...Franz Boas, considered my many to be the father of Anthropology, once said, “"If we were to select the most intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and emotionally stable third of mankind, all races would be present."(Franz Boas) He was a very innovative anthropologist and believed that cultures should be judged not my individual response, but culturally, linguistically and biologically. He came up with the concept of cultural relativism and believed that cultures could not be compared because of the great difference in history between them. Boas was born on July 9, 1958 in Minden, Westphalia. Due to his parent’s liberal views, Boas was given the freedom to think for himself and pursue his interests. He first attended Heidelberg University followed by Bonn University to study mathematics, geography and physics and finally transferred to the University of Kiel. In 1881 he received his doctorate in physics. However, after taking a course in aesthetics during his schooling, he took an interest in psychophysics. In 1883, Franz Boas began a yearlong expedition on an island known as Baffin Island to conduct research on the impact of the physical environment on the Inuits, living and working closely beside them. This is where he first implemented participant observation, which is direct field observation which leads to a better understanding of sociocultural realities. He was hoping to relate their culture to their extreme climate, but his experienced led him to a contrary conclusion...
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...Cydney Jenkins Mr. Oliver 5th Period Honors English Franz Kafka “I need solitude for my writing; not ‘like a hermit’- that wouldn’t be enough – but like a dead man” – F. Kafka Family life On July 3rd, 1883 Franz Kafka born into a middle class Jewish family in Prague, Bohemia. Hermann Kafka (1852-1931) and Julie Kafka (1856-1934) are the parents of Kafka and his five younger siblings. Kafka the eldest of the children had two younger brothers Georg who had died at fifteen months and Helnrich who had died at six months. Kafka was around six when both brothers had deceased. He also had three younger sisters Gabriele who went by Elli (1889-1941), Valerie who went by Valli (1890-1941) and Ottillie who went by Ottla (1892-1943). Each sister and their families were sent to Łódź Ghetto and died there or in concentration camps. Ottillie the youngest of the sisters was believed to have been sent to a concentration camp in Theresienstadt and then to a death camp in Auschwitz. Education During 1883 when Kafka was born in Prague, Bohemia was a part of the kingdom of the Austro- Hungarian Empire. Kafka’s first language was German, yet he was fluent in Czech and also knew some of the French language. Between 1889- 1893 Kafka attended Deutsche Knabenschule. Deutsche Knabenschule this was a Fleischmarkt, which is a German all boys school at the meat market. Kafka’s Jewish education was very limited to a Bar Mitzvah at the age of thirteen and going to the synagogue for...
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...In the novel, The Metamorphosis, the author, Franz Kafka, reflects the alienation of his life into the story by using Gregor Samsa and other characters to show the struggles he had in his life. Kafka shows his opinions about work and jobs in society by making Gregor share his opinions on this topic. Another aspect of Gregor’s life that is similar to Kafka’s is their relationships with their families, and especially their fathers. The two character’s strangeness and their health are also issues that affects both of their lives. Kafka dislike work and jobs and he reflects that into Gregor Samsa in his novel. Samsa is a hardworking man who works every day for years without missing a single day. Gregor is a traveling salesman, so not many people...
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...The story by Franz Kafka is one that captivates your attention just from its title “The Metamorphosis.” It is centered on the major character Gregor’s transformation from human to cockroach. Kafka delivers this story through an anonymous narrator. The narrator has a couple of similar and different roles from Gregor that makes him his own special character. One of the first things that jump at you as you’re reading the story is the fact that that narrator of the story is not Gregor Samsa. Due to the fact that the narrator is anonymous, it is safe to say he either has a third person point of view or a limited omniscient point of view. This leads me to say that the narrator is and isn’t Gregor Samsa. The story is told through Gregor’s perspective,...
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...In Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” we are introduced right away to our main character, Gregor, who is transformed into a cockroach. From this, we can make deep connections of his transformation of what Gregor’s life is like but there is another connection we can make that is essential to this story, the floor plan. I will further discuss the floor plan by describing the room Gregor live’s in along with it’s description and what exactly is in it. Following this, we will make connections and give a vast picture to each room, how they line up, doors, and much more in the apartment. We will then fall into the mind of Gregor and explain what he sees from his perspective as a human and as a cockroach. The narrator’s reflects on this architect’s hand, instilling the familial relationships and motives of the Samsa family amongst the walls. The rooms constructed by the architect are the basins that the narrator describes from the noble and disheartening motives of the members of the Samsa family. Their relationships with each other and intentions towards one another parallel the floor plan of the apartment and it’s use of space for the...
