The Art of Quoting

I choose two quotes from my high school paper on existentialism.

1. The opening line exemplifies the idea of absurdism, which asserts that human existence is irrational and meaningless world. The narrator says, “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning out of restless dreams, he found himself in bed, transformed into a gargantuan pest” (Kafka 13). The quote is written with a matter-of-fact tone and it makes it sound like an ordinary event. It leaves the reader without a specific cause or an explanation of how or why it happened.The transformation goes far beyond the boundaries of natural occurrences and seems impossible to any rational human being. The idea of morphing into a bug defies all logic within the normal human brain and is therefore absurd. It is in direct correlation with existentialism. The transformation is an unexplainable and absurd event that cannot be rationalized by human beings. This mirrors existence which is also unexplainable.  

I introduce the quote by giving a brief explanation of the quotes meaning so the reader has some indication of why I am using the quote.One of my points in my paper was that human existence is not explainable and there fore is absurdism so, I introduced my quote by stating my argument that the quote shows this idea. Once the quote is state, I then go on to give a more in dept explanation with my opinion on how this helps prove my thesis. I give specific details and take the reader on the step-by-step thinking process to prove my point. According to the book They Say I Say, I used what they call a quotation sandwich because I introduced the quote and gave more explanation after the quote was stated.

2.Another key idea of existentialism is that individuals are alienated; they are not part of a community and again suffering and despair are apart of human life. After Gregor’s transformation he becomes locked in the bedroom. He is isolated from human society and as a result it dehumanizes him so all thats left is a pest. The narrator says, “ His room, a regular human room, only a little on the small side, lay quiet between the four familiar walls”(kafka 13). At the beginning of the story, Gregor looks at his room after the transformation and describes his thoughts about the room. The quote is very ambiguous when he says, “regular human room” and it suggests that he is already detached from his human life. A normal person would refer to it as their room and the quote leads the reader to believe that Gregor is already uncomfortable and not connected to his human life and therefore is isolated from that life.

I approached the second quote the same way. I gave a brief explanation which asserted my thesis point and then after the quote, I gave an even more detailed explanation with my own thought and words process so as to help reinforce my initial statement before the quote.