Lu Xun and Kafka's use of the physical body allows for personal critiques of aspects of modernity and the social, political and economic changes of the movement. Modernity, by its transformative nature, encourages the development of thoughts and feelings through the “body” of humanity, which in turn reflects the personal mentality of each individual. Kafka and Lu but also on themselves as “victims”. of modernity – in relation to the victimization of thousands of people through recent wars, uprisings and revolutions. Kafka's own introduction to his text, "Metamorphosis," describes the need to bring out the internalized mentality through the physical in order to make it clear and understandable. He writes: “I can’t make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me”1 - as if he did not find a way to explain the changes of modernity in relation to himself - it would be difficult to convey such a feeling through thought alone, so it requires physicality to fully explain. Interaction with the environment is both physical and mental, and Lu Xun and Kafka, as modern authors, attempt to emphasize this point and present change as a response to modernity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essay Consumerism, as a modern ideology, which emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, imposed the development of production, the acquisition and trade of goods. which enabled the raw economic growth of modern nations. Lu The protagonist Lu This statement can be read by Lu were sick, he had to cut a piece of his flesh and boil it for them.” The realism of the practice of traditional Chinese medicine is particularly relevant here, since the consumption of one body by another in order to appear "good" becomes a metaphor for social bodies and political currents, such as the rise of capitalism in the United States. In the West, communism in the East must, to gain power, metaphorically consume the other, by ingesting then digesting, therefore destroying its influences. The chronicler, after examination by his doctor, speculates that “he simply used the pretext of taking my pulse to see how fat I was; for in so doing he would receive a part of my flesh.” The columnist in this case is nothing more than a victim of Western consumer society and its influences in China – he is aware of its nature, being used in a social “pretext” that will ultimately lead to its destruction so that the rise of others. Lu Xun's conception that the social acceptance of cannibalism seems to be accepted by everyone like crazy, convinced that he iswithin the confines of a "persecution complex" and therefore aware of the potential danger, could be seen as representative of the collective mentality of modernism as people believe it. a particular “body” of people. The idea of ​​the physical body, whether personal or collective, is thus necessary to categorize the different currents of modern politics. As Oswaldo de Andrade states in the “Cannibalist Manifesto,” “the mind refuses to conceive without a body. Anthropomorphism". Lu change and reform shown through cannibalism in Lu development of social mobility, as if the general hierarchy of all beings is broken – an unknown and unidentified body is given to those consumed by the idealisms of modernity Kafka suggests that the human body is trapped within the limits. of the society of which he is a part - his protagonist, Gregor Samsa, is recognized as being "the boss' creature, stupid and soulless. His body is entirely controlled and defined by his society, he himself has no personality". "mind" to be able to think freely, nor a "backbone" to be able to defend one's rights. In essence, he is nothing more than a creature, easily manipulated, coerced and possessed by society. Kafka comments on the nature of modern confinement through the body becoming “senseless and soulless,” a “creature” – losing all human characteristics that allow freedom of thought or movement, so that the body is trapped. Kafka's protagonist has a deep understanding of the problems of modern society, recognizing that "they were just getting used to" his work, "the family as well as Gregor, money was received with thanks and given with pleasure, but without any particular feeling of gratitude.” the heat no longer accompanied him”1. The modern world, in which Gregor is forced to work without the "slightest negligence" for fear of "the most serious suspicions", is cold and alienated. The emotion that was felt before the changes of modernity has been lost, and as emotion is more commonly associated with humanity as a species, it paints an image of a "doomed" humanity, trapped in the limits of society, rather than having the freedom of “pleasure”. As Lillian Robinson argues in “New Literary History,” “modernism denies us the possibility of understanding ourselves as agents in the material world” – all sense of the personal, of action in general, is removed so that humanity becomes “foolish and spineless”. like the “creature” in Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”. This strange body is the image of social reform and political change. Breaking away from human naturalism, the idea of ​​the unnatural is prevalent in the modern