Symbolic Similarities in The Shunammite and The...

Helthall 1 Travis Helthall Professor Rich Carpenter ENGL102-09 English Composition II May 8, 2012 Symbolic Similarities Research Paper The definition of metamorphosis as told by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is as follows â€Å"a marked and more or less abrupt developmental change in the form or structure of an animal (as a butterfly or a frog) occurring subsequent to birth or hatching.† (1) Whereas the Shunammite is just a woman hailing from Shumen, although the name is more so known for the biblical story of the Shunammite in the Book of Kings. That story was about a Shunammite whom was made to lay with the old and dying king David; she was a weak and vulnerable woman when it came to the idea of her being able to have children. So in the†¦show more content†¦Unlike Gregor, because of the picture his mother faints, which creates the illusion of violence to the father, which in turn makes him throw the apples at Gregor, and in the end leads to his death. Michael Ryan also stated very nicely in his essay that Gregor was punished for no apparent reason, or at least no reason the reade r can come up with, so in this aspect the metamorphosis of Gregor symbolizes arbitrary punishment or in other words he is punished just because the author had the power to do so. (220) Like Gregor, Luisa was punished for no reason, she was being a good â€Å"daughter† to Polo and he takes advantage of her because of his lust she did nothing to deserve it, but due to the power of the author it happened and even though she didn’t die like Gregor it did cause her a lot of mental pain and social pain. In both â€Å"The Shunammite† and â€Å"The Metamorphosis† symbols of negative change and strife appear to oppose each of the protagonists. In both stories they end up changing the people around Gregor and Luisa, Gregor’s negative symbol would be his sister, or rather his family as a whole. Grete who is Gregor’s sister states that the family needed to get rid of him and that if that really was Gregor he would have realized that there is no way f or the family to live with such a creature. To this Hill states that â€Å"The point is, however, that the creature is Gregor,