Bug, Insect, or Vermin?

Translation 1: Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug.

This translation of the sentence is very simplistic. This was an interesting stylistic choice because it shows how the translator emphasized getting the meaning of the sentence across rather than retaining the original author's voice. This simplistic nature of the sentence applies to both the syntax and the diction. One stylistic device that I noticed was the oxymoron that is created with the description of a "giant bug." The sentence structure is also very simple which shows the translator's role in changing the text. One important difference between this sentence and the original is the use of the name Gregory rather than Gregor. This shows how the text has been completely changed and almost undermines the translator's credibility.

Translation 2: When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning he found he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.

The first difference that I noticed between this one and translation 1 was the use of the word "troubled" rather than uneasy. This word adds in the implication that there was something wrong or something to worry about because this word comes with a very negative connotation. Therefore, it puts a bit of fear into the equation. The name is also retained in its original form as Gregor rather than converting it to Gregory. The syntax and structure of the sentence are like the first translation in that they are fairly simple but the addition of the word "when" at the beginning of the sentence makes it seem to flow much better. The word "enormous" seems very drastic and draws attention to the end result of turning into a bug rather than the process.

Translation 3: As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.

This translation seems to be one that took the original and translated it word for word. This is because each word seems to be translated individually rather than based on the context. It also gives the entire sentence a feeling of being a little bit off because the exact German sentence structure is retained despite the fact that German and English sentence structures are generally quite different. This also leads there to be a lack of punctuation that might have eased the awkward structure. One word that stood out to me was the use of "insect." The connotation of this word is a tad more harmful than that of a bug which is seen as more of an annoyance than a threat.

Translation 4: One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin.

This translation is most different than the other three in its use of syntax and sentence structure. There is an excessive use of punctuation that makes the sentence a little difficult to follow. Furthermore, the clauses are in a completely different order than the original sentence in German. Although changing the sentence structure often allows for a smoother sentence in English, it can also changed the meaning of the sentence. The description of an "enormous vermin" has a very threatening connotation that makes the audience perceive a much more negative aspect of Gregor. This sentence also uses a lot of imagery and descriptive adjectives such as characterizing the bug as "monstrous vermin" and describing the dreams as "agitated."

Original: Als Gregor Samsa eine Morgens aus unruhigen Trämen erwachte, fand er sich in seinem Bett zu einem ungeheuren Ungeziefer verwandelt.

How does the word choice, syntax, punctuation, and imagery shift in each affect meaning? Is one more effective than another? Why? What does this exercise bring up about the difficulty of reading translated texts? How do different translation effect the tone of the sentence?

Word choice, syntax, punctuation, and imagery all affect the meaning of a text even though they seem like they are only small changes. They do this by highlighting and emphasizing certain aspects of the text that the translator deems significant. This is important because it shows how translated texts really do have the inherent bias of the author. An example of this is the difference in the words "giant," "enormous," and "monstrous." The last one has a very clear emphasis on the negative qualities of this transformation, while the first one is merely describing a quality. This shows how the translator of the fourth translation highlighted this point in order to comment on the true nature of humanity, and thus changed the meaning of the novel. This leads me to believe that imagery really has the greatest impact on shifting the meaning of a translated text. The descriptive quality not only changes the audiences perception of characterization and themes, but also changes the mood of the audience as a result.

Translators change the text subtly in this way because they either intentionally want to emphasize something or it is just inherent as a way to describe what they see happening in the book. Word choice is often crucial to imagery so these can often go hand in hand. More descriptive words or words with specific connotations can easily change the meaning of a text. Punctuation and syntax also have a large impact on the meaning of the text but I think that it is a much subtler impact that might not be recognized right away, and as such might not affect the reader as much as imagery and word choice do.

This exercise highlights the inconsistencies between a text and its translation. It shows how the translation can never perfectly capture the little nuances and connotations of a text and because of that, we should be aware of how the text could've been intentionally or unintentionally changed by the translator. The plot is conveyed but the meaning drawn from each translation differs so it can be very difficult to get a grasp of the intentions of the author when reading a translated text. The tone of translated texts is also impacted because little differences between the original and its translation are often what create emotion in the plot or employ an untranslatable connotation of a word. This means that by changing the language, emotion and unintended connotation is lost or added. An example of this is the translation of the title "L'Etranger" which was originally translated as The Outsider. This has a very unique connotation that creates a very negative or ominous tone, yet this might not be the actual connotation of the word in French. This misrepresentation of connotations and emotions shows how the tone of the author is changed through translation.

"Never Let Me Go" Covers

First of all, I have to say that I would have much preferred one of these covers instead of the one that I had with the girl's face! In my mind, these covers are much more unique and particular to this novel. That being said, my favorite cover would definitely be the fourth one here because it represents the novel in such a unique way. First of all though, I will look at all of these covers and their purpose.

This first cover shows a girl, most likely Kathy, sitting near a patch of flowers and completely surrounded by plants. She is the only person on the cover, and is sitting with her head down not looking either particularly happy or sad. There are plenty of shrubs behind her, but since she is in the foreground, she is the main focus of the cover. The intended purpose of this cover is to depict the motif of alienation and how Kathy, and other characters as well, are constantly being separated or differentiated from the group in some way throughout the entire book. 

 

When I first saw this cover, I began to think about the boat scene in Never Let Me Go. This was when Ruth, Tommy, and Kathy went to go see a washed up boat. Ruth and Tommy were both donors at the time, as Ruth had just gone through her first donation while Tommy has just had his second. Kathy was Ruth's carer and she drove her the long distance to Tommy's recovery center and then to a place where they could get out of the car and walk to see the boat. This scene was really important to the novel because it revealed Ruth's weakness and the heavy toll of the donation process, as well as encouraged Ruth to finally reveal that she had been holding Kathy and Tommy apart. She encouraged them to be together now and try to get a deferral. The boat in the novel symbolizes uncertainty, as there was no predicting where the boat came from or where it would eventually go. When Tommy compares this to Hailsham, this is really significant because it shows how they all could never go back to the place that defined them and made them who they became. This shows how the cover's intended purpose is to reveal this significant conclusion.

