In this task, you will compare the situation faced by Gregor Samsa, the protagonist of Kafka's The Metamorphosis, with a real-life situation in which someone has experienced comparable isolation and d

Unit Activity

Unit: Genre and Context in Fiction

This activity will help you meet these educational goals:

You will initiate and participate effectively in a collaborative discussion with diverse partners on grade 10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing your own ideas clearly and persuasively.

Introduction

In this activity, you will build on your previous readings and analysis of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis to compare the situation in the story to real-life experiences. You will then prepare for and engage in group discussions to explore this comparison further.

Before you start the activity, you might want to review The Metamorphosis, keeping the following questions in mind:

• What are the themes of the story? Which theme did you think was the most important in the story?

• What conflicts drive the plot, and how are they resolved?

• How does the protagonist change as the story progresses? How do the other characters change?

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Directions and Analysis

Task 1: Preparing for the Group Discussion

In this task, you will compare the situation faced by Gregor Samsa, the protagonist of Kafka's The Metamorphosis, with a real-life situation in which someone has experienced comparable isolation and difficult personal, moral, and social experiences.

In The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa transforms suddenly, without any apparent reason, into a large insect. His transformation ends his ability to express his thoughts in words, and his family eventually stops viewing him as a family member. Gregor is isolated from the world outside his room and home. Though Gregor's transformation is absurd and physically impossible, the story explores the consequences of that transformation in a realistic and understandable manner, emphasizing the effects of his isolation.

1. Select a real-life situation in which a person may face difficult isolation, as Gregor does after turning into an insect. You may choose a situation from the list below, or use a different one different one if your teacher agrees on your choice.

• psychological conditions: dementia, schizophrenia, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder

• physical conditions: paralysis or severe injury; going blind or becoming deaf; facing an addiction

• social conditions: being wrongly convicted of a serious crime; moving to a place where some attribute of the person makes others around the person view him or her with contempt or suspicion

Record the condition you chose to compare with Gregor's.

Type your response here:

1. Engage in research to better understand the condition you selected. You might want to consult these resources about conducting effective research:

   • Starting Research

   • Evaluating Sources

   • Evaluating as You Read

Locate at least three quality sources. Note what you learned through research about the situation you chose. Remember to list the sources you consulted.

Type your response here:

1. Use your own knowledge and what you gather from your research to compare and contrast the situation you chose with Gregor Samsa's transformation. Create a one-page outline with the major points of comparison. Your outline should include answers to the questions below. You will use the outline you create here to participate in the group discussion in task 2.

• What kind of difficulties is the person in this situation likely to face?

• What psychological and emotional experiences might someone in this situation undergo? Which of those experiences relate to Gregor's experience?

• What themes in The Metamorphosis are relevant to the experiences of someone in the situation you chose?

• How are those experiences similar to Gregor's experiences after his transformation?

• How are they different?

• How are the social interactions of a person in this situation similar to the interactions between Gregor and the other characters in The Metamorphosis?

Type or copy and paste the outline here:

Task 2: Group Discussion

For this task, you’ll work as part of a group of three or four participants who can meet together for a face-to-face discussion. Your teacher will identify a process for this task that fits your learning situation. If you’re working primarily on your own in this course with no on-site classmates (self-paced course) the process will be different than if you are learning with at least two other students on the same schedule (group-paced course). The processes to follow in those two cases are outlined below.

Group-paced course

• Your teacher will organize groups or allow you and other students to self-organize.

• Read the Discussion Guidelines for how to conduct, facilitate, or participate constructively in a discussion with your peers.

• In the discussion session, members will take turns presenting their reflections and then discussing each member's reflections with the group.

  • Each member in the group should present the real-life situation he or she chose to compare with Gregor's and discuss how it relates to The Metamorphosis. This brief presentation should last between two and five minutes.

  • All group members take notes about relevant and important points that other students present.

  • After each student presents, the students should engage in a five minute group discussion where they consider the presenter's points and relate their own thoughts to those presented. A member other than the presenter should act as a facilitator. (In these discussions, you should ask questions about any points you don’t understand. Your aim should not be to argue about the validity of others’ points, but to explore others’ viewpoints and ideas.)

• After all the individual presentations and the discussions following those, the entire group engages in a closing discussion that is approximately 15 minutes in length. The goal of the discussion is to gather opposing viewpoints and additional perspectives to help refine your viewpoint and build a deeper understanding of how the story relates to real-life and difficult situations faced by people. The point is not to prove yourself correct or argue with others in the group, but to engage in a rich discussion and integrate others’ ideas.

• You should take notes on what is discussed throughout this group discussion.

• The discussions should be fair, democratic, and orderly. Each member of the group should have an opportunity to express their views; all members should actively contribute to the discussion. Group members should show respect for others' views and make their points politely.

• To ensure a polite discussion, students may want to decide between various speaking formats: students raise their hand and wait to be called on before chiming in; students pass around an object that allows them to speak; the discussion moves clockwise around the room, allowing everyone to share their views in order.

Self-paced course

• You will find at least two people to participate in this discussion with you. They could be classmates from other courses, friends, siblings, or others. They should be roughly your age, if possible, so you can have a thoughtful discussion with peers. You will set a time and place for the discussion and share the Discussion Guidelines for them to read prior to the discussion.

• You will be the only presenter for this discussion. You will also play the role of facilitator.

• You will present your reflections and then discuss them with your group.

• Your invited group members are only required to be active, thinking participants. Except for reading through the Discussion Guidelines ahead of time, they do not have to prepare for the discussion beforehand or do any follow-up afterwards.

• Since you will be presenting and facilitating during the discussion, you may want to ask one of the participants to take brief notes for you on key points that come up during the discussion.

• Plan to spend at least 30 minutes presenting and discussing your reflections with the group.

Post-Discussion Tasks:

After either discussion format, complete the following tasks.

1. 1. Record the names of the discussion participants below. If you organized the discussion, record how you know each person and summarize how you chose and invited the participants and how you organized the time and place for the discussion.

Type your response here:

1. 1. Using the notes you took during the discussion, write a brief overview (between one and two pages) that addresses the following questions:

• What were the main reflections that you presented in your individual presentation?

• What questions did the other group members ask, and how did you respond?

• How were your views influenced by the points presented and questions raised by others in the group? Did any of the other participants change your understanding of the topic you discussed? What was discussed that changed your initial response? If your viewpoint did not change because of the discussion, state why it did not.

• Evaluate the group discussion in general. Was it efficient, enlightening, and useful?

Type your response here:

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Resources

Starting Research

Evaluating Sources

Evaluating as You Read

Discussion Guidelines

Evaluation

Your teacher will use these rubrics to evaluate the completeness of your work as well as the clarity of thinking you exhibit.

Task 1: Preparing for the Group Discussion

Task 2: Group Discussion

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