Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Victorian Novel, Accordingly Analyzed

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Victorian Novel, Accordingly Analyzed

According to the web article “Victorian Literature”: “If there is one transcending aspect to Victorian England life and society, that aspect is change – or, more accurately, upheaval.”  Indeed, the Victorian era was characterized by a wide range of developments, from industrialization and the severe inequality that it created, to the imperialism of Great Britain, to a decline in faith in the Catholic Church.  The changes occurring in society at large paralleled another trend: for the first time, writers viewed and used literature as a means of advocating for social change.  One such writer was Thomas Hardy, who “created desolate, hopeless worlds where life had little meaning,” (“Victorian Literature”) and “actively questioned the relevance of modern institutions, in particular organized religion,” (“Victorian Literature”).  In his novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles, he criticizes a wide range of contemporary social issues, particularly the oppressive treatment of women and the role and relevance of organized religion.  Because of the range of issues that Hardy addresses in the novel and the similarities between his viewpoints and those of other Victorian authors, Tess of the d’Urbervilles could be regarded as an archetypal Victorian novel.

Treatment of Women

Tess of the d’Urbervilles takes place in the late 19th Century, and is set in South Wessex, a county in the English countryside that Hardy romanticizes but makes clear is transforming as a result of the Industrial Revolution.  It follows the downfall of Tess Durbeyfield—a peasant girl who is described as beautiful and responsible to her family, but also prideful to a fault—as a result of the revelation that her family is descended from the formerly aristocratic d’Urberville family.  This revelation compels her family to send her to what they believe to be a wealthy offshoot of the d’Urberville family (as it turns out, this family is not a branch of the original d’Urberville family, but rather a nouveau riche family that adopted the name), leading to her pregnancy by Alec d’Urberville, the son of the deceased patriarch; it is unclear whether Tess is raped or allows him to have sex with her.  Regardless of the exact nature of the incident, it later causes Angel Clare—the forward-thinking preacher’s son with whom Tess falls in love—to abandon her.

In his analysis of the novel, “Sexual Identity on the Road in Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” Scott Rode contends that Alec is characterized as a stereotypical misogynist.  According to Rode, Alec “considers satisfying his sexual need his privilege as a male member of the upper class.  Alec – almost a stereotypical villain with a black pointy mustache – makes a game of seducing women…Rather than conceiving of women as powerful equals, Alec uses women’s sexuality to dominate them,” (Rode).  Rode states that Alec’s attire and womanizing tendencies render him a disagreeable character.  He also notes that Alec attempts to seduce women by using either his wealth or their sexuality to his advantage.  Indeed, Alec does attempt to seduce Tess by stimulating her sexuality: he manually feeds her strawberries (Hardy 37) and teaches her to whistle (Hardy 58-59).  Alec also attempts to use his superior social status in order to seduce Tess.  When he does this, he often invokes Tess’s family, whom Tess feels obligated to aid: “ ‘I have enough and more than enough to put you out of anxiety, both for yourself and your parents and sisters.  I can make them all comfortable if you will only show confidence in me,’” (Hardy 347).  In cases such as this, Alec tempts Tess with a level of financial security that only a patrician such as himself can provide.  His apparent belief that his promises of money will entice Tess demonstrates his belief that sexual conquest is “his privilege as a male member of the upper class,” (Rode).

Although Angel is very different from Alec—in terms of his personality, the manner in which he views Tess, and the manner in which Tess views him—he wrongs Tess just as much as Alec does.  As Conor Byrne, a history student at the University of Exeter, asserts in his analysis of the novel, “Tess of the d’Urbervilles & the Fallen Women in Victorian England,” Angel could be described as a hypocrite: “Although he disavows religion and seems unconventional, Angel in fact adheres to contemporary gender and social prejudices pervading his era,” (Byrne).  According to Byrne, Angel’s treatment of Tess reflects Victorian attitudes towards women.  Byrne discusses these prejudices at the beginning of his analysis:

“The Victorian era (1837-1901) famously espoused oppressive, even stifling, moral values concerning domesticity, sexuality, and femininity.  Building on ancient and medieval ideals of sinfulness and the seductiveness of Eve, women were expected to be chaste, virginal, silent and fair - as Coventry Patmore immortalised in his 1854 poem, they should be an 'angel in the house,’” (Byrne).

According to Byrne, Victorian women were expected to be chaste and demure.  These expectations originated from a combination of Judeo-Christian teachings and bygone customs.  Angel’s support of these standards causes him first to fall in love with Tess and later to desert her.  According to “The Apprehensive and Suppressed Soul of the Fallen Woman in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” by feminist academic Noorbakhsh Hooti, Angel “[falls] in love with a moral quality rather than a woman,” (Hooti 632).  Because Angel falls in love with Tess in part due to his belief that she is pure, he ceases to love her when she tells him that Alec impregnated her.  His attitude towards Tess immediately after this revelation is one of such resentment that “he looked upon her as a species of impostor; a guilty woman in the guise of an innocent one,” (Hardy 236).  The fact that Angel compares Tess to a criminal indicates that he views her past with Alec as a crime.  This belief is somewhat hypocritical: shortly before Tess tells Angel about her experiences with Alec d’Urberville, Angel reveals to her that he once engaged in a brief dalliance with a stranger, a misdeed for which Tess forgives him.  The fact that Tess pardons Angel for a misdeed similar to the one for which Angel deserts her reflects Victorian social standards, according to Hooti, who writes that “His inconsistency demonstrates the unconscious hypocrisy of the moral codes,” (632).

