Don’t Lose Yourself in the Day

to Day

Kilee Kamali

10/1/13

Eng 111

Diane Daily
Thesis:

 It's many, although not always obvious, layers can be revealed by looking at the story
through the eyes of Italo Calvino's essay "Why Read the Classics?" Truly why the story
should be read though is to show one that life is not worth living unless first lived for
yourself, and that change can be good or bad depending on how you let it affect you.

Topic Sentences;

1. Calvino says in his essay that "Every rereading of a classic is as much a voyage of
discovery as the first reading."
2. How can you help any other person without first making sure of your ability to help
them?
3. You can only change as much as you allow yourself to.
 Franz Kafka's story "The Transformation" should be read for more than a few reasons. It's
many, although not always obvious, layers can be revealed by looking at the story through the
eyes of Italo Calvino's essay "Why Read the Classics?" Truly why the story should be read
though is to show one that life is not worth living unless first lived for yourself, and that change
can be good or bad depending on how you let it affect you.

Calvino says in his essay that "Every rereading of a classic is as much a voyage of discovery
as the first reading." Once you grasp the superficial meaning of the story you can really start to
scratch the surface, and look at the underlying issues he presents. At first glance the story is
simply about a traveling salesman who has somehow become almost a work mule for his family,
wakes up one morning having turned into a bug and how he and his family deals with it. But if
you look deeper, Kafka alludes to feelings of alienation, entrapment, and purposelessness.
Maybe Gregors transformation into a bug signifies how he's loosing himself in the daily grind
and becoming a drone, leading a life for someone else and not having a true purpose except to
work until you die. Also it's interesting to see the extreme reversal of roles, and how power
warps people. Just a few examples of the different layers to this story, that once you've reread it a
few times, jump out at you.

How can you help any other person without first making sure of your ability to help them?
Through out the whole story it's quite obvious that Gregor cares little for himself, Kafka
mentions this close to the beginning when Gregors' father is talking to the chief clerk, he says
"That boy thinks of nothing but his work. It makes me almost cross the way he never goes out in
the evenings…" Although Gregor wants to continue taking care, quite capably too, of his family
his body does not seem to be able to continue on that path. In the essay it says that "A classic is a
book that has never finished saying what it has to say." Through out the whole story Gregor is
only concerned for his family and never his own well being, but he never realizes that without
first taking care of himself he can't take care of his family. It just shows that to help others, you
have to first help yourself.
 You can only change as much as you allow yourself to. In Calvino's essay he mentions "We
use the word “classic” of a book that takes the form of an equivalent to the universe, on a level
with the ancient talismans. With this definition we are approaching the idea of the “total book,”
as Mallarmé conceived of it." This story is a talisman for change and how it affects anyone. We
can look toward the whole family for an example of this. At first Gregor was wearing the pants,
figuratively, in his household and he in no way tried to hold that over his parents. If anything he
would have done more if he could it seems, he was also trying to send Grete to music school
while supporting his family and paying off their debts. All of this done in selflessness. Now,
when the roles were reversed, his sister, mother and father did not chose to take it upon
themselves to care for Gregor, it was done out of need. They could have used this change in a
way to better themselves and experience what Gregor experienced by truly living for others, but
for example Grete used her role as Gregors caretaker to make herself feel important, not to make
Gregors suffering easier in any way shape or form. Oppositely though, Gregors' father took the
chance to actually get a job and resume his role as care taker. So change can be good or bad,
depending on how you let it affect your consciousness.

Without being able to use Calvino's essay as a kind of spectacles to view the story through it
would have been a much more trying task to put everything in perspective. It allowed you to
break through the somewhat bland shell of the story and get to the meaningful pieces of "meat".
Kafka's story beautifully illustrates how one can truly loose oneself in the service of others,
which at first glance seems to be a blessing but is completely loosing sight of yourself something
that anyone wants? Also the change everyday life brings can only affect you as you let it. Don't
allow yourself to be lost in the day to day.