What is the point? // Samantha Tedder

    What is the point of this writing? What do we learn from reading Gregor's misfortune? Relatability can be found, at least for some. At one point or another, most people will have a Gregor moment. A moment in which one feels like they cannot give back to those who give so much to them. Like their lives do not have value. Maybe it is the loss of a job like Gregor, as a man-sized bug cannot go out into the world and function. Perhaps it is an emotional burden. One works but does not feel or see its benefits to others and feels as if they are not pulling their weight. If you find yourself here, I employ you not to think those around you are like Gregor's family or that you are like Gregor. While it is easy to morph your troubles to be like Gregor's in some sense, I promise you, your life has value and improves the world around it. 

    Another reliability can be caring for someone who cannot care for themselves. These situations can be challenging but, some can be very rewarding. As an older sister, I remember when my siblings were as helpless as Gregor, needing everything done for them. Though now I see them growing into their own unique personality traits, the days spent cleaning up after them seem worth it now. However, I understand the other end of this idea. Caring for someone at the end of life is hard but can be just as rewarding with a bit of perspective. My great-grandfather has dementia. Some days he is in his 30s and others his 20s but never in his 90s where he is in reality. The family takes turns caring for him at home, where he feels safest. This is a sacrifice for everyone involved, which is mostly his children. In this season, though, they get to return the time spent for nothing in reward their father gave at the beginning of their lives, at the end of his. My papa Walker loves and fears the Lord; there is hope to see him again healed and whole with his savior. That aspect removes some bleakness from the moment, though it doesn't make it any less demanding. Personally, I will miss him greatly when he passes, but, like Gregor's family, it will make life easier for my grandparents, aunts, and uncles who care for him now. 

    Still, though, I ask, what is the point of this story? His family does not appreciate how much of their income came from Gregor but resent him for something he did not choose. He did not choose to be a bug and stop making money. They do not see this as a moment to give back either but as a burden only, with no other aspects. They treat him as if he was never even human at all. The lack of remorse for injuring him is appalling. Granted, he is a bug. But, he is still their son. A son they briefly praised in the beginning. A son they said was so hard working he could never miss the train as he did the morning of his morphing. Is it to show how people only care about what they can get and not give? To display the inherent selfishness of people? How love can be earned but rarely unconditional? I do not know which of these meanings the writer was intending, but they all presented themselves at various parts of Gregor's insect journey. 

-Samantha Tedder

P.S. I commented on Emory Cooper and Ashlyn Scism's posts.