Ultimately, Tess could be considered a victim of these moral codes.  Rode expresses this idea, writing: “She is hemmed in by the opposing and mutually exclusive binaries of the Victorian conceptualization of…women either as a feminine ideal of purity to be placed upon a pedestal or as a whore to be despised and cast off,” (Rode).  Although originally the product of Christian teachings—according to Byrne, they arose from a fear of female sexuality borne of “the seductiveness of Eve”—these perceptions of women have become so deeply integrated into secular society that even Angel Clare, a lapsed Christian and progressive thinker, adheres to them.  Therefore, it is unclear whether Hardy attributes the victimization of women to religion, society in general, or both.  Although it is unclear what institution Hardy blamed for the moral standards to which Victorian women were held, it is very clear that he viewed these standards as arbitrary and as such despised them.  This viewpoint is evident in Tess’s awareness that “she had been made to break an accepted social law, but no law known to the environment in which she fancied herself such an anomaly,” (Hardy 87).  Although she is ashamed of having been impregnated by Alec, Tess recognizes that the social laws that she has broken do not apply in nature, and are therefore somewhat arbitrary.  Tess is not the only character who does not believe that she has committed an offense; in his analysis of the novel, titled “Thomas Hardy: Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” Ian Mackean notes that “although she has broken an accepted social law, the villagers of Marlott do not morally censure her. She has an illegitimate child, but they still accept her as an individual, a member of the community, and do not look upon her as an outcast.”  The reactions—or lack thereof—of the inhabitants of Marlott to Tess’s pregnancy by Alec are demonstrated when Tess breastfeeds her illegitimate child during an intermission in the village’s harvest:

“The men who sat nearest considerably turned their faces towards the other end of the field, some of them beginning to smoke; one, with absent-minded fondness, regretfully stroking the jar that would no longer yield a stream.  All the women but Tess fell into animated talk, and adjusted the disarranged knots of their hair,” (Hardy 92).

The sight of Tess breastfeeding her illegitimate baby seems to be a somewhat awkward presence to the other laborers, who turn away from Tess and ignore her.  However, the farmhands do not reprimand Tess for having bore a child out of wedlock (or for breastfeeding the child in public) but rather fraternize with each other as they otherwise would.  By describing the laborers’ indifference to Tess’s having given birth to a child out of wedlock, Hardy shows that humans are capable of refuting the stringent moral standards that they created, and that, since the people of Marlott continue to regard Tess as pure after her experiences with Alec, the reader should as well.

Role of Religion

Another Victorian concern—or, in this case, a set of concerns—addressed in Tess of the d’Urbervilles is the relevance and role of religion.  According to the online article “Dualism & Dualities - The Victorian Age,” by Maria Antonietta Struzziero, “faith was still considered a fundamental part of everyone’s life, so most people went to Mass at least once a week and they were really interested in religious stories and debates. However, some intellectuals followed agnosticism or atheism,” (Struzziero).  Being one of these intellectuals, Hardy was one of the critics of organized religion.  At the same time, he was unsettled by the ideas expressed by Darwin in his publication, On the Origin of Species, fearing that “this new scientific explanation of life on Earth would diminish the dignity of man as the favourite creature of the Lord,” (Struzziero).  This concern is evident in the fact that the job that Tess takes at the d’Urberville mansion is to tend to the collection of fowls owned by Alec’s mother.  The fact that this job requires her to attend to animals demonstrates the fear that Hardy harbored regarding the consequences of Darwin’s revelation that humans descended from animals and, therefore, lacked the superiority that they had long believed that they possessed.  Hardy also expresses fear of this development when he depicts the fowls’ dwelling, which had previously been home to a farming family:

“The lower rooms were entirely given over to the birds, who walked about them with a proprietary air, as though the place had been built by themselves, and not by certain dusty copyholders who now lay east and west in the churchyard…The rooms wherein dozens of infants had wailed at their nursing now resounded with the tapping of nascent chicks.  Distracted hens in coops occupied spots where formerly stood chairs supporting sedate agriculturalists.  The chimney-corner in which the hens laid their eggs; while out of doors the plots that each succeeding householder had carefully shaped with his spade were torn by the cocks in wildest fashion,” (Hardy 54-55).

Hardy’s description of chickens roaming about a house once inhabited by humans, his mention of the destruction of the, and his statement that the fowls act as if they own the house, help to convey a sense of concern regarding the reduced status of humans.

In addition to brooding over the reduction of the status of humans to that of animals, Hardy questioned the implications of the lack of divine influence in the affairs of humans.  During the scene in which Alec impregnates Tess, Hardy bemoans the failure of a divine being to prevent the incident from occurring:

“But, some might say, where was Tess’s guardian angel?  where was the providence of her simple faith?  Perhaps, like that other god of whom the ironical Tishbite spoke, he was talking, or he was pursuing, or he was in a journey, or he was sleeping and not to be awaked,” (Hardy 74).

