VOCABULARY:
lapse:lapse/laps/
noun:
A temporary failure of concentration, memory, or judgment: "a lapse of concentration".
pangs:pang [pang]
noun:
a sudden feeling of mental or emotional distress or longing: a pang of remorse; a pang of desire.
diversion:di·ver·sion [dih-vur-zhuhn, -shuhn, dahy-]
noun:
the act of diverting or turning aside, as from a course or purpose: a diversion of industry into the war effort.
indisposition:in·dis·po·si·tion [in-dis-puh-zish-uhn] Show IPA
noun
state of being indisposed.
a slight illness.
disinclination; unwillingness.
ajar:a·jar1 [uh-jahr]
adjective, adverb:
neither entirely open nor entirely shut; partly open: The door was ajar.
scrupulous:scru·pu·lous [skroo-pyuh-luhs]
adjective:
having scruples; having or showing a strict regard for what one considers right; principled.
punctiliously or minutely careful, precise, or exact: a scrupulous performance.
frugality:fru·gal·i·ty [froo-gal-i-tee]
noun:
the quality of being frugal, or prudent in saving; the lack of wastefulness: Many people who have lived through periods of economic deprivation develop lifelong habits of frugality and are almost never tempted by wasteful consumption.
corrosive:cor·ro·sive [kuh-roh-siv]
adjective:
having the quality of corroding or eating away; erosive.
harmful or destructive; deleterious: the corrosive effect of poverty on their marriage.
sharply sarcastic; caustic: corrosive comments on the speaker's integrity.
embittered:em·bit·ter [em-bit-er]
verb:
(used with object)
to make bitter; cause to feel bitterness: Failure has embittered him.
to make bitter or more bitter in taste.
When I first read the short story, I was given the impression that Gregor's misfortune was playing out in black and white. In my project, I worked with this color scheme as well as positive/negative space. For me the story was good and evil; both pure and dark. There was a paragraph in the story as well that spoke of milk being the young man's favorite drink, and how he slowly became disgusted by it. I wanted the white to represent Gregor and his purity, youth,the way he used to be in pure human form. I used the black to represent the slimy residue that was left by the monstrous creature;Gregor's altered self that left a 'trace'. It also acted as a somewhat melancholy addition to the white hue of the bed and dressers. The bed was left white to conclude a peaceful and pure life while texture and slight grey details gives the viewer the illusion of "use". The dressers were described as smooth. I kept them simple, but made three so that they could be stacked or rather unstacked, allowing them to be clean and simple with the potential of being off-centered and disorganized. I wanted my project to serve two different viewpoints of the story as I mentioned in the beginning. Something beautiful..falling apart. The long stalks of headboards conclude how something so straight could look so worn out, so fallen apart. The long lines making the headboard was reiterated in the long and somewhat sorry looking legs of the creature. To me, the creature was still Gregor, still himself in a different form. I felt sorry for him and wanted to show this in my work. The bug was painted grey with white accents to symbolize the reality of something that tries to fit in (the white on his back corresponding with the white of the bed/dresser) but not being able to. I did not create my objects based on common knowledge, but completely on how I read the story and what I felt about the entire situation and what was physically and mentally happening in Gregor's mind.
"Besides he felt relatively content. True, he had pains throughout his entire body, but it seemed to him that they were gradually becoming weaker and weaker and would finally go away completely. The rotten apple in his back and the inflamed surrounding area, entirely covered with white dust, he hardly noticed. He remembered his family with deep feelings of love. In this business, his own thought that he had to disappear was, if possible, even more decisive than his sister’s. He remained in this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three in the morning. In front of the window he witnessed the beginning of the outside growing generally lighter. Then without willing it, his head sank all the way down, and from his nostrils his last breath flowed weakly out."
"As a result, in spite of all the care from the mother and sister, his uniform, which even at the start was not new, grew dirty, and Gregor looked, often for the entire evening, at this clothing, with stains all over it....
"By the door he first noticed what had really lured him there: it was the smell of something to eat. For a bowl stood there, filled with sweetened milk, in which swam tiny pieces of white bread. He almost laughed with joy, for he had an even greater hunger than in the morning, and he immediately dipped his head almost up to and over his eyes down into the milk. But he soon drew it back again in disappointment, not just because it was difficult for him to eat on account of his delicate left side—he could eat only if his entire panting body worked in a coordinated way—but also because the milk, which otherwise was his favourite drink and which his sister had certainly placed there for that reason, did not appeal to him at all. He turned away from the bowl almost with aversion and crept back into the middle of the room."
-Kafka
