Comparing Change In Metamorphosis And The Seventh Man

Kevin Phan, Brenda Tran, Nathan Vo

Mr. Podesta

English 2H/Period 2

26 January 2017

As Robin Sharma, a writer and speaker, once stated about change, “Change is hard at first, messy at the middle, and gorgeous at the end.” Robin Sharma is referring to how change is complicated and tough, but all of the trouble is worth it once the change is finished. For instance, change is negatively portrayed in “Night,” written by Elie Wiesel, “Metamorphosis,” written by Franz Kafka, and “The Seventh Man,” written by Haruki Murakami. These stories indicate how there are many different examples of change and they all affect people in plentiful ways both mentally and physically. It happens every day in each person’s life, resulting in fear. Many people view

An example comes from the story, “The Metamorphosis,” by Franz Kafka. In the story, the main character, Gregor, experiences a major change in him transforming into a giant cockroach. His physical change made him frightened, but he would not embrace that change. The story stated, “One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin” (Kafka 1-3). Gregor struggles physical and psychological change as he adapts to his new body of a cockroach. This affected Gregor negatively because he could no longer go to work even though he tried and even hurting himself in the process. The story states, “Gregor slowly pushed his way over to the door...He seemed, unfortunately, to have no proper teeth...using the jaw, he really was able to start the key turning, ignoring the fact that he must have been causing some kind of damage as a brown fluid came from his mouth” (Kafka 374-384). This shows how dedicated and persistent he is about going to work and because his physical body changed, he could no longer do his normal routine in life which shows why change is negative. Another example in the story is how he could no longer work off the family debt after being changed to a cockroach. The story tells the reader how in Gregor’s society, the son, which is him, has to work and make money for their parents.

For instance, in “The Seventh Man,” written by Haruki Murakami, the narrator’s life began taking o change after the tragic death of his best friend, K. Murakami, the narrator, was the last one to see K. alive before the immense waves pulled him into the sea. After K.’s death, Murakami felt responsible because he brought K. down to the shore, which resulted in his disappearance. For example, Murakami stated, “If I didn’t get out of there, I’d go crazy. My parents understood and made arrangements for me to live elsewhere. I moved to Nagano Province in January to live with my father’s family in a mountain village near Komoro” (Murakami 306-309). This indicates that Murakami’s change affected him negatively. He could not live with his parents anymore due to the constant reminder of the beach that pulled K. into the sea. This change affected him, along with his parents. Change also affected Murakami’s personal life. In lines 323-324, Murakami exclaimed, “I didn’t want to wake someone sleeping next to me with my screams in the middle of the night.” Since he was having nightmares about the tragic accident, it prevented him from sharing a bed with someone else. He was terrified of scaring his partner with his screams. Ever since K.’s death from Murakami’s childhood, it has affected him up until his adulthood. Murakami spent decades living miserably because he believed K.’s death was his