Hardy speculates on the whereabouts of a higher power during the scene in which Alec impregnates Tess, frustrated by the inability of divinity to prevent the incident from occurring.  His descriptions of a divine being performing very human actions, such as talking, pursuing, traveling, and sleeping, create an unflattering depiction of such a being, in this way indicating skepticism of the legitimacy of divinity.  Hardy also questions the legitimacy of a higher power through the reaction of Tess’s mother to the news of her daughter’s pregnancy by Alec: “ ‘Well, we must make the best of it, I suppose.  ’Tis nater, after all, and what do please God!’” (Hardy 84).  In his analysis on Tess of the d’Urbervilles, given the same title as the novel, literary critic Anthony Domestico notes the inanity of this viewpoint: “We are, of course, meant to reject this rather facile appeal to nature as an explanation for Tess’s intense suffering; it is surely a despicable God that would be pleased by the blighting of a young girl by a lustful parvenu.”  According to Domestico, Hardy viewed the belief expressed by Mrs. Durbeyfield as ridiculous, refusing to believe that Alec’s impregnation of Tess could please a divine being.  As such, it appears that the occurrences of horrors such as Alec’s impregnation of Tess plagued Hardy, causing him to question not only the role of a divine being, but the existence of one as well.

Hardy was also concerned about the role of organized religion in Victorian life.  His first criticism of Christian theology in Tess of the d’Urbervilles occurs after Tess’s illegitimate child, whom she names “Sorrow,” dies, and Tess approaches the local vicar to inquire whether the baptism that she performed on Sorrow was sufficient to prevent him from being sent to Hell:

“ ‘And now, sir,’ she added earnestly, ‘can you tell me this—will it be just the same for him as if you had baptized him?’

Having the natural feelings of a tradesman at finding that a job he should have been called in for had been unskillfully botched by his customers among themselves, he was disposed to say no.  Yet the dignity of the girl, the strange tenderness in her voice, combined to affect his nobler impulses—or rather those that he had left in him after ten years of endeavor to graft technical belief on actual skepticism.  The man and the ecclesiastic fought within him, and the victory fell to the man.

‘My dear girl,’ he said, ‘it will be just the same,’” (Hardy 98-99).

By conveying the priest’s thoughts, Hardy criticizes religious teachings and questions the legitimacy of organized religion.  According to Ian Mackean, “Hardy undermines the authority of the vicar by calling him a 'tradesman' (p.132) and showing how Tess's genuine human feelings sway his nobler feelings against his doctrine.”  Hardy also criticizes Christian theology by portraying the vicar’s senses of compassion and adherence to Church teachings as opposing forces, which is ironic because compassion is one of the foundations of the Judeo-Christian family of religions (and most other religions, for that matter).  The discussions that take place between Alec and Tess after Alec temporarily converts to Christianity also reflect Hardy’s discontent with what he believes to be superfluous Church teachings.  During these discussions, Tess explains to Alec that “ ‘I believe in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount,’” (Hardy 332) and expresses a belief that “ ‘you can have the religion of loving-kindness and purity at least, if you can’t have—what do you call it—dogma,’” (Hardy 342).  In both of these instances, Tess clarifies both her rejection of Christian theology and her adherence to the moral principles upon which this theology was founded.  In doing so, she indicates that morality and theology are naturally separate entities, and that the religions that amalgamate them are somewhat arbitrary.

Hardy uses the character of Alec d’Urberville to criticize religion in another manner: according to Ian Mackean, “Religious belief is further undermined by the rapid conversion, then de-conversion of Alec d’Urberville.  He believes himself to be sincere, but Hardy shows his fanaticism to be a passing fad,” (Mackean) when Alec’s religious convictions subside as a result of a chance encounter with Tess.  Alec is fully aware of the cause of his abandonment of religion, acknowledging that “ ‘I was on the way to, at least, social salvation till I saw you again!…I was as firm as a man could be until I till I saw those eyes and that mouth again,’” (Hardy 334).  He is aware that his chance encounter with Tess caused him to abandon his religious pursuits.  However, he believes that his religious convictions rendered him “as firm as a man could be,” (Hardy 334) when in fact he abandoned his faith relatively soon after being reunited with Tess.  The readiness with which Alec abandons his pursuit of a higher power in order to pursue a human being serves as a final indictment of the legitimacy of the Anglican Church.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the concerns that Hardy expresses regarding religion in Tess of the d’Urbervilles appear to be reflective of those of his peers.  Anthony Domestico indicates one of these concerns:

“God, whether He exists or not, has evacuated Himself from this world. We are left to fend for ourselves in a world that is dominated by Nature rather than divinity, by passion and impulse rather than reason or piety,” (Domestico).

According to Domestico, Hardy was concerned about the removal of God from human affairs, knowing that, in a world without divine intervention, humans would be at the mercy of nature and other humans.  Many of his peers shared this concern; according to Struzziero, Darwin’s On the Origin of Species caused some people to fear that “this new scientific explanation of life on Earth would diminish the dignity of man as the favourite creature of the Lord,” (Struzziero).  Hardy’s concern about the theology of the Anglican Church, another common concern in the Victorian era, appears to have been rooted in his discontent with the strict moral standards associated with the era, which Struzziero attributes to an attempt “to regain the Puritan austerity and severity of the past.”  Overall, Hardy’s concerns regarding religion are very much intertwined with those regarding the treatment of women: Alec’s impregnation of Tess serves to demonstrate the absence of divine intervention from human affairs, and the dogma which Hardy criticized appears to have inspired the Victorian moral standards that he condemned.  As intertwined and complex as these societal issues were, however, Hardy maintained a certain level of optimism regarding them.  When analyzing Tess’s discussions with the temporarily converted Alec, Anthony Domestico indicates that Hardy believed that “Even if institutionalized religion is questioned, even if divine revelation is not believed in…a separate sphere for ethics and morality can still be maintained.”  Not only does Hardy seem to have possessed a certain degree of optimism regarding human nature, it appears that he questioned the relevance of organized religion because of this optimism.

