ShmoopTube

00:00

We speak student and here's your schmuck du jour brought to you by transformations

00:07

how do caterpillars pass the time in their cocoons not by reading the [a caterpillar awakening in a bed]

00:11

metamorphosis by Franz Kafka all right reading reading Gregor Sams textile

00:17

[man mumbling while reading]

00:22

[mumbling continuing]

00:29

the alarm clock ticking

00:33

[still mumbling]

00:43

right well the setting of this scene is important because it does what and here

00:47

the potential answer all right well this question asked us to think about the

00:53

symbolism of the passages setting so let's see we know the Gregor is in his [A man in a bedroom stood beside a bed]

00:59

tiny bedroom with depressing rain drizzling down the windows this place is not

01:03

going to make it into architectural digest we'll start by killing option A

01:08

Gregor has turned into a roach and vermin do like small places which could be [A man transformed into a roach on a bed]

01:12

why they like New York City so much but this is just a random fact and we're on the

01:18

hunt for deeper meaning you can see how somebody might think D is right there [A man shooting a deeper meaning sign]

01:24

doesn't seem to be much in Gregor's room besides the textile samples that he uses

01:28

in his traveling salesman gig well this might be interpreted as showing just how

01:32

focused he is on his work but we have a feeling we're something bigger going on [a roach holding out two textiles]

01:36

here how about option B the passage is totally said in Gregor's home but his

01:41

home life just doesn't seem like the most important thing the few details

01:45

[roach looking depressed while ironing] that were told about his room make it seem so small and depressing it's the

01:49

kind of place a realtor would call er charming and we all know what that means

01:53

anyway we need an answer choice that make something of this sad little room

01:57

like oh say answer see throughout the scene Gregor never comes out of his tiny [a brown door with a keep out sign]

02:02

bedroom its walls represent the way his families and employers and even his own

02:07

expectations have been trapped in a life he hates sorry Gregor maybe a little [a woman with a plate of food outside a door]

02:12

Feng shui will except the place

Full Transcript