A Discussion on The Nose and The Metamorphosis

The view about the ghost in the machine comes from the Cartesian view that mind and body are both separate and unique, this is called dualist theory. However, there are arguments forwarded by philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes that the mind and body are not separate, normally accepted as the materialist view. The mind can be defined as personality, which would encompass tastes, hobbies and occupation amongst other ideas. The view that the mind is the ‘real’ self relies on the idea of there being a spiritual being. The two texts that can be used to discuss whether the mind is the real self or that the mind and body are in fact the same will be, Gogol’s The Nose and Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis highlights the debate as to weather the mind and body are different. Both chosen as the texts show that there is change in appearance of the body, but it is debatable weather there is a change in the mind of the individual characters of the novels. Descartes also suggests that there is “black bile”, produced in melancholic states. The Nose and The Metamorphosis would be appropriate as noses discharges phlegm and Gregor leaves trails of slime. These two texts will be used to show that the mind is the real self and that the body is merely a casing for the mind.

The real self can be argued to exist in the mind and not the body as in The Metamorphosis Gregor is described as being “a monstrous insect” and that “It was not dream” (p.76). Even the idea of Gregor having been turned into a monstrous insect would indicate that the body is just a shell for the as he is still quite weak and young, for example, “. There is continuity of mind as Gregor is the same in terms of as is shown in the episode of the milk. For example, “there stood a bowl full with creamy milk…He could of almost laughed for joy…milk had always been his favourite drink” (p.92). If one was to take the materialist view that the real self was the body then Gregor’s fondness for milk would have gone along with his human body and so one can argue that the real self is in the mind and not the body. Although the quote is written in the past tense and this might demonstrate that even though the taste for milk has stayed, it is no longer his favourite indicating a change in mind as well as body. However, The Metamorphosis is not the only text that can be used to show that the mind is encased by the body.

However, Gregor does eventually go off his milk as when his sister arrives in “Would she notice that he had left his milk” (p.94), showing that perhaps there is no overnight change for Gregor, but there is a gradual shift towards him being a monstrous insect. Clearly there has been a change in terms of body, from human to insect, but also a personality change from “boy” to monster. The change in taste for his milk is a symptom of that physical change. The idea of food and drink remains a strong theme with The Metamorphosis as Gregor even goes off eating all together, despite a previous lust for food and nourishment as “Only when he happened to go past the food set out for him would he take a bite” (p.114). This would support the materialist view that mind and body are the same as even with the gradual change, the mind and body are changing to be the same, real self.

Drink too is a feature of Gogol’s The Nose as the barber Ivan Yakovlevich appears to be a “terrible drunkard” (p.60). However, there is a difference between the barber and Gregor, as the barber does not go off his drink, but changes what he drinks. For example, as he says “I won’t have coffee to-day” (p.58). This shows that the barber Ivan has kept the same mind whilst having the same body, but realises that there is agency and this would support the idea of the mind and body being the same entity. However, there is with agency a realisation that one can change the mind and this would go in to support for the idea that the mind and body are separate.
Although it is true to say that in The Metamorphosis Gregor still has the same mind and shows that his real self is in the mind. As “That boy thinks of nothing but his work. It makes me almost cross the way he never goes out in the evenings” (p.82). This too becomes concurrent as Gregor becomes more and more isolated by the fact that he no longer interacts with his family as “he intended to announce his plan with due solemnity on Christmas Eve” (p.98). This shows that it is Gregor’s real self to be isolated even within the household. Again, this would support the idea that the mind is simply encased by the body. There has been a transformation of the body, but there has been no transformation of the mind, there has merely been an entrenchment of his thoughts and feelings towards life.

However, Gregor is not the only one to change in terms of mind and body as his sister, Grete also begins to change in her interactions with Gregor. At first Grete is helpful as “she took it into head to provide Gregor with the maximum crawling space” (p.102) showing that there does not even need to be a change in bodily appearance to change the mind or the real self. Helpfulness despite “resolve from her mother” (p.104) can be said to be one trait of Grete’s personality, as she is too helpful to her father in offering to him to fetch beers from the fridge. However, this helpfulness is reduced when “the sight of him was still repugnant to her and was bound to go on being repugnant” (p.100). This shows that Grete’s mind has changed in her reaction towards Gregor without a body change. However, there is the counter argument that Gregor is not Grete’s so cause for concern as she has other aspects to her life that have not changed. For example, she works and plays the violin, so one could argue that whilst her mind has changed, it is not a complete change. Again Grete can be seen to support the Cartesian view as when her father “puts the worst interpretation on Grete’s all too brief account and assumed that Gregor was guilty of some act of violence” (p.106). This shows that the body cannot be used to see what the mind is saying, that there is something deeper and required that just the purely physical nature of the body, which the mind gives.

The idea that the real self is in the body and is not merely a casement for the mind can be shown in The Nose. In The Nose Gogol tends to use the idea of clothing as a representation of the body. This is shown in the idea that “Judging by the buttons on your uniform, you must be employed in the senate” (p.63) and is just after the Major “went out of his mind” (p.62), playing into the idea of the Russian class system that people dressed according to status. This is in the episode where the Major and Nose meet each other. However, the Major by this point has lost his nose and there has been a slight change in personality as “For me to go without my nose, you’ll admit, is unbecoming of me” (p.63). This shows that there has been a loss of confidence as not only the phrase suggests a stutter and there is a need for other people’s opinions in order to increase his self assurance as “He knew not what to do or what to think” (p.64). The bodily change in the losing of the nose has meant that he has lost something in his mind and so it can be argued in this case that the mind and body are both the same. This is something that would go towards supporting the materialist view. Also when the nose rejoins the Major, there is a sudden increase in confidence as “in his joy he very nearly broke into a barefooted dance round the room” (p.76) showing that again, the physical change in the Major has caused a mental change. Also, one might even argue that the behaviour of the Major is not appropriate as an army rank would imply some kind of order or regimented style of living.
However, Kovalyov does “almost go out of his mind” (p.62) which implies that the mind and body are separate in this circumstance as it is at this point that the Major realises that he is missing his nose. This fits in to the idea that the mind is encased by the body as without the nose, there is nothing to stop the phlegm coming out. Also, “the ranks of beggarwomen with bandaged faces” (p.63) confirm this idea of the nose being a representation of masculinity along with the idea of facial hair. This can be used to argue for to be a man and a complete person there should be a nose, in terms of physicality, but a mind in terms of mental aptitude. Also, the lack of the nose, this would affect his ranking in society as “What if they were to find out…You can simply write down: a collegiate assessor or, still better, a person holding the rank of major” (p.66). It is at this point that he loses who he is. This is shown in the last part of the phrase indicates that the title is no longer his as major is now no longer capitalised. Although it is more true to say that this would support the materialist view as part of Kovalyov’s identity is being a major and with the loss of the nose and rank this would mean that his body and mind would become reduced.

In this essay there has been a discussion on whether the real self is in the body or the mind. It was set out that the aim of the essay was to show that the mind is separate from the body and that the latter is merely its casing. There was a following of themes in relation to the texts of both food and clothes being representative of how the characters have changed or stayed true to themselves. It can be said that in The Metamorphosis Gregor had changed in terms of physicality, but not in terms of the mental and so in this case, it would be accurate to say that this means that the mind is the real self and the body is mere casing. However, this is not something that can be said for Gogol’s The Nose as the mental changes happen in conjunction with the physical changes. This all goes to show that the idea of the body being a simple casing for the mind as the real self cannot be said to be any stronger than the body being the real self of which the mind is part.