If Thomas Hardy were alive today, his viewpoints—or at least those expressed in Tess of the d’Urbervilles—would be somewhat unorthodox.  On one hand, he was unsettled by a scientific discovery (Darwin’s “Theory of Evolution”) and compared urbanization to “the tendency of water to flow uphill when forced by machinery,” (Hardy 364).  On the other hand, he criticized what he perceived to be excessively strict moral standards and excessive religious dogma.  As unusual as his overall worldview might be by modern standards, however, it was typical of writers in the Victorian era, an age in which “change was happening faster than many people could comprehend,” (“Victorian Literature”) and “some writers greeted these changes with fear,” (“Victorian Literature”) while others “embraced the new world that was coming into being, thrilled at the progress of science and society,” (“Victorian Literature”).  Hardy discusses many issues associated with the Victorian era, especially the treatment of women and the role and relevance of religion, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles.  In this novel, he advocates for change with regards to the former issue and simultaneously expresses a desire for and a weariness of change with regards to the latter.  Because Hardy addressed many issues of the time in the novel, and did so in a manner typical of Victorian writers, Tess of the d’Urbervilles can be considered an archetypal Victorian novel.

Notes

• it is unclear whether Tess is raped or allows him to sex with her: My 12th-grade English class, which read the novel, discussed the scene at length, reaching the consensus that Tess was not completely raped by Alec, nor did she fully consent to his having sex with her, but that his carnal knowledge of her was due to what one classmate described as "confused acquiescence."  According to another student, Tess consciously opposes letting Alec have sex with her, but allows it instinctually, adding complexity to her character and allowing Hardy to criticize Victorian behavioral standards.  The teacher agreed with this student, stating that Tess could not be a complete victim because, if she were, the novel would cease to be a commentary on society and be reduced to what the teacher described as a "pity party."
• that other god of whom the ironical Tishbite spoke: According to the "Notes on the Text" section of the publication of the novel that was used, Hardy makes a reference here to Elijah's oration to the priests of Baal in I Kings 18:27, (Hardy 422).

Works Cited

Byrne, Conor.  “Tess of the d'Urbervilles & the Fallen Woman in Victorian England.”  blogspot.com.  N.p., 29 Aug. 2013.  Web.  8 May 2015.  <http://conorbyrnex.blogspot.com/>.

Domestico, Anthony.  “Tess of the d’Urbervilles.”  The Modernism Lab at Yale University.  Yale University.  N.d.  Web.  5 May 2015.  <http://modernism.research.yale.edu/>.

Hardy, Thomas.  Tess of the d’Urbervilles.  1891.  New York: Bantam Dell, 2004.  Print.

Hooti, Noorbakhsh.  “The Apprehensive and Suppressed Soul of the Fallen Woman in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles.”  Theory and Practice in Language Studies 1.6 (2011): 630-634.  Web.  5 May 2015.

Mackean, Ian.  “Thomas Hardy: Tess of the d’Urbervilles.”  London School of Journalism.  London School of Journalism.  N.d.  Web.  10 May 2015.  <http://www.lsj.org/>.

Rode, Scott.  “Sexual Identity on the Road in Tess of the D’Urbervilles.”  Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies 1.1 (2005): n. pag.  Web.  5 May 2015.  <http://www.ncgsjournal.com>.

Struzziero, Maria Antonietta.  “The Victorian Age.”  Dualism and Dualities.  Liceo Scientifico Statale "De Caprariis”.  N.d.  Web.  8 May 2015.  <http://www.scientificoatripalda.it/>.

“Victorian Literature.”  The Literature Network.  N.p., N.d.  Web.  25 April 2015.  <http://www.online-literature.com/>.

Treated Like a Bug: The Similarities Between the Lives of Franz Kafka and The Metamorphosis's Gregor Samsa

Treated Like a Bug

The Similarities Between The Lives of Franz Kafka and The Metamorphosis's Gregor Samsa

Top: A cartoon image of the transformed Gregor.  Image from Kafkaesque World.

Above: Franz Kafka.  Image from A Focus on Franz Kafka: Elana Wolff's "Metamorphoses" published by EVENT Magazine, "Two Short Talks by Anne Carson" upcoming on Brick Books.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of Kafka’s writing is the extent to which the experiences of the characters in his works reflect his own experiences.  In fact, so many parallels exist between his life and those of certain characters in his works that, according to GradeSaver’s “Biography of Franz Kafka”: “Kafka’s biography reads almost like a critical analysis of his work,” (classicnote.com).  One work to which this description applies is the novella The Metamorphosis.  Although the novella revolves around an implausible event—the transformation of the main character, Gregor Samsa, into an insect—many similarities exist between the lives of Kafka and Samsa.  Not only were the occupational and familial circumstances of the two similar, both struggled with ill health and the inability to form lasting relationships with women.  The similarities between the lives of the two indicate that, like the main character in The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka was regarded as a bug, both by himself and by others.

