A week with Kafka

For this past week, the seniors have read and discussed Kafka's chilling work, Metamorphosis. This tiny novella of three chapters is a masterful indictment of family, corporate greed, and the power of guilt to charm and disarm. Kafka is also a difficult work since it rests on its initial premise that Gregor Samsa awakens after a night of unsettling dreams to find himself changed into a monstrous vermin. This unspeakable horror evokes much discussion. Gregor is a difficult character to identify with on many levels, although his alienation and despair seem to ring true, despite his unlikely appearance. Maybe the very thing that repels us about Gregor, also makes us connect to him. He is hardworking, determined, generous to a fault. He in no way desired the life he led nor the life into which he transforms. Gregor Samsa is an emblem for the alienated man who Kafka would no doubt say is a product of the world in which he lives.
We head toward Africa next week, first with a few days of selections from Mark Mathabane's Kaffir Boy, then to Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

Siddhartha and the quest

We have been reading Herman Hesse's great novel, Siddhartha for the last week in World Literature. Hesse's account of the quest for enlightenment loosely parallels both the journey of Gotama Buddha as well as Hesse's own wanderings. In the story, the central figure leaves his life as a Brahmin's son and journeys with the ascetics, then enters into a life directed by materialism and passion. After twenty years of such a hollow existence, he leaves to find his place by the river. He comes to an understanding of time and the duality of life. He learns to listen and feels the power of connecting to all that surrounds him. This novel is an easy sell to high school seniors, who often are feeling the pull of choice. Seniors see the future both with rose-colored glasses and the lens of uncertainty. They even often see the journey as a right or wrong series of choices. One of the messages that Hesse drives throughout the novel is that living in an attentive, conscious state brings clarity and peace. Instead of the automatic pilot we can switch on in our conversations and relationships, Hesse advocates remaining awake and alert to all the voices which surround us. I wish that for my seniors.