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...Kafka’s World W. Clement Stone said, “You are a product of your environment.” This theory can be used to understand the meaning behind Franz Kafka’s nonsensical writings. The politics, literature, and science present during Franz Kafka’s lifetime reflects in his stories’ characters. Kafka grew up in a challenging time period at the end of the nineteenth century, in the middle of Prague. At that moment in history, Prague was a part of the Austrian-Hungary Empire before World War I. “Kafka was born into a middle-class, German-speaking Jewish family (Nervi).” The empire was a mix of ethnicities and languages which led to a confused country. For families like Kafka’s, “they faced many special restrictions: they were not free to choose...
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...“. . . All artists’ work is autobiographical. Any writer’s work is a map of their psyche. You can really see what their concerns are, what their obsessions are, and what interests them.” (Kim Addonizio). Franz Kafka was neglected by his family and rejected from society, which in turn influenced many of his works; this may be expressed through the themes and symbols of his short stories. These stories are brought by his political beliefs, his social standing, and his family relationships. Although, not one of Kafka’s renowned works, “A Report for an Academy” is a work that pertains to his life in more ways than one. The story is about an ape’s report, Rotpeter, on how he became human. By the end of the story it is clear that Rotpeter is no...
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...Romantic-Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, a Hungarian pianist and composer. He was born October 22, 1811 in Raiding, Hungary (which is now Raiding, Austria). And died July 31, 1886 in Bayreuth, Germany. His baptism record is in Latin and it klists his first name as Franciscus but never used it himself. Many of his notable compositions include 12 symphonic poems, 2 piano concerti, several sacred choral works, and a variety of great solo piano pieces (Britannica). His father was Hungarian and his mother was Austrian. In his early life, Liszt’s father, Adam Liszt, played the cello and other instruments. Adam also worked at the court of Count Esterhazy and amazed by his son’s talent for music he passionately taught Franz to play the piano. And by the age of 18, he was already composing elementary works and by the age of 9, he was performing in concerts. He would practice over ten hours a day. There was a time when Franz played for a group of wealthy sponsors and this event provoked his father to ask for an extended leave so he could absolutely devote his...
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...In everyone’s life, something motivates them to act a certain way, or relieve stress. With regard to Franz Kafka, a playboy life style caused some of his personal life to be paralleled in his works. His fear of corruption in politics was enough inspiration to write numerous books and short stories. However, his overbearing father is the most apparent influence when he writes. Franz Kafka lived a warped life epitomized by his continual commitment of adultery, sensitivity to the corruption of modern political systems, and deep rooted abuse and rage of his father converge together in his novel, The Trial. Throughout The Trial, Kafka eludes to many instances where a character cheats on his or her significant other. The first instance occurs when K. arrives in the courtroom for his second hearing and he begins to talk to a woman who interrupted his initial hearing. The woman says, “The Court are woman chasers… even my husband has to get used to it” (Kafka 35). Kafka was a notorious adulterer, and had several short and long-term...
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...German anthropologist Franz Boas once stated that, “If we were to select the most intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and emotionally stable third of mankind, all races would be present.” This expression of his views on the equality of all of humankind makes up the foundation of Boas’ research, ideas, and discoveries. Franz Boas: The Shackles of Tradition, a film by Bruce Dakowski, precisely describes Boas’ account into the lives of many indigenous people whose cultures are slowly on the verge of extinction. Born in Germany in 1858, Boas studied geography in school and then went on to train for the military in 1881. As a part of his geography training at the University of Heidelberg, Boas ventured out in 1883 to the Canadian Arctic coastline with hopes of successfully mapping out the scarcely populated area. The Europeans had not done much research in the Baffin Island region as far as culture went either, and, Boas, being the curious and open-minded man he was, decided he would “collect anthropological material and study the Eskimos” (Dakowski). Before setting off, he studied the Inuit languages and customs. As if these rigorously difficult studies were an introduction to the challenges he would soon face, Boas quickly discovered the true meaning of “culture shock” after traveling 3,000 miles by boats, sleds, and foot. Once there, he became completely immersed in their culture. His mind was captured in awe of these strange, yet incredibly intelligent people. After living with...