Interactions With Family Members

The events of The Metamorphosis revolve around the transformation of Gregor Samsa, a young traveling salesman, into an insect.  Samsa’s transformation compels the members of his family to undergo their own transformations: his father, who had previously been too depressed to work, is forced to take a job as a messenger, which temporarily increases his vitality; his mother is compelled to take a job as a seamstress; and his younger sister, Grete, matures as a result of taking a job as a sales clerk and beginning to study French and shorthand.  Before his transformation, Samsa had the sole wage earner in his family; the fact that the family initially employs a cook and a separate servant girl indicate that his job affords his family a comfortable existence.  However, the only family member to whom Samsa is genuinely loyal is Grete.  Grete initially reciprocates this loyalty, wholeheartedly caring for him even after his transformation.  The dedicated manner in which Grete cares for her Samsa is demonstrated by her response to the observation that he has not eaten any of the food that she had brought him:

“But his sister at once noticed, with surprise, that the basin was still full, except for a little milk that had been spilt all around it, she lifted it immediately, not with her bare hands, true, but with a cloth and carried it away.  Gregor was wildly curious to know what she would bring instead, and made various speculations about it.  Yet what she actually did next, in the goodness of her heart, he could never have guessed at.  To find out what he liked she brought him a whole selection of food, all set on an old newspaper.  There were old, half-decayed vegetables, bones from last night’s supper covered with a white sauce that had thickened; some raisins and almonds; a piece of cheese that Gregor would have called uneatable two days ago; a dry roll of bread, a buttered roll, and a roll both buttered and salted,” (Kafka 282).

When Grete discovers that Samsa does not like the food that she had brought him, she brings him a vast assortment of food in order to assess his preferences.  Her actions indicate that she cares for him out of a genuine desire to aid him (rather than because of an obligation to do so).  As the novella progresses, however, Grete begins to view her brother as a liability, eventually advocating for abandoning him after he disturbs the lodgers to whom they are subleasing a room:

“‘We must try to get rid of it,’ his sister now said explicitly to her father, since her mother was coughing too much to hear a word, ‘it will be the death of both of us, I can see that coming.  When one has to work as hard as we do, all of us, one can’t stand this continual torment at home on top of it.  At least I can’t stand it any longer.’  And she burst into such a passion of sobbing that her tears dropped on her mother’s face, where she wiped them off mechanically,” (Kafka, 298).

Grete views Samsa as more of a burden than a brother; not only does she feel that her family must rid itself of him, she refers to him as it.  She regards Samsa in this way because the obligations of her job and studies prevent her from caring for him, and because his disturbance of the lodgers jeopardizes one of the family’s sources of income.  Samsa’s relationship with his father is another important facet of the novella, as the former is in many ways a victim of the latter.  The father has not worked since his business failed five years prior to the events of the novella, instead relying on his son for financial support.  Whereas Samsa had set his alarm for four o’clock in the morning on the eve of his metamorphosis (Kafka 272), his father “[lingers his breakfast] out for hours over various newspapers,” (Kafka 278).  This juxtaposition reinforces the disparity between Samsa’s contributions to his family and those of his father.  After Samsa’s transformation, the father becomes disconcerted by the loss of his source of income and begins to drive his son back to his room:

“Pitilessly Gregor’s father drove him back, hissing and crying ‘Shoo!’ like a savage…If [Gregor] only had a chance to turn round he could get back to his room at once, but he was afraid of exasperating his father by the slowness of such a rotation and at any moment the stick in his father’s hand might hit him a fatal blow on the back or on the head…Perhaps his father noticed his good intentions, for he did not interfere except every now and then to help him in the manoeuvre from a distance with the point of the stick.  If only he would have stopped making that unbearable hissing noise!  It made Gregor quite lose his head.  He had turned almost completely round when the hissing noise so distracted him that he even turned a little the wrong way again.  But when at last his head was fortunately right in front of the doorway it appeared that his body was too broad to get through the opening.  His father, of course in his present mood was far from thinking of such a thing as opening the other half of the door, to let Gregor have enough space.  He had merely the fixed idea of driving Gregor back into his room as quickly as possible,” (Kafka 280).

As Samsa’s father drives his son back into his room, he hisses and seems to disregard his inability to fit through the doorway.  His actions establish that he is easily angered and somewhat simpleminded.  Samsa’s transformation eventually compels his father to take a job as a messenger.  This job temporarily revitalizes him, as demonstrated when Samsa contrasts his newfound livelihood with his former physical condition:

“And yet, and yet, could that be his father?  The man who used to lie wearily sunk in bed whenever Gregor set out on a business journey; who welcomed him back of an evening lying in a long chair in a dressing gown; who could not really rise to his feet but only lifted his arms in greeting, and on the rare occasions when he did go out with his family, on one or two Sundays a year and on high holidays, walked between Gregor and his mother, who were slow walkers anyhow, even more slowly than they did, muffled in his old greatcoat, shuffling laboriously forward with the help of his crook-handled stick which he set down most cautiously at every step and, whenever he wanted to say anything, nearly always came to a full stop and gathered his escort around him?  Now he was standing there in fine shape; dressed in a smart blue uniform with gold buttons, such as bank messengers wear; his strong double chin bulged over the stiff high collar of his jacket; from under his bushy eyebrows his black eyes darted fresh and penetrating glances; his onetime tangled white hair had been combed flat on either side of a shining and carefully exact parting.  He pitched his cap, which bore a gold monogram, probably the badge of some bank, in a wide sweep across the whole room on to a sofa and with the tail-ends of his jacket thrown back, his hands in his trouser pockets, advanced with a grim visage towards Gregor,” (Kafka 291).

