Power Hungry

One point of Antigone that I found particularly interesting was that Creon ended up repeating Oedipus’s mistake of ignoring the prophecy and holding onto his pride until it was too late. In the story ‘Oedipus,’ Creon is on the other side, watching the King make his mistakes and yet he learns nothing from that situation. He continuously sees people telling Oedipus that he is being hardheaded and needs to look at things clearly. Then, when Creon finds himself in the same pickle that Oedipus was in, he goes down the same path. Creon ends up repeating many of the same actions of Oedipus. Teiresias says, “I tell you, Creon, you yourself have brought this new calamity upon us….The only crime is pride (1345).” Just as Oedipus brought the plague to Thebes when he killed his father, Creon has brought misfortune to the city as well. Another example is when Creon finds out about a person burying Polyneices. His first reaction is that people are trying to overthrow him, just like when Oedipus heard the prophecy about him killing his father and marrying his mother. Once I finished the story, I kept trying to think of possible reasons as to why Creon was being so rash rather than stopping and listening to those around him, and I came up with the idea that when people get in control and inherit a large source of power, it goes straight to their head.

People are innately power hungry, so once they get a hold of that power, they think that they are ultimately right in everything. The idea is evident in today’s society, which can be seen with people at any workplace trying to pull eachother down in order to climb higher in the business world. In some cases, when they achieve that power, they grow conceded and think that they are right no matter what. Creon, in ‘Antigone,’ believes that Polyneices shouldn’t be buried because he was a traitor to Thebes, even though everyone around him told him that the Gods would be upset. Rather than thinking of what would be best for the city, he goes with what he thinks is right, which ends up being the wrong thing to do. Just as the sentry said, “How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong! (1331)” He as king thinks that he is, “licensed to say and do whatever [he pleases] (1335).” He gets his moment of clarity too late and loses his wife and son.

I think that by the end of the story, Creon ends up being the tragic hero. Yes, at the beginning of the story he comes off as a unlikable character; however, by the end we pity him because he does end up realizing his mistake but by that time, it’s too late and Haimon, the Queen, and Antigone are all dead. His tragic flaw, obviously, is pride, which ultimately destroys him. He is a man of high standing suffering from misfortune. I think that a person who comes into a great deal of power needs to have a strong mind, and Creon in the end proves to everyone that he is weak. He let his pride consume him for too long and will now spend the rest of his life suffering from his mistakes. (551)

Pressure

As we grow up, parents seem to have an innate quality that tells them to put the pressure of the world on our shoulders. It differs from family to family. In many cases today, the pressure stems from doing well on SATs, having the highest GPA in the class, and getting into one of the top colleges. In Gregor’s case, he has to set aside the fact that he is young and should be having fun and fully support his family financially. At the beginning of the story, we, as the reader, get a first glance at how Gregor feels about his work situation. He puts down the life of a traveling salesman, talking about how they have sleepless nights, never get to become real friends with people, and are always on the move. He says that he would love to yell at his boss and quit but has to ‘curb his tongue’ because of his parents’ debt to the manager. Rather than freaking out when he finds that he has been mysteriously transformed into a life size bug, his mind immediately goes to work and that if he kept his job for another four to five years, he will have worked off his family’s debt to his manager and finally be free from the financial pressure that his family has put on him. Now that he is bug, he obviously cannot keep his job, therefore, downing his spirits a little bit; however, on the other hand, now he can just sit at home and lounge. Gregor’s father is described as being extremely lazy. Rather than acting like the man of the family, he resigns early from that post and unfairly hands it off to Gregor.

A parallel can be drawn between Kafka’s Metamorphasis and Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. In both families, pressure is put onto the eldest son to provide and protect the family. Jason and Gregor both feel the weight of being the sole provider of the family, which in both cases leaves them very unhappy. While the two situations differ a little, I think the underlying meaning is the essentially the same—too much pressure on children who shouldn’t have to deal with something that heavy at such a young age. Although Gregor’s transformation is not an ideal situation, I think that Gregor is somewhat happy with the outcome in that his father has finally assumed the role he should have from the beginning and he can finally act his age and live a little.

In class, we began talking about how Gregor’s father may be a little threatened by him but never had a chance to really get into the conversation. I definitely agree with the idea that there is a little jealousy on Gregor’s father’s end. I think that once Gregor began taking on the role of the sole provider of the family, the father saw his role of the family slipping away from him even thought it was his own fault the changes in roles ever happened. Everyday Gregor came home from work with a paycheck or some form of work I think that would just remind the father of how pathetic it is that he’s making his son feel so much pressure; therefore, when the roles are finally reversed to the way they should be, the father sees Gregor as helpless and tries to take advantage of it by throwing the apples at him and not showing him any respect. (578)

True Friends

I think that there are a couple of reasons why Ilyich’s funeral is at the beginning of the story rather than at the end. First, it introduces many themes that are found throughout the novella: fear of death and cultural attitudes that define the Russian upper class. As seen in Love in the Time of Cholera, as the men age, they become more aware that they are getting closer and closer to dying. In the ‘Death of Ivan Ilyich,’ the men are constantly found saying that it is better that Ivan is dead rather than them.

It is obvious that Tolstoy is poking fun at the upper class through the use of irony. First of all, all that those can think of at Ilyich’s funeral is how can they prosper now that he is dead. His own wife pulls Peter to the side to find out how she can cheat the government and receive even more money. One situation that I found particularly humorous was the first part of the scene between Praskovya and Peter. Praskovya starts off the conversation by saying, ‘I know you were a true friend of Ivan Ilyich..’ and then Peter responds with, ‘Believe me..(29)’. This is the same man that when he first heard of Ivan’s death thought, ‘with a complacent feeling, “it he who is dead and not I (16).”—Hardly the response of a true friend.

Being in the upper class is all about materialism. The majority does not have any understanding about the true meaning of life. Money is everything to them. It is all about lying and cheating your way to the top. If you do not fit the standard mold, then you become an outcast. This is best shown in the second section with one of the Ivan’s brothers—‘the third son was a failure. He had ruined his prospects in a number of positions….his father and brothers, and still more their wives, not merely disliked meeting him, but avoided remembering his existence unless compelled to do so (58).’ His own family pretended to not know him only because they feared what other people would think if they were related to a failure. Throughout the story, Tolstoy makes fun of the worthless lives that many of these characters lead.

Second, the positioning of the funeral allows the reader to see the true nature of the characters of the story. This way, the reader is able to read the rest of the story with those perceptions in mind, whereas if the funeral were at the end, we would see a false image of the Ivan’s friendships. Right away we see that as soon as Ivan dies, one of the first things that comes to one of his friend’s minds is that his brother in law can take Ivan’s job. It seems that the only reason his friends were nice to him was because of his high authority. Having the funeral at the beginning of the story gives us the chance to shape our thoughts on the true actions of Ivan’s friends. (509)