I’ve read that in the original German [Kafka’s language], the word for what Gregor metamorphosed into is ungeziefer, which roughly means “’an unclean animal not suited for sacrifice.’”
---which brings up the whole idea of sacrifice. What does it mean to sacrifice? To be sacrificed? In what ways is Gregor sacrificed? And by whom?
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Sacrifice. Automatic thought. Indians cutting out someone's heart and holding it up in the air. Like in Indiana Jones. Second thought giving something up. Perhaps your home state/city or whatever(something you cherish) when you marry someone. I am also thinking like cain and able. next thought. A football player diving through the air into the endzone. Giving up his body so that his team, something bigger in life then just himself, could win.
There is the answer. Inconveniencing yourself so that you can help a SOMEBODY ELSE. Being selfless. The opposite of being selfish. well i have to go so i will finish this in like ten minutes. SORRY. :)
ZygomaticGoggles657011
I’m back. I just got done watching the Guardian with Kevin Costner, which is a great movie by the way. But the reason I am telling you this is because the movie ends with the ultimate sacrifice. But the underlying principle of the USCG (Coast Guard) is that of sacrifice. These men are going into the ocean, putting themselves into danger, just to help those that already are. That is the definition of sacrifice. There is a song that plays during the credits of that song that I think will also help many to understand sacrifice. This is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-u3rq7Pqq8
But to tie that into the story is very easy. Gregor is always sacrificing. Some would call that being a pushover. I myself think of him as that. But really, here is nothing wrong with that, and it is because of the reasons why he is like that. He is doing it because he is a good man. His father told him that they were completely broke that he felt like a failure in life because he could not provide for the family by means of his business. Gregor then took it upon himself to provide. And not only did he o so, he did it to the extreme. He went out and worked his tail off doing a job that he hated doing, dreaded going to work every day. Plus he worked so hard that he got a great promotion, and provided some of the best things in life to his family. They had the great apartment, the maid/servant girl. His sister didn’t have to work, in fact he was going to send her to the observatory to study violin, all from his pocket. And you know why, because he loves his family. He did all of this without even a thanks or even a please. He did it because he felt he had to. That is sacrifice.
That’s not even it.() After all this has happened, he finds out the worst thing. His parents had been lying. They still had money from before. They didn’t need Gregor to work as hard as he did. They had even been saving som of the money he had been giving them. The kicker, he didn’t care. He was happy. That is sacrifice. And that is also why I think his parents are just a bunch of jerks, even though you know i want to say my other favorite word.
ZygomaticGoggles9560165761
I have a 3 year-old sister. As well as a 1 year-old sister. Last night my Mom went to the pizza shop and bought me some cheesesticks because I was very hungry. Well anytime I get something to eat of course my little sisters come running for me to share. Well lastnight I really wanted those cheesesticks, but they wanted them so i split them up between them. I sacrificed myself for them, because I don't like to see them cry and want something.
To sacrifice means doing something not so good for yourself to please someone else. If you have someone you care about enough you will sacrifice anything to make them happy.
I feel Gregors life was sacrificed in the story. He had to turn into a bug and die just so his parents could learn how to enjoy their lives. They realized after he was allready dead that it doesn't hurt to miss a day of work to spend with your family, and you don't always need the nicest things to be happy!
Merriam Webster says sacrifice means an act of offering to a deity something precious.
We see here that it's an act of giving something up thats "precious" to us. To be sacrificed means to give up your life. Or "waste" your life on something. Kind of like Gregor did. He somewhat wasted his life trying to provide for his family and keep them happy. He sacrificed everything he could've become for his family. Which leads me to the conclusion that it was him who sacrificed himself. I mean, yes, there could be very agreeable reasons why someone might think he was sacrificed by his family, especially his father. But he could've picked a different route for his life and not been such a "pushover" as ZygomaticGoggles9560165761 said. Gregor would do anything for his family, as long as they were content with their lives.
Obviously, now that we have finished the story we understand that his parents and sister didn't appreciate what Gregor did for him which makes me wish that he actually did pick a different route for himself and not have sacrificed his whole life for people who didn't value what was done for them.
Much Happiness :]
Also, to tie our "word of the day" in this blog; I might as well say that Gregor's family did not view this major sacrifice as a "guerdon", or reward. Which in my opinion makes them very ungrateful, unlike their son. :D
Much Happiness. :]
PS. I don't even know if I used that word correctly. But do you see how I'm posting another whole comment just to use our word of the day?
...And you say I don't care about the class. :]
What is sacrifice? I think that the definition of sacrifice can be a few different things. Sacrifice can be the offering of an animal, a plant, a material possession of importance to you, or even a human life. It is the surrender or giving up for the sake of something else. I think that overall sacrifice means to give something up that you enjoy or that you care about for the well being of others, or giving up something for your God.
Sacrificing something for God could be an act of thanking him for something, could be an offering, or asking God for better times. In the bible this occurred numerous times. One great example of extreme sacrifice to me has to be when Jesus was crucified. I personally believe, as some other people also do, that Jesus died for our sins and that he sacrificed his own life for each and everyone of us. That is love. That is pure, and incredibly unselfish sacrifice.