Previously, the father had been lethargic and sickly in his appearance and behaviors; it is likely that he had suffered from depression instigated by the failure of his business.  Now that he has taken a job, both his appearance and vitality have improved.  His attitude towards his son, however, has not changed; having been notified that Samsa has left his room, the father chases him around the living room and bombards him with apples.  The father eventually returns to his former depressed state; he never removes his uniform and falls asleep in his armchair after his family eats supper.  In spite of his strained relationships with his father and his sister, Samsa remains loyal to his family until he dies.  As he lies dying, alone in his room, he “thought of his family with tenderness and love,” (Kafka 300) and reflects on his banishment to his room: “The decision that he must disappear was one that he held to even more strongly than his sister, if that were possible,” (Kafka 300).  As he lies dying, Samsa feels love for his family and believes that his death is in their interests.  These sentiments demonstrate the extent of his familial loyalty and as such add an element of poignancy to his death.

Franz Kafka’s work and home lives were quite similar to those of Samsa.  Kafka was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia to a successful Jewish couple; as he was a secular Jew in a city in which Jews were alienated, he was an outcast in both his city and his religious community.  His older brother died at war, forcing him to assume his responsibilities as the oldest sibling; Kafka also had three sisters, but was only close with one of them, Ottilia (classicnote.com).  As had previously been the case the case with Mr. Samsa, Kafka’s father was a business owner.  Like Mr. Samsa, he was also brash and somewhat oppressive of his son.  In his “Letter to his Father,” Kafka reflects on his relationship with his father, recounting scenes in which his father abused him.  In one such scene, Kafka remembers having annoyed his father and being sent outside (Fischer).  It is worth noting that he uses the German word “winseln” to describe his crying, as this term connotes that he is insignificant and pitiable (Fischer).  Kafka’s father compelled him to study law, and Kafka received his doctorate in this field in 1906.  Upon graduating, he took a job as a legal clerk, but found this job unfulfilling and quit in 1908.  He then began to work as a traveling salesman for an insurance company against his father’s wishes.  Although this stands in contrast to Samsa’s father’s opinion regarding his son’s job, both fathers have interests that conflict with those of their sons.  This conflict of interest is one of the many similarities between the work and home lives of Gregor Samsa and Franz Kafka.

Relationships With Women

Another similarity that the two share is the nature of their interactions—or lack thereof—with women; although both had lovers at various times, neither was able to form a permanent, committed relationship with a woman.  In addition, the romantic lives of both were influenced by their fathers in some way.  Samsa’s loneliness is established when his room is described at the beginning of the novella; among its only furnishings are “the picture which he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and put into a pretty gilt frame.  It showed a lady, with a fur cap on and a fur stole, sitting upright and holding out to the spectator a huge fur muff into which the whole of her forearm had vanished,” (Kafka 271).  The fact that this picture depicts a model in a magazine—and not a woman whom Samsa has actually known—indicates that Samsa has not had any committed relationships with women.  This indication is confirmed when Samsa contemplates the advantages and disadvantages of his job, including “‘casual acquaintances that are always new and never become intimate friends,’” (Kafka 271).  The nature of Samsa’s job prevents him from entering committed relationships with women.  However, he appears to have had various lovers during his travels, as evidenced when he reflects on various aspects of his former job, including “a chambermaid in one of the rural hotels, a sweet but fleeting memory, a cashier in a milliner’s shop, whom he had wooed earnestly but too slowly,” (Kafka 293).  Samsa appears to have had several affairs during his travels.  However, he has bittersweet memories of all of these affairs because of their temporary nature.  As the refusal of Samsa’s father to find work compelled him to take this job, the father could be regarded as influencing the nature of his relationships.

As is the case with Samsa, Kafka entered no relationships of note before writing The Metamorphosis.  In 1912, however, the year in which the novella was published, he met Felice Bauer, with whom he was engaged and disengaged twice in the next five years; he entered a relationship with Grete Bloch during the time between these engagements, fathering a child about whom he never knew with her (classicnote.com).  Towards the end of his life, he cohabited and planned to elope with a woman named Dora Dymant.  Their relationship, however, ended when Kafka’s tuberculosis worsened, forcing him to return to Prague for treatment.  Many of Kafka’s relationships were unsound because of his conflicting attitudes about marriage.  Kafka believed strongly in the institution of marriage and felt a need to escape the influence of his father (classicnote.com).  However, he feared the prospect of marriage because it would require him to sacrifice time that he could have otherwise spent writing (Fischer).  These conflicting attitudes about marriage hindered Kafka’s ability to enter committed, long-term relationships with women.

Illness

Many scholars have asserted that Gregor Samsa’s transformation into an insect is not literal, but rather representative of a battle with an illness.  Whether or not this was Kafka’s intention, Samsa’s condition deteriorates as the novella progresses.  The deterioration in his condition begins with his transformation into an insect.  Shortly after his transformation, he responds to his mother in a muddled, almost inhuman voice (Kafka 272).  In Chapter 2, he stops speaking and begins to lose his appetite.  By the beginning of Chapter 3, “hardly slept at all by night or by day,” (Kafka 293) and “was now eating hardly anything,” (Kafka 295).  In addition, “it took [Samsa] long, long minutes to creep across his room like an old invalid—there was no question now of climbing up the wall,” (Kafka 292).  By the time of his death, he “was now unable to stir a limb,” (Kafka 300) and “his whole body was aching,” (Kafka 300).  Samsa’s death serves as the culmination of the decline which began with his transformation into a bug.

Kafka, whose health issues began during his childhood, suffered from “insomnia, recurring coughs, night sweats, and similar difficulties,” (Batson) throughout his life.  He was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1917, but likely suffered from this disease for some time prior to his diagnosis, as there had previously been no means of identifying the disease (Batson).  His illness forced him to spend much time in sanitariums, where he experienced indignity and isolation (Batson). His tuberculosis forced him to retire from his job in 1922, and he died two years later, completing a decline similar to that of Gregor Samsa in a manner similar to that character’s death.

