If Gregor was a dog

One of the things that we mentioned in class today was why Kafka chose a bug instead of some other animal and what would happen if Gregor was an animal like a dog.

The thought of a Gregor as a dog was a really entertaining idea. It made me think of Clifford, the big red dog, one of my favorite TV shows when I was younger. I can just imagine Greta sitting on Gregor, trying to play with him or Gregor trying to push himself out of his room. If Gregor was turned into a dog instead of a cockroach/beetle/bug, I feel like the reaction from his family would be a lot different. Dogs have a lot of benefits for the humans that live with them because apparently, studies have shown that dogs can decrease stress and depression. Dogs also tend to be louder and more noticeable (a giant cockroach is still pretty noticeable) and harder to neglect. This would also be one of the reasons that Gregor as a dog might cause more trouble for the family because a dog is harder to take care of.
I think one of the reasons that Kafka transformed Gregor into a cockroach was because of the association that we have with bugs. Generally, bugs, especially cockroaches, are associated with unclean conditions. Another reason would be because of the behavior of bugs. Bugs tend to scurry around and hide and dark places, trying to stay out of notice. Gregor's personality before he became an insect would reflect more of a bug than a dog. I think that a dog is able to convey it's feelings better than an insect and so they plot of the story would change a lot more if Gregor was a dog.

Love in the Sun Also Rises

One of the details that I wanted to focus on in The Sun Also Rises is how Hemingway depicts love in the novel. The main reason that Brett could not be with Jake was because of his physical faults despite the fact that they both love each other very much. Hemingway seems to view love as a physical relationship. Hemingway's depiction of love mirrors Sigmund Freud's interpretation of love, radically different from Plato's view.
Plato separates love into two different forms. The first kind of love is the "Vulgar Eros" or earthly love. The other kind is the "Divine Eros" or divine love. Divine love is also known as platonic love. Vulgar Eros is physical attraction towards an attractive body for pleasure while Divine Eros may start out as a physical attraction but gradually transcends it to become a supreme love that is non-sexual, a meeting of minds.

Freud's interpretation of Eros is that it is strictly the sexual component. This seems to fit with The Sun Also Rises the best because Brett engages in many different relationships throughout the book. One of the most interesting points that I noticed Freud mention was something called the Oedipus complex after Oedipus Rex who was in love with his mother. Surprisingly, this actually relates to The Sun Also Rises. One of the things I noticed from writing the Hemingway essay along with reading some interpretations online is that Brett occasionally acts as a motherly figure (ignore the partying and drinking). For instance, when they were in Spain and Mike was drunk and causing trouble, Brett acted as the intermediary. We also know that she was a nurse in the war and a nurse is a very motherly like figure. So if Brett is the mother like figure, that would partially explain the reason that so many men are in love with Brett or at least where Hemingway got the idea for this love story from.

In my opinion, I find this theory kind of far-fetched. Though Brett does exhibit some motherly-like characteristics, we also know that there is a side to her that isn't really parent-like, her habits of partying and hooking up with other men. I'm not really sure where Freud got this idea of all men are in love with their mothers but I can definitely see where some of Hemingway's influences might have come from.

Pamplona and Spain

I haven't written a post for a while, but I thought it would be great for it to be about the scenery and culture references in The Sun Also Rises.
One of the first most memorable passages that I remember would be the one that had the wineskin. The thought of Bill trying to drink the wine and dripping it over himself is pretty funny. It's kind of how I imagined the guy to the right felt, although minus the heart shaped glasses. The wineskin is also called a bota bag and it is made out of goat bladder (I imagine that would hold liquid really well) and then the insides are coated with tree sap to prevent liquid from leaking.

Then there's the bull fighting. One important distinction to make when talking about bullfighting is that Pamplona also has an event called bull running, also very famous. It's where they release a herd of bull into streets and people try to dodge and jump over the bulls to prove how brave they are. It's sounds dangerous but apparently only a few die and 200-300 people get injured. I would not want to be one of those guys underneath a bull. This is all part of a large 7 day festival called the Fiesta de San Fermin, like what we read in The Sun Also Rises.
The actual bullfighting takes place inside in a stadium. The seats are priced differently; the expensive seats are the ones that are in the shade and generally contains better behaved people. Bullfighting is divided into three different stages or "movements." The first stage is to allow the audience to appreciate the strength of the bulls. This would probably be the most famous scene where the bullfighters dodge using red capes to distract them. The second stage they try to stick darts into the bulls back. In the third stage they tire the bull by attempting to subdue it with a wooden sword and then they actually kill the bull with a steel sword. The audience can then reward the bullfighter with an ear or a tail if they are satisfied. Ignoring the more violent areas, I felt I could appreciate bullfighting more. Before, I saw bullfighting as crude and violent (some areas I still think are too violent). Perhaps after Hemingway's description of the bullfighters dodging the bulls with finesse I can understand it better. Calling the different stages "movements" also sounds more elegant, like a dance instead of a fight.
I got a lot of my information here: San Fermin Bullfighting
They even show you how to get tickets if you're interested in watching a live show.