I think that especially in the beginning of the story Gregor sacrificed his own happiness for the well being of his family. He greatly cared about them so he worked for them. Gregor did not work for himself, or much less think of himself at all. He didn’t have goals for himself really but more goals for his family. He decided that he would work to pay off debt for his parents. Neither his parents nor his sister had jobs. Gregor was the only one. He became the responsible figure that the whole family depended on. However, when Gregor went through his metamorphosis and turned into an insect his family had to learn to take responsibility for themselves, which I think was a good thing that benefited all of them.
I think that Gregor also became sacrificed after the lodgers moved in and the family became busier with their new obligations. His family sacrificed him. They forgot to feed him, to care for him and look after him at all. His family simply got tired of keeping him alive. To them Gregor was becoming a burden. Gregor was forgotten, and because of this he soon died.
Gregor’s death in this story happened to be very disappointing to me because he was completely unselfish.
-JustMagnificent :D
To sacrifice something, you give something up you cherish or want. Sometimes you have to sacrifice your plans in order to do something else. Other times you sacrifice your life for others.
Gregor Sacrificed his life to show his parents and sister what its really like to be a family. They finally figured it out, but it would have been better if Gregor would have been able to be in the family when this happened.
Hungry Garfield1 x10.
To be sacrificed is to give up or lose something. Common people must sacrifice things everyday just to simply please a boss or a co-worker. In the story Mr. Samsa must sacrifice his time and money to buy lunch for his boss. To be sacrificed simply means you give up something to help out or give something up for someone or something. Gregor was sacrificed in a couple of different ways. One way was that the whole family depended on him for an income. No one else in his family worked, so therefor Gregor had to support them all. Gregor then realized his family would be better off if he just went away and simply died. He sacrificed his life in order to give them a fresh start.
-AcuteMan1
"Sacrifice." Now that's something that would pop some questions. A sacrifice is giving up something in return for something good to happen. To be sacrificed is something different entirely. That is to sell or take away your life. Now, the story ended with Gregor being sacrificed by losing his form, then his mind, and finally whatever life was left in that thing, by the almighty god of storytelling, just to have the Samsa family learn to strive by themselves and not have one person do it for them! Man, I'm good!
-DarkNeon1
I think that to sacrifice you have to be willing to lose something. Which brings up the meaning to to sacrifice. It means you are willing to give up something to maybe gain something. This was a major thing in old time rituals of the Indians.
I think being sacrificed could be a scary thing but u could feel honored. And some of the other people could feel honored to know the person who was sacrificed.
I think some ways that Gregor was sacrificed would be he did everythign to help his family. He could've done something else so he was sacrificed by himself. I think another way would be sacrificed is he by his family because they lived off of him for years. Sacrifice is a big thing.
-BullWinkle1
Well, back in the day people would've referred a sacrifice as dieing for something or another.
But in the present, sacrificing could be giving up anything for someone else.
Gregor sacrificed his life for his family. He worked for them all the time and thats all he did; thats all he got up to do each day.
Sacrificing your life like that is a complete selfless thing to do like ZygomaticGoggles657011 said.
-Izzy
ZygomaticGoggles657011 is very right. The coast guards are sacrificing their lives for ours. They don't even think of it that way, its just something they know they have to do. I thought you did a great job describing that.
AcuteMan1 makes a lot of sense when he said we sacrifice something everyday for a boss or a co-worker. Sometimes they might need to do something else, and you will give up something you had to do because you are a nice person. I thought he did a great job talking about sacrifice.
HungryGarfield1 x10.
Sacrificing, thats something thats been around for thousands of years. Wether its a sacrifice of life or just a change in life. A sacrifice is usually looked at as a way of benefiting a person or numerous people. Sacrifice used to be a weekly thing for the ancient Indian tribes. I mean look at the aztecs, well that is if you were alive like 500 years ago.haha But they used to sacrifice kids and elders alike because they thought by sending them to the gods that their civilization would thrive. And who knows if it worked or not but thats another topic. Other civilizations all over the world and in different time periods would practice this believe.
There are other types of sacrifice too. Just giving up something important to you, is in a way a sacrifice. Because after all a sacrifice is giving up something to gain something,or thats the way i view it.
I think sacrifice means to put others before yourself and put their wants before yours just to make them happy, even if it makes you miserable. Gregor was sacrificed in a few ways. Gregor always had to work to support his family. He never got to do what he wanted to do and never really had any free time. He could have easily quit his job and been happy. But he sacrificed his happiness for his family. He made himself miserable just so his family could live a normal life and be happy.
-Desiree1
Sacrifice used in many different religions cultures and has many meanings. To sacrifice something it means that you give up something that means a lot to you. Or it could be giving up your life for something or someone. But in Gregors case he has sacrificed alot. Gregor sacrificed every moment of his life to giving his family a nice home and money. Gregor was sacrificed by his mom and dad, but he sacrificed himself the most. They took his money for granted and didnt even thank him. But Gregor is the one that led them down that road he sacrificed himself to his family.
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