This cover is definitely the most blatant and obvious of them all. It shows a very rough sketch of the human body, but really only focuses on the major organs. This is clearly significant as the clones' purpose is to donate their organs and so the cover foreshadows this. Only black and grey colors are used which makes the mood quite sad. With the woods added into the background, the mood also has a bit of fear involved because they entire cover is really depressing. I think that this cover is one that Ishiguro would not agree represents his novel because during an interview, he claims that Never Let Me Go was his most cheerful novel yet, and this cover seems to contradict this on first glance.

This cover shows a girl, out of focus, spinning around. To me, this reminds me of the scene where Kathy H. dances to the song "Never Let Me Go" by Judy Bridgewater. She always liked to be alone when listening to the song because she didn't want the others to know just how much she cared about the song. She made up a story to go along with the song about a woman having a child after she was told she couldn't. This was clearly a very emotional scene in the book. Kathy also did not mind isolation, as later seen by her taking the role as a carer for over ten years, during which she was driving alone for a significant portion of the time. While she was dancing one time, she spun around to find Madame crying in her door frame. This scene is really important because it humanized Kathy, and the rest of the clones, to Madame, even though she did not yet know what it was Kathy was trying to imagine in her head. This brings up questions about humanity and what it means to be human, the underlying purpose of the cover. Later in the book, Madame still regards these characters as creatures even despite this emotional and moving experience that personifies Kathy.

One similarity between the first and third covers was that they both incorporate the woods, which in the book represents the idea of isolation and boundaries. The theme of being confined or restricted is  clearly portrayed. The third cover seems to be the most negative of all of the covers, using only gray and black as colors which gives it an eerie atmosphere, especially compounded with the image of the woods in the background. The second and fourth covers are similar in that they are both based directly on scenes within the book, whereas the first and third represent common motifs or themes. Covers one and four seem to be much more personal, with an entire human being in the picture, not just organs or an object like the boat. These covers also use lots of warm colors, such as orange, sky blue, and green that create a much more uplifting tone than the darker colors such as black, dark yellow, and brown used in covers two and three.

For a more in-depth analysis, I chose to focus on covers two and three because one is about a specific passage while the other is much more metaphorical, helping me think of a wide variety of meaning that the covers show.

When I first saw the second cover, I immediately thought about a time this past summer when I was visiting family in New Hampshire. We were swimming in part of a lake and just beyond us there were these little sailboats racing in circles for hours. These sailboats were tiny and reminded me of Never Let Me Go because the children that were racing them were about eight years old, an age that is talked about in the novel at Hailsham. The actual boat scene in the novel happens when the children of Hailsham are much older and are no longer actually children, but it is a really significant point in the novel because it was a great turning point that pushed Kathy and Tommy to try to get a deferral. If I hadn't read the novel at all, I would have thought the book was about some sort of journey or adventure. This correlates to the actual text as the reader is taken along the journey of these characters lives, reading how they grow up and become adults. This links to the structure of the book being a bildungsroman as the reader watches the characters grow up and overcome challenges.

On this cover, I think that we are seeing it from the point of view of Kathy, Ruth, or Tommy. This is because when they visited the boat, everything else around them was peaceful and this is how the atmosphere of the cover is portrayed. There are no other boats in the background, and no other people are shown. The colors are also dark which makes the mood a bit sad. Because of this, the reoccurring motif of loneliness is created throughout the novel. This gives insight into the creation of the book and the time that it was written because we can already tell from the cover that the novel is going to deal with the concepts of isolation and dehumanization. Looking at the cultural construction of this book, it clearly coincides with the medical advancement of the time and the worries it brought about. This is telling about the author because it seems to makes Ishiguro seem deeply invested in exploring the meaning of humanity, and the same is true for anyone who chooses to read this book.

The third cover shows a sketch of human organs outlined in barbed wire. The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this was a jail because of the barbed wire fences that are used to contain inmates. I also thought back to the scene in the book where the students are told that they could never smoke. This was more important for them to understand than anyone else because their organs needed to stay healthy in order for them to be donated. On first glance, the grayish background reminded me of the pictures of destroyed organs as a result of smoking.

On this cover, the human body is outlined with barbed wire, which symbolized both how the clones should let nothing in, always putting their health above everything else so as not to harm their organs, and how trapped they truly were, never being able to get out. If I hadn't already read the novel, I would think that this was a very depressing novel about some plague or health crisis because of the importance of the organs being the focal point of the cover. The portrayal of these organs is very impersonal, giving no insight to who this person could be. I think that this is meant to reflect the dehumanization of these clones in the society as well as just how impersonal the donation process is. The organs seem to be viewed by someone that wasn't isolated like the clones and was a part of the rest of society. This is because the organs are portrayed very negatively, as shown by the dark colors used. The rest of society thought that these clones were just creatures and that they were not actually human, which coincides with how the organs are presented on this cover.

Finally, this cover seems to give only ambiguous ideas about the cultural construction of this book because the cover could really be anything about a terrible health crisis. The one part that does make it very unique is the barbed wire, but I could still imagine a book about polio, where many children were confined to iron lungs, having this cover. But once we learn about the real cultural construction of this work, it makes perfect sense. Since this cover gives off a very negative vibe, the author seems to be portrayed as a pessimist. It is no surprise with this cover that the novel is dystopian, so readers might be familiar with books such as 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale.