2 question
- Kafka’s Metamorphosis is one of the most powerful written representations of what it feels like to be depressed, which is one of the reasons I assign this text. After reading it, it becomes harder to tell your friends to “go out for a run” or whatever when they’re depressed. It’s a text that cultivates empathy, that allows us to see through the eyes of another, quite literally, through their writing on the page. This, in many ways, is the unique power of reading and writing. When we watch a movie, we observe, the images are supplied for us. When we read, their words and our own unique experiences as readers construct the world within our own mind, a much more intimate way of knowing and experiencing.
For this assignment, please answer the following two questions with a paragraph each (at least 6 sentences).
1.) Research treatments for the mentally ill in the early 20th century, when this story was written. How were those with mental illness treated in asylums? How were women particularly targeted? (Use google and search specifically for these items “women in asylums,” “mental asylums” etc.) Finally, please consider why you think people can do this to one another, why stigma and hate proliferate human society. What, in your mind, is the major catalyst in hate? You do not have to be “right,” here, this is a major human question, but I’d like you to consider it.
2.) Suicide rates in the United States have risen every year since 2000. In context, why do you think this is? What cultural, historical, and current events do you think contribute to this problem? There is no right answer here, and you may want to do some supplemental research on the economy, our society, etc. Why do you think self-harm is on the rise in the US?
Follow as it says and keep it simple. DO NOT make it complicated. The grammar has to be perfect.
Answer each question by what it says and do what is says.