Conclusion

Perhaps the adjective that most accurately describes Kafka’s life is lonely.  As a secular, German-speaking Jew in a Czech city, Kafka was regarded as an outsider in both his city and his religious community.  He was close with only one of his four siblings, and had a particularly hostile relationship with his father.  He entered many failed relationships with women and spent his life plagued by illness, eventually dying alone in a sanitarium.  Many of his works reflect his own experiences, one such work being The Metamorphosis.  As was the case with Kafka, the main character in that novella, Gregor Samsa, works as a traveling salesman and struggles with illness and flawed relationships, both with members of his family and with women.  Even the most improbable event of the story—Samsa’s transformation into a bug—reflects the manner in which Kafka regarded himself and was regarded by others: lowly, repulsive, and little more significant than a bug.

Works Cited

Batson, Robbie.  “Kafka-Samsa.  Reality Through Symbolism.”  The Kafka Project.  n.p., n.d., Web.  14 Jan. 2015.  http://www.kafka.org.

“Biography of Franz Kafka (1883-1924).  GradeSaver.  n.p., n.d., Web.  5 Jan. 2015.  http://www.classicnote.com.

Fischer, Christian.  “Writing the Unwritable-Exploring the Differend in Kafkas’s Letter to His Father.”  The Kafka Project.  n.p., n.d., Web.  14 Jan. 2015.  http://www.kafka.org/.

Kafka, Franz.  “Metamorphosis.”  The Norton Introduction to the Short Novel.  Ed.  Jerome Beaty.  New York: W.W.  Norton & Company, 1987.  269-303.

Analysis of "Theme for English B" and "Cross" by Langston Hughes

Analysis of "Theme for English B" and "Cross" by Langston Hughes

One of the most notable figures of the Harlem Renaissance was the poet Langston Hughes (1902-1967).  Hughes, whose poetry was influenced by the styles of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman, addressed such aspects of African-American life as racial segregation and identity.  Although he focused on the experiences of African-Americans, people of all races can identify with many themes contained in his writing.  Two such poems are “Theme for English B” and “Cross.”  This essay will begin with an analysis of "Theme for English B," before analyzing "Cross" and comparing it to "Theme for English B," and will end by drawing conclusions about Hughes based on the two poems in question.

Langston Hughes (1902-1967).  Photo Courtesy of http://thefrontporch.org/2014/02/what-langston-hughes-lie-can-mean-for-churches/.

Analysis of "Theme for English B"

The speaker in “Theme for English B”—an African-American college student—attempts to fulfill an assignment given by his white professor, in which he is expected to write about himself as openly as possible.  The assignment causes him to contemplate his identity as a college student, as a resident of Harlem, and as a human being.  After fulfilling the assignment, the speaker discusses his relationship with his professor, describing it as both symbiotic and strained because of the cultural differences between the two.  At the beginning of the poem, the speaker is critical of his instructor’s assumption that a page that comes “out of you / …will be true” (ll. 3-4) because his professor is “…older and white / And somewhat more free,” (ll. 39-40) than him.  Because of the racial and generational disparities that exist between the two, the speaker and the professor likely have different beliefs.  This difference in viewpoints deters the speaker from writing about himself in a completely honest manner.  The tension that exists between the two also prevents the speaker from completely fulfilling his professor’s assignment, as a page that “[came] out of [him]” (l. 3) would contain the hostility that he often feels towards his professor.  It is worth noting that the speaker includes age as a factor that alienates the speaker and the professor from each other.  This mention of age indicates that the race is not the sole factor preventing the speaker from fulfilling the professor’s assignment, and that the speaker’s white peers might also be reluctant to do so.  Indeed, people of all races may occasionally be disinclined to share their beliefs and experiences with another person, especially an authority figure with different beliefs and experiences.  By mentioning that factors other than race alienate him and his professor from each other, the speaker relates his experiences as an African-American to those of members of other races.

Although the speaker in “Theme for English B” relates his experiences to those of members of other races, he also clarifies his identity as a resident of the African-American neighborhood of Harlem.  His mentions of both his college class and his commute help to establish this identity:

“I am the only colored student in my class.

The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,

through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,

Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,

the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator

up to my room, sit down, and write this page,” (ll. 10-15).

After briefly mentioning that he is the only African-American student in his class, the speaker describes his commute home, listing specific points along his route.  The comparative lengths of the speaker’s mentions of his mostly white class and his African-American neighborhood indicate that he primarily identifies himself as an African-American.  Although the speaker identifies with African-American culture, he does not let his racial identity completely estrange him from members of other races.  This is demonstrated when he describes himself as having attributes similar to those of any other person:

“Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.

I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.

I like a pipe for a Christmas present.

or records—Bessie, bop, or Bach.

I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like

the same things other folks like who are other races,” (ll. 21-26).

The speaker begins his response by listing physiological needs common to all human beings.  It is likely that he does this in order to remind his audience of the fundamental similarities that exist between all of them.  He then discusses his interests, maintaining the relatable nature of his self-description by listing various genres of music.  Through his self-description, the speaker conveys that he shares many similarities with members of other races, even if the color of his skin and his loyalty to his African-American neighborhood indicate otherwise.

