German Romanticism
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E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Sand-Man" cannot be understood without reference to elements of the German Romanticism. On one level, "The Sand-Man" can be said to be a prefigure of modern science fiction and fantasy. But there is a grotesque quality to the story that interpenetrates both scientific and emotional aspects of the story and points in the direction of an increasingly intense psychopathology. The psychological element appears to be Hoffmann's main concern, but the vehicle that he uses to explore the main character in "The Sand-Man" is of the Gothic thriller. Hoffmann relies on features of Gothic narrative--the powerful, threatening menace, the morbid atmosphere over everything--but these are what the story is "about" only to the degree they are attributes of Nathanael's reflection. Nathanael's experience is that he is forced by the misfortune of circumstances and obstacles that Coppelius puts in his way to behave and think as he does. But it turns out that Nathanael's experience is an attribute of his metal state. Nathanael's imagination, not a malevolent external force, pushes him toward disaster. Hoffmann appears to be engaged in an exploration of the content and consequence of madness, aggravated but not created by externals.In positioning the story initially as a first-person narrative, Hoffmann deceives the reader into thinking that Nathanael, a student after all, is perfectly rational and has encountered a dreaded personage from the past.
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osition--shell, skinny legs, and the like--is a nuisance, but he is far more preoccupied with the dead-end nature of his job as a traveling salesman than with the horror of his physical condition. His dramatic physical alteration hinders agility, but his principal objective is to integrate with his new reality so as not to disappoint the family, which depends entirely on him for its livelihood. The narrative focus is on Gregor's thoughts as fulcrum between fantasy and reality. It is of course possible that Gregor is simply imagining the whole thing, but the fact that the entire Samsa family participates in the reality of the metamorphosis suggests that Gregor's accommodation to a new reality is uppermost in his mind. He is concerned with the vulgar details of that reality, particularly with maintaining peace in the family, whatever his appearance. Those with whom he comes in contact--his family and the chief clerk, for a start--are overwhelmed by his appearance. They are caught in a horror movie in which Gregor is the monster, something that Gregor never quite understands until moments before his death. Meanwhile, maintaining human emotions and psychology, he continues to attempt to relate to his family as family. Only in the last
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2355
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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