried about his mother, so he fell off the wall in despair. At this time, my father got off work, and my sister told her father that the big beetle had escaped, and my mother was frightened and fainted by him. The father rushed into the room where the clerk was. The clerk saw the cane in his father's hand and ran away knowing that his father was going to beat him. His father chased him around the room, but he could only crawl on the ground and did not dare to go up the wall for fear of making his father angry. He couldn't climb for long, and he was out of breath, because every time his father took a step, he had to move many times. His father threw apples at him, and one hit him on the back and caused him to sink. The clerk struggled to crawl forward, but collapsed to the ground. He could not move. In the last moment of consciousness, he saw his mother rushing out, followed by his sister. The clerk saw his mother rushing towards his father, hugging him and begging him not to harm his son's life. But at this time, Samsa's vision had gradually dimmed. The third part writes that the family's hatred of the big beetle has reached its peak, and the clerk's love for his family has also reached its peak. A month later, the clerk's injuries became more and more serious. The father works as a handyman in a bank, the mother does odd jobs for a fashion store, and the sister works as a saleswoman. The whole family is worried about life. My father rented the room and dining room to three guests, and the family ate in the kitchen. One night, my sister was making a fuss in the kitchen. The three tenants became interested and invited her to come to the dining room. Their parents came out of the kitchen and listened. But after listening for a while, the three tenants became impatient and stepped aside to smoke and talk. When Samsa heard the sound of his sister's piano, he couldn't help but crawl out. He thought his sister's piano was so beautiful, and he was very angry that the tenants did not respect his sister's art. He wanted to crawl to his sister and pull up her skirt with his mouth. He even wanted to climb up on her shoulders and kiss her neck. He wanted his sister to play the piano in his room, and he would guard the outside. Anyone who dared to break in and disturb her would be rude to anyone. She wanted to tell her sister that she must be sent to a music school. But the three tenants suddenly discovered the big beetle on the floor and started shouting. The music of the piano was interrupted and the situation changed drastically. The father hurried over to block the tenants' view. The sister dropped the piano and ran to make the tenant's bed. The whole family tried their best to cover up the scandal. . But the three tenants were angry and wanted to quit the rent because they couldn't live with the big beetle. The father could not bear the new blow, and the sister burst into tears. Samsa knew that he was in trouble again, and he was so frightened that he stayed where he was and didn't move. He heard his sister crying and telling her parents to get rid of him, saying that she would never be able to ask this monster to be her brother again, saying that the whole family had been harmed by him and that she had done all her kindness to him. The mother sympathized with her sister, but asked her sister painfully, what should she do with her son? The father thought that his sister was absolutely right, but he said that Beetle did not understand people at all and could not talk to him, so he could not let him go on his own. Samsa was so sad that he crawled back to his room. He struggled to support his body with his head and passed in front of his parents and sister. The whole family watched him climb over with fixed eyes, gloomily and silently (extremely exciting). Samsa was afraid that his appearance would frighten his parents, so he crawled as fast as he could, but his physical strength was extremely weak. It took him a long time to crawl back to the room, and he also tried to turn his head (extremely exciting) to take a look at his family. My sister quickly ran over and locked the door. Samsa crawled back into his room, and the clerk soon found that he was completely unable to move.

His whole body ached, but it seemed to be gradually getting better. The rotten apple on his back was still there, the surrounding flesh had already been inflamed, and his whole body was covered in dust. He thought to himself: What should he do now? ?He thought of his family with tenderness and love, and his determination to destroy himself was stronger than that of his sister. As long as this thing can really be done. ? (Beetles are not humans and cannot commit suicide). Samsa thought deeply in the darkness until the clock tower struck three midnight and he passed out. The next day, the first ray of light came through the window, awakening his consciousness again. He raised his head, then slumped feebly, and his last breath exhaled from his nostrils. After his death, the whole family became more relaxed. My father wrote to the bank, my mother wrote to the clothing store owner, and my sister wrote to the store. The three of them wrote three letters asking for leave at the same time, asking for a day out in the city. The parents considered moving, and they looked at their daughter's mature figure and considered finding a good son-in-law for her. My daughter is also thinking about her future. Life went on as usual, and no one thought about the dead Gregor Samsa. The subject of the novel is open to discussion. Some people say that the novel describes the alienation of people in capitalist society. People are oppressed by capitalist society and turn into beetles. Some people say that the novel describes the ruthless relationship between people in capitalist society, and this is the case with Samsa's family relationship. These are all correct. The novel has this critical theme. But does the novel have an affirmative theme? I think there is one, it’s the theme of love? Samsa’s love for his family. It is both criticism and affirmation. Is it evenly distributed? I don’t think so. The affirmative theme comes first and the critical theme comes second. The colder the society and family are, the more touching Samsa's love is. It is not that coldness overpowers love, but that love overpowers coldness. It is impossible for a person to transform into a beetle in life, but its allegorical meaning is universal. First of all, Samsa is not voluntary, and the disaster is sudden and unavoidable. Who dares to say that he will not encounter sudden and unavoidable disasters? Secondly, how do the world (including relatives) treat unfortunate people like Samsa? Third, when you become an unfortunate person like Samsa, how should you treat others in the world (including family members)? These three questions can be used for our reflection and introspection. The novel's critical and affirmative themes expand. This is my understanding of the theme of the novel. The art of novels is first of all the innovation of "transformation" techniques. The technique of "transformation" has been around since ancient times, so it's not surprising. Kafka's innovations include the following five points. First, ugliness is regarded as beauty. In the past, literary works written about "Transformation" mostly used beauty as beauty. Bees and butterflies become human beings. Bees and butterflies are beautiful. Flowers, grass and trees transform into humans. Flowers, grass and trees are beautiful. There are also cases where ugliness is beautiful, but ugliness is In the end, she is still beautiful, like the ugly duckling or Cinderella. Only Kafka wrote about a big beetle, which is not beautiful in any way. He said to a painter: "Don't paint that, don't paint that!" ?The insect itself cannot be drawn, not even as a background. A novelist can write about the spiritual beauty of a beetle, but a painter cannot draw a beautiful beetle that is brown, multi-legged, or beautiful. Secondly, the beetle is used to simulate the little people, which is a very appropriate choice. ?Beetle? is ugly, stupid, innocuous, extremely vulnerable, and lacks the ability to help itself and save itself. It is too much like the insulted and damaged people in the world. What else can be more appropriate than using ?beetle? to simulate a little person? Woolen cloth? Third, write down the characteristics of "beetle" as a person and an object at the same time. In the past, the anthropomorphism of literary works focused on describing human beings, and only wrote about one side of the character. No matter what it is, once it becomes a human being, it will only have human nature. The beetle described by Kafka is both a human being and an object. As an animal, the beetle has very distinct physiological attributes and characteristics. Fourth, the author lends himself to the ugly thing. The beetle is the author. Authors often lend themselves to characters in novels, but lending themselves to "beetles" was unheard of. The author wrote to his fiancée: Yes, it is wonderful to read it to you, but I must hold your hand at the same time, because this story is a bit scary. It's called "Metamorphosis." It comes from such a heart, and you live in this heart. Kafka did not borrow money, but turned himself into a beetle, and love lived in the heart of the beetle, and he dedicated the beetle to his lover. The second is the innovation of contrasting techniques. The contrast method has been around since ancient times, so it’s not surprising. Where does Kafka's innovation lie? He is not writing about the comparison between humans, but about the contrast between humans and beetles. In "Metamorphosis", people are on one side and the beetle is on the other side. On the surface, it is reasonable for people to hate the beetle because it is not a human being. So the secretary-general, the three tenants, parents and sister all hated it. The whole family wishes it would die. What Kafka rewrote is "human" plausibility. It is reasonable for the secretary and director to escape. It is reasonable for the three tenants to cancel the rent. It is reasonable for the father to beat him. It is reasonable for the sister to say that she cannot call this monster her brother. of. Of course, this is superficial, and the facts are unreasonable and unreasonable. There is no need to analyze the reasons. Note that the comparison method used by writers in the past to describe the oppression of people by people only covered one level: unreasonable. It is unreasonable for big people to oppress small people. It is unreasonable for rulers to oppress the ruled. It is not reasonable for the strong to oppress the weak. It is unreasonable for the rich to oppress the poor. It is unreasonable for men to oppress women. It is unreasonable for parents to oppress children. reasonable. However, Kafka chose to rewrite these oppressions that were reasonable on the surface. Kafka wrote about the unreasonableness and irrationality underneath what was reasonable on the surface, and the hypocrisy of the entire social moral code. This is the innovation of the contrast method. .

Writers in the past only wrote about one level: unreasonable, but Kafka wrote about two levels: the unreasonable below the reasonable. Kafka changed the traditional "contrast method" and turned the contrast between people into a contrast between people and beetles. This strong contrast makes the true, good and beautiful more true, good and beautiful, and the false, ugly and evil even more false and ugly. This kind of contrast The "contrast method" is a new concept that is different from the traditional one. It peels off the "reasonable" coat of this unreasonable world and returns it to its true hypocritical essence. It praises kind people from an absurd environment. This new method The "contrast method" has a higher typical significance that has never been written before. Innovation comes from tradition. "Metamorphosis" inspired the creative thinking of many modern writers: writing about the cold and heat of the world in an absurd context can be said to be the general theme of modern literature. So what's the secret to its success? Is it from tradition? Or does it come from innovation? Or does it come from the combination of the two? This is also a question worth discussing, but it seems that there cannot be a moderate answer. I personally believe that the secret to the success of "The Metamorphosis" lies in Kafka's excellent inheritance of tradition. First, it has a good story that has a beginning and a tail, is very complete, and is extremely readable. It is much better than those novels that downplay the three aspects (story, characters, and theme). Second, the novel's "transformation" and "contrast" techniques come from tradition. Third, the novel contains a lot of psychological descriptions and a lot of realistic details, which also come from tradition. Fourth, the theme of the novel is both clear and implicit. For example, in 1/8 of Iceberg, the author only tells one story. The reader is left to think about the remaining 7/8 of the story. This also comes from tradition. Fifth, the novel has obvious political ideas, which of course comes from tradition. Therefore, between tradition and innovation, tradition comes first. Without tradition, the artistic skills of "Metamorphosis" and the ideological nature of "Metamorphosis" are like trees without roots and water without sources. "Innovation" does not fall from the sky. "Innovation" is based on tradition and starts from it. This is a basic point of view that we must grasp. But Kafka was not limited to tradition. He dared to change it and develop it, such as "transformation" and "contrast" techniques, which are changes and developments. The reason why "Metamorphosis" has become a classic of short stories in the 20th century is that it comprehensively inherits and develops the tradition. Some people only know how to imitate and rely on, but do not know how to make tradition the flesh and blood of their own works. They especially lack the ability to integrate tradition and develop. This is not the case with Kafka, and this is the secret of the success of The Metamorphosis. "The Metamorphosis" was written in 1912. It was very fashionable at the time, but now it has become part of the tradition. So far, there is no second "Metamorphosis" among short stories in the world. What does this mean? This shows that inheriting and developing tradition is the most difficult thing in the history of literature. Kafka faced difficulties and succeeded. This is the eternal law of literary development.