era due to changes within society - Lu Xun's presentation on artificial cannibalism emphasizes the idea of ​​the unnatural nature that prevails. to the modern era because of its strangeness, as cannibalism is to contemporary Western civilization, despite its reception in Eastern medical practice. Anything new feels unnatural – and just like Kafka's animal body, cannibalism and what it represents in terms of Chinese identity is unnatural to modern readers of Lu Xun because it doesn't exist in their society. The madman wonders if cannibalism was accepted in his village,a microcosmic representation of Chinese culture at large, so easily "because it's always been like that", and wonders if it is he who has been "in the dark", far from a reality where the corruption of the body was normal. Xiaolu Ma's "Transculturation of Madness" suggests that there is a "belief that one's madness allows the madman to reveal the truth and that cannibalism plays an important role in the Chinese national character." Ma Xiaolu argues that madness, a phenomenon of transculturation in the modern era, is affected by the geographical location of the sufferer and allows various manifestations of madness to occur in literature. In Lu . The unnatural nature of cannibalism, or at least the way Western society perceived it, is the basis of Lu Xun's questioning but also glorification of tradition; it becomes a weapon against postcolonial European nations attempting to modernize the East, as it becomes representative of the European body attempting to consume, receiving a "share of flesh", taking over the physical Chinese body by changing its mentality for the better adapt to it. of modern Europe. The action in Lu Xun's short story, however, appears entirely physical, despite the clear mental reaction it provokes. This physicality perhaps suggests the grotesque nature of the body of modernity so clearly visible in “Metamorphosis.” Behavior, such as madness, as representative of the “strange,” is replaced in Kafka's text by the appearance, the physical body, of one's body. protagonist – even if from there a series of strange behaviors evolve, it is the transformation in itself – the “Metamorphosis” as Kafka describes it so well. Gregor's animal body is used to show the grotesque nature of modernity in physicality. Kafka describes the creature, after an altercation with his father, as having a "pathetic and repulsive form", a "severe wound from which he suffered for more than a month – the apple remained embedded in his flesh as a visible memory since no one dared to take it away” – the apple remained as part of his body after the incident, as described by Kafka as a “memory”, a reminder of the horrible confrontation between Gregor's radicalized body which, having understood the constraints of society, separated from it by his transformation and his father while his opposite illustrates the tension between the oppression of tradition and the rise of modern thought. Vladimir Nabokov states, in one of his series of lectures on literature, that "the Samsa family around the fantastic insect is nothing other than the mediocrity surrounding genius." The very act of “metamorphosis” in Kafka's short story allows us to think beyond the body, and Nabokov thus invites us to reflect on the spirit and the meaning of the construction. Gregor's physical body makes him a "genius" because he is able to break with what is perceived as "normality", while those around him remain the same throughout the story. The body of the unknown creature is easily unrecognizable to us from a typical human figure and possesses an aura of strangeness – much like the escape from modern life that Gregor seeks; his modern world becomes unrecognizable as he attempts to escape what is considered normal – it consumes him so mentally that his physical body changes. Later, Kafka describes his protagonist as “completely covered in dust; he dragged him on his back and on his sides”, and the reason is “his indifference”. Kafka uses visual recall, as isthe case with the apple, to explain the mentality of certain characters and the possible parable of his tale, his own hidden commentary on modernity. In this way, the physical body becomes an example – something that sets Gregor apart from others as a genius not only in his mindset, but his difference in physics and his break from anthropomorphism is more effective. Similarly, Lu The use of primitivism and the practice of cannibalism is what allows Lu Xun's commentary regarding Eastern traditions to work in this way. Xiaobing Tang argues that "the human body is subject to the direct inscription of social meaning" – agreeing that the physical body can often comment on its environment and that the body of cannibalism is directly related to Lu.Xun's meaning in writing “Diary of a Madman” as part of the new culture movement – ​​perhaps to break with traditional Chinese values ​​by presenting them as unnatural. The change in the mentality of modernity by generating the fear of cannibalism acts as an allegory of the changes believed in by those who were part of the new culture movement; their most relevant cause was disillusionment with Chinese culture. Disillusionment continues