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...Franz Kafka is the author of the book Metamorphosis. He was born in Prague on July 3, 1883. Born a German-speaking Jewish boy. Lived with his parents for most his life. He is best known for describing absurd situations with simple, cold words. Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis could fall under a couple of genres in literature, they would include: classic, fiction, and fantasy. The way that Gregor changes illustrates that the theme would be the absurdity of life. In the beginning Gregor wakes up as a bug and is kind of scared along with his family. Towards the middle he is used to his body and isn’t scared anymore. His family is starting to get used to the idea that the bug is Gregor and that’s what he looks like now. At the end though all of that changes, his sister wants to get rid of the idea that that’s Gregor and they want him out of the house so they can be free from fear again. Change can happen at anytime and it can be very destructive and life changing....
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...In Franz Kafka’s novel ,The Metamorphosis, the author pertains to his character, Gregor Samsa,with uncontrollable circumstances such as isolation caused by outside forces. Gregor Samsa, upon waking one morning finds himself transformed into what he already feels like, an insect. His parents deem him unworthy of their love and throw him away like the rest of their junk. Gregor’s father chooses a job for him that dismisses all hopes of forming human connections because of its time consuming nature. Experiences such as theses parallel with Kafka. Born into an anti Semitic community, along with a very opinionated father Kafka’s life is filled with people pushing him away. Kafka truly lives through his characters, especially Gregor, in this short...
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...Through much of Franz Kafka’s writing, the reader can see how his personal experiences and viewpoints are clearly worked into his many stories. One of which stands out is his story A Hunger Artist. In this story Kafka speaks through the hunger artist of the alienation and isolation he feels in his own body, as well as the emptiness he feels as a result of the disconnected relationship he and his father share. Ironically this emptiness manifests itself quite literally at the end of Kafka’s life, when he dies as a result of tuberculosis of the larynx, which causes him to literally starve to death, just as the hunger artist in the story. It was said about his writing “the early manifestations of authentic originality were nurtured in solitary confinement, with his readiness to see the world through his own eyes.” (Pawel 160) This comes across clearly in A Hunger Artist as someone who is in a self-imposed solitary confinement seeking meaning to his life, much like the hunger artist being locked in his cage. Thus, Kafka uses A Hunger Artist to speak of himself and his experiences. A Hunger Artist is a short story about a once popular spectacle staged for the entertainment of a pleasure-seeking public: the exhibition of a professional “hunger-artist” performing in a cage of straw, his stunt of fasting. The hunger artist spends his fasting performances, and therefore most of his life, in a cage, on display before a crowd of people. His spectators see him as a trickster and common...
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...Submission is a major theme that is displayed in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. According to biblical passages, ‘submission’ is defined as making a choice that results in placing others above yourself and this is exactly what Gregor does throughout the novella. In Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs, the story starts off with a man talking to the Goddess of Love about submission to female authority. She claims that a woman must treat a man like a slave and a plaything because her cruelty will secure his love and admiration. Her concept of submission illustrates Gregor’s relationship with his family. The goddess begins by saying that no northerners are able to understand the concept of love. The man argues that...
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...Women in The Trial In Franz Kafka’s The Trial, the protagonist, Josef K., encounters several women who he has power over, and several men, who have power over him. This shows that Kafka’s idea of women is that they are on the bottom rung of society, that even the lowest of men has dominance over women. Josef K. rents a room from a woman named Frau Grubach. She regards him as one her favorite tenants, and Elsa K. paid a weekly visit to a young woman named Elsa, who worked at night and late into the morning as a waitress in a wine house, and by day received visitors only in bed,” (20) Fräulein Bürstner “ ‘I find it odd,’ said Fräulein Bürstner, ‘to be forced to forbid you to do something your own conscience should forbid, namely, to enter my room when I’m away’ “. (28) “ ‘You had to shout so! That makes me very unhappy.’ ‘There’s no reason to be,’ said K. and kissed her on the forehead as she sank back upon the cushion. ‘Go, go,’ she said, and quickly straightened up again, ‘go on, go away. What do you want...You’re tormenting me!’ ‘I’m not going...until you’ve calmed down a bit’” (32) “ ‘Frau Grubach...practically worships me, and believes anything I say. She’s beholden to me in another way too, since she’s borrowed a large sum from me....You needn’t spare me in any way. If you want it spread around that I assaulted you, that’s what Frau Grubach will be told and what she will believe, without losing confidence in me, that’s how devoted she is to me.’ ” (32) he can...
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