« Within this structure one finds it difficult to maintain a sense of agency In studying madness, a common thread found in determining madness is one’s ...» Document abstract
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6 word format
Language : english
literature
presentation
date published
04/05/2008
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SummaryKafka’s The Metamorphosis is full of power structures that dictate the actions of each character. Each character finds him or herself in a role of accountability and responsibility that dictates how he or she acts, particularly towards other characters. Gregor, for instance, is accountable to his boss and has a certain amount of responsibilities that arise from his duties. His boss is accountable to a larger abstract conglomerate of higher-ups who represent the larger of the company that he and Gregor work for. In this manner his responsibilities create for him a role he must maintain in order to keep Gregor in check. These are two examples of many power dynamics between characters. These two dynamics however are good examples of the work-place power structure. In The Metamorphosis this structure includes employers, employees, debtors, and familial relations dependant upon the structure’s income. Within this structure one finds it difficult to maintain a sense of agency when so much of each character’s action is dependant upon his or her ability to maintain status in the power structure which supports his or her life. In studying madness, a common thread found in determining madness is one’s inability to pursue one’s own agency. This is not simply to say that madness is found when external forces dictate what one is able to do in life. What this really means is that one has agency—something that one does or plans to do and is clearly in his or her best interest—but acts against it because of some sort of irritating force. In “The Metamorphosis” it is clear that the financial power structure has such a gripping hold on the characters that it is this structure which brings the characters to act against their own best interests.The most obvious instance of submission comes from Gregor. He is placed on the lowest rung of the power structure because of who he is accountable to and responsible for. He is under the power of his family because he works for their income. He is under the power of his boss because his boss is the source of the Samsa income.
key words- Samsa, Brian Danoff, Hannah Arendt,
key words- Samsa, Brian Danoff, Hannah Arendt,
The Many Faces of Michel Foucault: An Analysis of the Evolution of his Conception of Identity Formation in the Modern World Through his Life and Works
« nevertheless remained devoted to investigating patterns, variations in the genealogies of Madness and Civilization himself, one exercises power within a network ...» Document abstract
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20 word format
Language : english
social sciences
presentation
date published
18/02/2008
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level : Advanced
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SummaryThroughout the course of his career as a historian, author, philosopher, and artist, Michel Foucault often shifted directions in his work, reinventing himself in the process and offering little explanation for his decisions to do so. Shortly after the publication of Madness and Civilization in 1961, he commanded, “Do not ask me who I am, and do no tell me to remain the same.” Foucault’s approach to his life and work, which he often referred to as an art form and an abstraction, consequently made any endeavor to provide a conclusive analysis of his life and career inherently antithetical to both his methodology and to the breadth of his subject matter. With that contradiction in mind, scholars have nevertheless remained devoted to investigating patterns, variations, and trends in both his work and approach. Thus, a slightly fragmented and openly speculative analysis of Foucault’s work has since become the most appropriate and effective way to study the multifaceted and inherently paradoxical nature of Michel Foucault’s work.
Although Foucault conceived of himself in a perpetual state of eternal evolution and remained steadfast in his aversion to social labels that reduced the essence and convolution of the relationships between self and society to one of contrived generalities, he nevertheless remained committed to expressing his beliefs regarding the sanctity of history and the role of experience throughout his life and work. His earlier works consisted of genealogies that sought to expose the emergence of trends in history and to divulge unknown truths, particularly mechanisms of power as created and sustained by the norm, and how such mechanisms exploited the body, turning the subject into an object suitable for public scrutiny. It is through these genealogies that Foucault articulated the basis for his theories regarding the nature of power, specifically how the norm fashioned conceptions of the other – be it the insane, the criminal, or the sexually perverted – and how such domination resulted in the formation of the identity of the social pariah, the marginalized man defined solely through his deviation and his lack of productivity and docility.
Although Foucault conceived of himself in a perpetual state of eternal evolution and remained steadfast in his aversion to social labels that reduced the essence and convolution of the relationships between self and society to one of contrived generalities, he nevertheless remained committed to expressing his beliefs regarding the sanctity of history and the role of experience throughout his life and work. His earlier works consisted of genealogies that sought to expose the emergence of trends in history and to divulge unknown truths, particularly mechanisms of power as created and sustained by the norm, and how such mechanisms exploited the body, turning the subject into an object suitable for public scrutiny. It is through these genealogies that Foucault articulated the basis for his theories regarding the nature of power, specifically how the norm fashioned conceptions of the other – be it the insane, the criminal, or the sexually perverted – and how such domination resulted in the formation of the identity of the social pariah, the marginalized man defined solely through his deviation and his lack of productivity and docility.
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