in Lu Xun's novel through the loss of human identity and the relationship between humanistic qualities and those of animals, as Kafka attempts in "Metamorphosis": "the ferocity of a lion, the of a rabbit, the cunning of a fox…”, “some men have transformed themselves into fish, birds, monkeys” – different men have been transformed into different animals, perhaps representative of different social statuses and cultures, but all are constrained by the tradition of cannibalism, without ever hoping to “face real men”, the men of modernity because they are primitive in their thinking. However, those around the protagonist treat him as if he is clinically insane, as they are unable to see his type of insight, his rage and therefore his radicalism against the naturalistic and traditional Chinese way of life that the generalized villagers are stuck in . He refuses to be consumed by cannibals on two levels: literally and metaphorically to be consumed in the beliefs of the main “body” of society – the madman like Kafka's creature of genius. The comparison of anthropomorphic and animal bodies also allows for a commentary that Kafka makes on modern society; having a human recognizable family dynamic penetrated by a foreign and other creature reflects the differences between traditional and modern values ​​by presenting a comparison, in the same way that Lu Xun shows disillusionment with traditional Chinese values ​​by showing himself mocking them. Only by looking closely at Gregor's description can one realize how radically different he is from the human form: "hard, as if armored, back and when he raised his head a little, he could see its brown dome. belly divided into stiff arched segments above which the duvet could hardly stay in place and was on the verge of sliding off completely. His many legs, pitifully thin compared to the rest of his body, waved helplessly before his eyes. This description of the creature's body, of how the body has transformed, of the nature of human physiology is clearly shown to correspond or not with those of the surrounding society - showing an externalization of internal idealschanging, bringing out internal adaptations by constructing a totally foreign and alienated body, to represent internalized ideals meeting the same standards. In Kafka's text, his fascination with morphology and the act of metamorphosis acts as a representative of the change that modernity brings: those who are stuck in tradition cannot understand this change, they are stuck in their habits and therefore cannot adapt. Despite Gregor's change which makes him appear "helpless", once he takes control of his body, his feat can be described as nothing less than spectacular: having the ability to move with ease, to climb floor and walls and transform the small bedroom into his own. world of exploration. As his body evolves into the “wild”1 world around him, his mind opens to infinite possibilities. Madness is the mental manifestation of modernity. The obsession faced by Lu of the chronicler. If cannibalism is what he fears from the past, then madness is what he fears from the future - knowing that the villagers have already called him "crazy", he worries about his transformation into madness. The language used by Lu with great physical savagery, rather than a mentally ill human being. Once again we are presented with animal imagery in relation to the madman's mind: "I couldn't tell whether the slippery bits were fish or human flesh" - he is gradually less able to distinguish the body of tradition and the body of modernity, but as an audience that makes us more aware of the struggle that takes place between them. Although the physical is not directly linked to madness in Kafka's novel, the surreal, recognized by Freud through his theory of dream logic, constitutes a key link between Gregor's bodily imagery and his thought processes , and in turn establishes links with modernity. The thought process of Kafka's protagonist often differs greatly from what we would call normal in subjective terms. His reaction to his change, the way he reacts and his initial struggle and then his submission to his new, animalistic and radicalized ideas show us many different views on modernity. We are invited to think only of the mind in Kafka's short story since the normal body is removed, all focus is on the mind and the decisions made, Gregor's changing thought processes and adaptations. Lillian Feder describes madness in her study “Madness in Literature” as “a state in which unconscious processes predominate over conscious processes”11. Feder argues that madness in literature is actually representative of many things other than itself: madness can reflect a multitude of cultural problems and can even be read as a rejection or break with these social norms; the physical state of madness is representative of a personal domination over surrounding realities, and this is how Kafka manages to establish links between his physical representation of Gregor and his mentality oriented towards modernity. Its unconscious processes, the thoughts behind what we take to be obvious – the animal body – are what reveal insight and truth, as was often thought of those who were., 1980.