Was it FAT3?
Was it fate?
The number three has always been a notable
number. According to the Chinese, three is a perfect Number, to the Mayan, the
sacred number of woman, to the Egyptians, the number of the cosmos, to the Japanese,
there are three Treasures; truth, courage, and compassion. The number three
also shows up in a certain novella called The
Metamorphosis. The particular representation I would like to discuss is the
fact that there are three Lodgers. I happen to be a complete Greek and Roman
Mythology nerd and these lodgers dinged a bell and lit a bright lightbulb above
my head.
In Greek and Roman Mythology a
series of three Goddesses determine human destinies. Specifically they decide
how long someone should live and what specific allotment of misery and
suffering they should receive. Their names were Clotho, which means Spinner,
Lachesis, which means Allotter, and Atropos, which means Unalterable or Inflexible.
Clotho spins the thread of human fate, Lachesis dispense it, and Atropos cut
the thread and ends the life.
There just so happen to be three Lodgers
who are staying at the Samsa’s house. I interpreted this as the three fates settling
in to find the victim for whom they were currently planning a death. Throughout
the story there is a certain inevitableness to Gregor’s Fate. There is really
only one possible outcome, even if the reader would like to think differently.
The lodgers give off an uneasy feeling throughout all of their page time, and
when they finally find Gregor they seal his fate. “‘Mr. Samsa,’ called out the
middle lodger to the father, and pointed his index finger, without uttering a
further word, at Gregor as he was moving slowly forward.” Only a few pages
later Gregor passes away.
Although there are several
loopholes, including the pointer being the middle lodger, instead of the third (Atropos),
I thought this was still an interesting parallel. The Lodgers are exceptionally
unusual people and if anyone else has any explanations for their characters I
would love to hear them.
Woah that is a really cool theory. It also ties well with the fact that they (the lodgers) leave after Gregor dies, as if they had something to do with Gregor and the entire family is just trying to erase his existence.
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting! This makes me think that Kafka very intentionally chose 3 as the number of lodgers to include in the novel, and the connection you made with the Greek myth seems very valid. When I started reading this post and thought about the number three I thought of the Holy Trinity of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost, as resonated with Christian religions - maybe the lodger that points to Gregor can be correlated with the Christian God's famous right hand of judgment. Because people are believed to be judged right after death to see if they are going to heaven or hell, maybe this belief and Kafka's story are related... That might be a stretch but just throwing that out there.
ReplyDelete