It's been a couple of days and I was wondering what people thought about Grete, Gregor's sister. Do you see her as an antagonist?
At the beginning of the second section of the book I was touched by her effort to care for Gregor even though it was objectively gross. However, towards the end of the story I didn't really know how to feel. Part of me felt like she acted selfishly. The other part of me felt like their family was grieving the loss, but I can't decide whether they were grieving the loss of Gregor's help, or the loss of Gregor as part of their family.
Either way, the only thing that I am settled on is that he loved and cared for them more than they did.
Second: Anyone have any thoughts as to the timing of the revelation of names. We get Grete's name halfway through the story, but only get his parents' names at the end of the story. I already returned the book copy to the library, but I'm almost certain that Kafka did not share their names until then. Am I wrong? Even if Kafka introduced their names at the beginning, why only bring them up again until the end?
At the beginning of the second section of the book I was touched by her effort to care for Gregor even though it was objectively gross. However, towards the end of the story I didn't really know how to feel. Part of me felt like she acted selfishly. The other part of me felt like their family was grieving the loss, but I can't decide whether they were grieving the loss of Gregor's help, or the loss of Gregor as part of their family.
Either way, the only thing that I am settled on is that he loved and cared for them more than they did.
Second: Anyone have any thoughts as to the timing of the revelation of names. We get Grete's name halfway through the story, but only get his parents' names at the end of the story. I already returned the book copy to the library, but I'm almost certain that Kafka did not share their names until then. Am I wrong? Even if Kafka introduced their names at the beginning, why only bring them up again until the end?