Although the speaker in “Theme for English B” appears to write for his professor, he is in fact addressing Americans of all races.  This is demonstrated by the speaker’s efforts to relate to members of other races.  The fact that the speaker addresses all Americans is also supported by the fact that, toward the end of the poem, the speaker discusses the disadvantages of segregation to racial groups other than his own.  One way in which he does this is by appealing to patriotic sentiments.  When the speaker wonders about the nature of his assignment, he concludes that it will contain contributions from both him and his professor, and describes this amalgamation as American:

“So will my page be colored that I write?

Being me, it will not be white.

But it will be

a part of you, instructor.

You are white—

yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.

That’s American,” (ll. 27-33).

The speaker contends that his writing is influenced not only by his own experience as an African-American, but also by the instruction of his white professor, who in turn is influenced by him.  He describes this collaboration as American, echoing the idea of America as a medley of different cultures and implying that segregation is inherently un-American.  This appeal to patriotism indicates that the speaker is addressing the American populace.  The speaker also decries segregation through his description of his professor as “…older and white / And somewhat more free,” (ll. 39-40).  His description of the professor as merely “somewhat” freer than him indicates that members of other races are constrained by the system of segregation that favors them; the professor would probably be chastised by his peers if he were more amiable to the speaker.  The fact that the speaker in “Theme for English B” attempts to make himself relatable to members of other races while clarifying his identity with his own race, his appeal to patriotism, and his mention of the disadvantages of segregation to ethnic groups other than his own indicate that his audience includes all Americans.

Analysis of "Cross" and Comparison to "Theme for English B"

“Cross” focuses on the racial tension that abounded in the speaker’s biracial family.  The speaker recalls having become enraged with his parents as a child, and apologizes to them.  Although he has reconciled with his parents, the reason for his anger persists: his lack of racial identity.  The speaker establishes the tension that existed in his family at the beginning of the poem:

“My old man’s a white old man

And my old mother’s black.

If ever I cursed my white old man

I take my curses back.

If ever I cursed my black old mother

And wished she were in hell,

I’m sorry for that evil wish

And now I wish her well,” (ll. 1-8).

The speaker recalls having become angry with his parents, and apologizes to them.  As in “Theme For English B,” the speaker expresses regret over the dysfunctional nature of his relationships with authority figures.  However, whereas the tension between the speaker in “Theme for English B” and his professor is motivated by the fact that the two are of different races, the familial tension in “Cross” is due to the fact that the speaker has no race with which to identify.  The speaker conveys this at the end of the poem, after mentioning the conditions in which his parents died:

“My old man died in a fine big house.

My ma died in a shack.

I wonder where I’m going to die,

Being neither white nor black?” (ll. 9-12).

After mentioning the conditions in which his parents died, the speaker expresses uncertainty regarding where he will die.  As the conditions in which the speaker’s parents died reflect the circumstances of their respective races, the speaker’s concern regarding where he will die indicates concern over his lack of racial identity.  His description of himself as “neither white nor black”—as opposed to both white and black—is worth noting, as it reinforces his lack of racial identity.  It is likely that this lack of identity caused the speaker to become angry with his parents (although it is quite possible that he was also angry at his father for betraying his mother).  As is the case with “Theme for English B,” people of all races can identify with many aspects of “Cross”: people of all races grow up in dysfunctional households, and most people feel a profound sense of regret or a burdensome fear similar to those expressed by the speaker.  Although “Theme for English B” and “Cross” share many similarities, several differences exist between the two poems.  The speaker in “Theme for English B” acknowledges that he has been lucky enough to attend college, unlike his peers.  He also expresses a sense of attachment to African-American culture, but believes that racial boundaries are arbitrary.  The speaker in “Cross,” on the other hand, is tormented by the fact that he does not belong to any racial group.  Although he apologizes to his parents, his apologies are meaningless, as both of his parents are dead.  The manners in which the speaker’s parents died—the white father in luxury, the black mother in poverty, both parents separate from each other—indicate that racial boundaries are everlasting.

Conclusion

Based on both “Theme for English B” and “Cross,” it is likely that Langston Hughes considered writing an inward journey.  The stream-of-consciousness writing style in “Theme for English B” gives the impression of the speaker relating his thoughts as they occur.  This reflects the fact that the speaker in the poem attempts to fulfill an assignment in which he has to “let that page come out of you,” (l. 3).  Although the speaker in “Cross” does not explicitly depict his thought processes, he indicates that he has felt many profound emotions.  When he apologizes to his parents, for example, it can be inferred that his apologies are a means of assuaging guilt that he may feel over never having reconciled with them.  Similarly, when he wonders where he will die, he indicates that he is greatly troubled by his lack of identity, even though he does not explicitly mention this pathos.  Based on the introspective nature of “Theme for English B” and the intense emotions alluded to in “Cross,” it is likely that Langston Hughes considered writing not only a means of release, but an inward journey.

Many similarities exist between Langston Hughes’ poems “Theme for English B” and “Cross.”  The speakers in both poems reflect on their strained relationships with authority figures and try to reconcile with these people.  They also discuss their identities, conveying the desire for others to see them differently.  However, several differences exist between the two poems.  In “Theme for English B”, the speaker expresses a sense of belonging to his African-American community, but also a belief that segregation is arbitrary.  In “Cross,” the speaker laments his lack of identity, and, by relating the different manners in which his parents died, a belief that segregation is eternal.  In spite of the differences that exist between the two poems, both “Theme for English B” and “Cross” portray the experiences of African-Americans in such a manner that members of all races can relate to those experiences.