Explain the significance of gregor’s focusing solely on how his inability to go to work will affect his family, rather than on the fact of his transformation. kafka often uses language crafted in a peculiar, yet methodical way. his use of round-about ways of saying things is not due to his inability to write clearly, but rather carries with it some intended meaning. in the following sentence: "at the same moment, however, he didn’t forget now and then to remember that the calm and calmest contemplation would be much better than desperate conclusions," what does the choice of language in this passage serve to illustrate?

Kafka uses peculiar and round-about ways of saying things when talking about Gregor in order to convey the complications that Gregor's personality presents. Gregor is a man who is completely controlled by the expectations that society and his family have of him. He knows that he should work hard, be responsible, sacrifice everything for his family and be the breadwinner. These are the expectations that dominate his whole life. The reason why he is so overwhelmed by them is because these stem from his social context, and not from his personal goals or dreams.

Kafka choice of language in this passage reflects this feeling. Gregor is constantly doing what he ought to do, and not what he wants to do or what he believes in. Even when going through extremely frightening and confusing situations, he remembers that what he ought to do is remain calm. And he strives to satisfy this expectation, regardless of what his true feelings might be.

oka

i think i seen this before

"character is what you are in the dark." dwight lyman moody, in this very witty quotation of his, states we act and think differently when we are "in the dark", that is, when the spotlight is not on us and everyone can see us and consequently judge us. when reading, we tend to be sympathetic to some characters and their dilemmas. by being so, we are saying to ourselves that we agree with those characters' acts and choices, even if they are morally questionable if we have common sense in mind. dwight lyman moody's quotation applies very well to "crime and punishment", by   19th century russian writer fiodor dostoyevsky. raskolnikov, the main character, a former law student who spends his days reflecting upon life and its misery, draws a fatal conclusion: mankind is divided in two main categories: ordinary and extraordinary people. the first are the ones who lead a run-of-the-mill existence and are full of imperfections; the latter are the ones who are spiritually superior, the ones who always know better, and have the right to judge the ordinary ones, as well as eliminate them if for common good. raskolnikov considers himself as belonging to the extraordinary category and decides to kill an old lady who is a money lender and in whose house he rents a small room. raskolnikov compares himself to napoleon, who had the undeniable right to execute tons of people during the war in order to save his nation. of course what the main character decides to do is a horrendous crime, but as readers we feel it is the right thing for him to do, since the victim is a mean old woman who only thinks about money and keeps humiliating her younger sister. what one experiences is a mixture of sympathy and empathy for the character, even though he decides to commit homicide, which is not at all accepted or tolerated by civilized citizens. however, since readers are "in the dark", they allow themselves to feel in ways they would probably never dare to confess to anyone, no matter how nasty or vicious a character can be. after all, they are just reading and doing no harm. in other words, readers are in the dark and can be who they are without being judged.