To compare the role of parents in the stories, we must first get a brief background of the parents in both stories. In “The Blood Wedding”, it is interesting to note that all the parents out there are single parents. The bride only has a father and the bridegroom only has a mother. We know that the father of the bridegroom was killed early in his childhood by Leonardo’s cousins, the Felix family (Lorca and Ronda, 6). Additionally, the bride alludes to her mother’s death when she asked the bridegroom to hold her so that even if her deceased mother called her, she would not hear. I have operated under the assumption that since no father-in-law is mentioned in the story, the wife of Leonardo also comes from a single-parent family. In contrast, Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” has the full set of parents; both father and mother are present.
Parents in both works are portrayed as dependent on their children. Their role is to rely on the children for financial security and provision, especially in the future. In “The Blood Wedding”, the Father states that the newlyweds need many children to get “unpaid labor” (Lorca and Ronda, 45). Additionally, we see that the Mother also asking her son to tend to the “field near the mill” (Lorca and Ronda, 9). In the second part of Act 1, we see Mother-in-Law to Leonardo residing with them. Mother- in-Law acts as the baby’s babysitter. In “The Metamorphosis”, the role is much more clearly seen. Gregor’s role as a provider was jeopardized with his metamorphosis. He did not enjoy the job much (Lorca and Ronda, 2). However, he still did it out of family duty. His primary motivation was to provide for the family in the light of the collapsed family business (Lorca and Ronda, 15). He wanted to pay off the family’s obligations (Lorca and Ronda, 2).
The effect of this role varies from one character to another. In the case of Leonardo and his wife, it caused them misery and anxious thoughts. This is portrayed through the use of conversation. She is asked by Bridegroom why she does not buy land in the hills, only to reply that they have no money. She adds the hanging statement, “And the way we’re going!” this suggests future concerns as to the security of their finances. In contrast, the Bridegroom takes it in all well. He invests in a vineyard, which according to Father is a piece of lucrative property to own. He states that they are “worth a fortune” and that “each plant is like a silver coin” (Lorca and Ronda, 22). This effect is portrayed through the use of conversation between Mother and Neighbour. This conversation is important as it reveals that Bridegroom has been waiting a long time to buy the vineyard and can finally purchase it. It shows that he has been putting some effort toward the purchase of the same.
In “The Metamorphosis”, the effect is that Gregor pushes himself into a job that he does not enjoy in order to provide. The sister also gives up her dream of joining a conservatory (Kafka, 15) to seek employment as a salesperson (Kafka, 22). Additionally, he feels duty-bound not to abandon his family by losing his job when the chief clerk comes calling at his house in order to inquire about his lateness (Kafka, 5). Even in his vermin state, he still wanted to “take over the family’s affairs, just like before” (Kafka, 23). The impacts are brought out in different ways. The first is through narration. His situation is narrated to us for the most part. His dislike for the job and his all duty-bound attitude are passed on to us through narration. However, we do encounter an instance of soliloquy where he is talking or thinking to himself about how much he hates the job. He tells himself that he will quit the job after settling his family debt and let the boss “know just what I feel” (Kafka, 2). This soliloquy gives us a true picture of how sacrificial Gregor is in terms of persevering even though he hates the job.
Generally, the effects of this reliance in both books are the same. However, they are brought out differently due to the difference in writing styles. Whereas one is a narrated prose, the other is play.
The other role of parents strongly brought out in both books is to control the children, participating very heavily in their decision-making process. We see this in “The Blood Wedding” in several ways. The bride is somewhat forced to marry Bridegroom. This conclusion can be arrived at by considering several facts. The first is that Father, the father of the bride, was clearly interested in marrying off his daughter into a well-to-do family. His delight at the fact that the prospective in-laws were rich is evident in his discussion about family property. His intention is seen as to join the two families’ commercial strength. He alludes to this when he laments that it would be “beautiful” to see their properties “joined together” (Lorca and Ronda, 22). On the other hand, Bride loved and was previously betrothed to Leonardo, but did not marry him. Leonardo claims that she refused him because of his poverty. He states that “a pair of oxen and a miserable shack”, signifying his poverty, were not enough for Bride. However, we can deduce the truth that she may have been forced to turn him down. The Groom is also heavily controlled by his mother. He is prevented from accepting a glass of wine by his mother because he “never touches it” (Lorca and Ronda, 25). Yet at the wedding we see him accepting the offer to drink with the guests (Lorca and Ronda, 49). Additionally, he is talked out of carrying a knife by his mother (Lorca and Ronda, 6). The other instances are in the route chosen to go to visit the bride (Lorca and Ronda, 22) and the choosing of the gifts to visit with (Lorca and Ronda, 8).
The effect of this force is anarchy, betrayal and death. The whole conflict in the story is built on this control. Since the father wanted rich in-laws, he forces his daughter to marry a man she does not love. Groom is led to marry her so as to fulfill his mother’s wish of grandchildren. Leonardo, who is still in love with Bride, runs away with her on her wedding day. This incenses Mother and Bridegroom who take this as an opportunity for violence and maybe revenge against the cousin of the Felix’s. The father of the bride feels betrayed as he thought his daughter would be proud and bring him honor.
This effect is brought out using several styles. The use of conflict is most notable. Conflict is used to set the background for the eventual fight and death of Bridegroom and Leonardo. The existing conflict between their two families pushed Bridegroom to seek blood for vengeance for both himself and his fallen kin (Lorca and Ronda, 61). Another notable method is the use of impersonation. Both the Moon and Death are given human form in the play. The writer gave death a human form of a beggar woman, allowing her to play several roles. They include leading Bridegroom to Leonardo so he can die (Lorca and Ronda, 63), informing the people that they are dead (Lorca and Ronda, 72) and a poetic conversation with the moon. This leads us to another method used: poetry. The poetic conversation between the Moon and Death gives us a peek into what is intended to happen. It also sets the mood for the scene.
In “The Metamorphosis”, this control is mainly done through the father. Both parents allowed and later on expected Gregor to provide for the family in light of the collapsed business (Kafka, 14). Although he did not want the job, Gregor could not turn it down due to the pressure in the family to provide for his ailing parents (Kafka, 1). When he was late for work due to his transformation, his parents were at the door. The way his father nudged him to go to work, with a warning tone (Kafka, 2), shows that although he was the breadwinner, he still did not have much control over his life. His sister, too, could not pursue music as she desired because her parents would hear none of it (Kafka, 15). The parents also are seen as taking it upon themselves to find her a husband (Kafka, 32). The effect of the control is alienation and misery. The fact that the parents almost expected Gregor to provide and became increasingly indifferent to his efforts made him withdraw from them. They also had to talk about their dreams in secret, away from their parents (Kafka, 15).
The effects are displayed mainly through the use of narration. The author, in a third-party voice, tells us about the way Gregor became increasingly distant from his parents and attached to his sister (Kafka, 15). The narration extends into the reason why Gregor could not quit, even when he wanted to. This, though, is also told through the use of soliloquy. Gregor is seen to spite himself for choosing such an alienating profession that made him travel a lot and socialize very little. We also see him thinking to himself about when he would quit his job and tell off his boss.
The effects of this role in both books bring a sort of negative repercussion. Both stories show the misery and suffering of children due to a lot of parental control and obligation. However, they are portrayed differently, with the play showing more creativity and use of literary styles. This is because of the difference in writing styles used. Whereas one uses a play format, the other takes a third-party narration style. This accounts for the difference in portrayal.
Works Cited
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis . Lulu.com, 2008.
Lorca , Federico, and Tanya Ronder. The Blood Wedding. Trans. Simon Scardifield. Nick Hern Books, 2005.