https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMXEs_9-Rd0

Lily, Noah, Avril, Ella, Lucy, Ariana

Our creative project features two art forms, music and visual art, that intertwine to create a duet that speaks for The Metamorphosis’ purpose and tone. The music is composed by Kreisler, an Eastern European violinist and composer. This violin piece, Recitativo and Scherzo Op. 6, represents Gregor’s life before his transformation. After this introduction, the sound of crawling bugs are introduced into the piece, representing Gregor’s new characteristics. The murkiness of this combination generates a legitimate portrayal of Gregor’s reality. The violin is frequently mentioned in The Metamorphosis and is an object that is used to represent beauty, as well as Gregor’s humanity and bond with his family. Before Gregor transformed into an insect he used the violin as a way to connect to his sister Grete. Even once Gregor transformed, the sound of the violin was what connected him to the feelings that he had when he was still a man. This is something we displayed in the animated short as the violin is shown slowly disappearing behind multiple insects. This animation of the instruments represents what is left of Gregor’s humanity and how it is slowly disappearing, causing him to loose grasp of the ideals and mannerisms that he once had.

Mrs. Samsa is truly a fighter--after all, she was forced to work in order to provide for her family so that they could remain in a decent economic standing, saw her own son turn into an insect, and battled with severe catatonia to a point in which she could hardly speak at all. Despite all of this, she is still seen as the weakest, most lifeless character with the least development in the novella. Why, you ask? Good question. A woman who “suffered from asthma,” having a great deal of strain on her body and constantly “labouring for breath,” should obviously not pick up the load of a healthy young boy who is able to do double her workload. Is this asthma, this condition that is seen as a physical weakness, a metaphor for her breathlessness in attempting to keep the fabric of her family together and everything running smoothly? Her dedication and practically unwavering love for Gregor, seen when she walks into the room in which Gregor lives with her daughter and helps to tidy up the room (although she did not overtly say “I still love you, even though you’re vermin”), shows her pure spirit and good intentions when it comes to being a mother and a human being. Thus, perhaps the money she worked hard to get symbolizes the power of love and the means to which a desperate family member would go to fix a problem they see sitting, or in Gregor’s case, crawling, right in front of them. However, in the same measure, this income, a way to “solve” all of the supposed problems that are brought about by deviations in the span of society, is material and serves as the vessel through which masked corruption flows through sweet pure water that seems spotless on the surface.