The Truman Show

1. This statement applies to Gregor and Harold in a similar way. They both accept and carry out the life chosen for them without question. They are puppets, serving only others and never themselves. In order to even care about these characters, they must become important to us because the reason they die or are intended die is because they are useless on this Earth.

2. I think Truman lives a life of quiet desperation. Unlike Harold and Gregor, we see Truman’s struggle to find life from the very beginning of his story. He is restless, constantly trying to escape his boring life. He first escapes in small ways such as picking up a magazine every day to try and piece together the woman he’s in love with. It is only when he realizes how trapped he actually is that Truman really desperately tries to get out of this prison.

3. The conflict for Truman begins when he sees his father and tries to go to him. When this happens, two people appear out of nowhere to get him away. From here on out, Truman can’t help noticing people are constantly manipulating him into situations all to avoid the truth about his life.

4. My favorite scene in the movie is the memory of Sylvia. It’s the only time in this movie before they end that I don’t feel trapped. I feel Truman’s excitement and liberation watching as he falls in love with this girl who is the only one in the movie who tries to help him. It’s a nice break from the frustration I feel in the rest of the movie from feeling trapped.

5. I believe that Christof is more God like than Karen because Karen actually sympathizes with her creation. For Christof, he is almost detached from how much harm he is doing to Truman and more concerned with the show itself as his creation. Harold is able to personally confront Karen about his fate, whereas Truman creates his own fate by leaving the show.

6. Truman’s triumph says a lot about fate vs. free will. Some would argue that because Christof is Truman’s god, it is impossible for Truman to create his own destiny, that by having a god, Truman’s destiny is already mapped out for him. However, this shows us that humans are capable of taking their own fate into their own hands. They are capable of change if they desire it enough.

Stranger Than Fiction: Author Meeting Character

In this scene, Karen and Harold meet for the first time as author and character. This is the first time they react. In all this time, Karen has been Harold's God. She has created his world, given him thoughts and ideas, shaped his entire life and reason for living. Now though, Harold is taking his life into his own hands. As he enters Karen's apartment, the camera focuses on some aspects of it. One, the pristine, white, marble figures such as her desk and floor. We are also pointed out to many rectangular items: window panes, her desk, even the lamp has a rectangular quality. Karen's created world for Harold has been a prison. Yet the prison originates in her own home. In terms of the angles used during their conversations, Harold is seen here as very dominant and physically larger than Karen. Even when he first walks in, Karen is crouched on the floor in fear as Harold reigns over her. This is reflected again when Karen sits at her desk and Harold is standing over it, hands planted firmly on the surface, almost as if trapping his God the way she has trapped him.

1. The cleaning woman and Gregor can be seen as equals to some. Firstly, the cleaning woman is another physical representation of a bug; she does menial labor, isn’t treated with respect by those of a higher social status, and is not seen as necessary other than to perform her assigned tasks. In many ways, the Samsa family treats this woman the same way they treat Gregor and treated him before he made his metamorphosis. Both Gregor and the cleaning woman are dehumanized by this family, which I think is a noticeable commentary on the way the lower class is treated by the upper class. I don’t think the cleaning woman minds Gregor for two reasons. One, she is probably used to seeing them where she lives, and the second is that on some levels, she can relate with Gregor in terms of how she’s treated by those in a higher position of power than her.

Quotes that support this:

- “A gigantic bony cleaning woman with white hair flying around her head came in mornings and evenings to do the rough work; Gregor’s mother did all the rest, as well as all her sewing.” (pg. 93)

- “The cleaning woman was there. This old widow, whose strong and bony frame had enabled her to survive the worst a long life could offer, had no particular aversion to Gregor.” (96)

2. Nourishment is necessary nutrition that feeds the body, mind, or spirit. The difference here between the food Gregor is offered earlier, and the music his sister plays, is that this food makes it so Gregor can barely continue to live. He does not enjoy or prosper from it. It doesn’t have meaning to him other than means to survive. However, the music Grete plays for Gregor does nourish his spirit. It his Gregor’s motivation to go a job he hates to pay off debts that aren’t his- to one day fulfill his dream of sending his sister to a music conservatory. This feeds his entire reason for living. In this way, there is a significant difference between the food Gregor is served and the music he lives for. Moreover the nourishment does not come from the violin itself, but his sister. The violin is merely the medium in which she nourishes her brother. This is why the violin falling to the floor later in the story is described as noisy. The violin is only a representative of the nourishment; Grete is what sustains Gregor.

Quotes that support this:

“With his sister alone had he remained intimate, and it was a secret plan of his that she, who, unlike himself, loved music and could play the violin movingly, should be sent next year to study at Conservatory, despite the great expense that would entail and which would have to be made up in some other way.” (pg. 78)