Wow, These Puns are Really BUGging Me!

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

- diction (connotation/denotation): 
Uneasy demonstrates a slightly negative and foreboding connotation because it is word promoting an anxious feeling or emotion. 
Giant gives a denotation of huge, so it would lead the reader to assume that the bug he has turned into is whatever giant means to them. The word leaves a lot of room for interpretation, such as for example, my version of giant is a bug bigger than a cockroach (the world's most abominable creation), but that may be different than say, Bob's version of giant, which could potentially be the size of a human. 
Bug gives a more colloquial connotation as it is the common name for insect. This could potentially make the sentence easier to read, as there is less interpretation of what a bug is. 

- syntax: The overall syntax is short, and it gets to the point rather quickly without much pausing.

- imagery/details: "Uneasy dreams" gives the imagery of a bad feeling, not exactly nightmares, but waking up nervous and apprehending something. "Changed into a giant bug" is imagery because it is showing that Samsa quite literally woke up as a bug. There isn't much more description about the bug except for the giant part which helps to give a small description of what the bug looked like.

- structure: The sentence takes on an active voice and structure, as there is no "he had been changed" in the sentence. 

- any other stylist/figurative elements: The tone of the sentence is surprising and startling, as it's something that isn't expected when reading the sentence. 

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

- diction (connotation/denotation): 
Troubled gives a negative connotation because it is revealing that the dreams were really nightmares.
Enormous gives a denotation of incredibly large, and its more scientific than most versions of giant, giving the word a more scientific and intelectual connotation than other words such as big or huge. 
Transformed has a denotation of change, but it could also mean a temporary change, as changed is seen as more of a permanent action than transformed. 

- syntax: The syntax is longer in this translation, and there are more flowery words such as awoke, and there are also more phrases that make the syntax longer such as "When Gregor Samsa awoke", "one morning" and "in his bed".

- imagery/details: There is some imagery in this translation, but it mostly focuses on location, specifically where Samsa is when he wakes up, and there is again not much describing the bug, other than it's enormous. 

- structure: This sentence is done more in the passive structure and voice because it states the phrase "he had been transformed", which hints that it was someone or something else that turned Samsa into a bug. 
- any other stylist/figurative elements: The tone of this sentence is much more scientific and descriptive, because it gives a set location and a more scientific description of what the bug looked like. While this still would make the tone negative and startling, there is much less of a startling tone as most of the sentence is utilizing location and descriptive (ish) settings. 

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

- diction (connotation/denotation): 
Uneasy gives the same connotation as before, with an uneasy and anxious connotation, which in turn promotes that startling and anxious feeling as the sentence goes on. 
Transformed also gives the same denotation as before, which possibly means a temporary change into the bug.
Gigantic gives a denotation of huge and large, similar to Godzilla. This also gives a more generalized connotation of what how big the bug is, as it's not nearly as scientific as enormous, but is a little more specific than giant.
Insect gives a scientific negative connotation to the sentence, and is very factual. Since insect is the more scientific word for bug, this makes the sentence as a whole more factual. 

- syntax: The syntax for this sentence is shorter, with less flowery words, and gets to the point faster than the second sentence. 

- imagery/details: There is a bit of imagery around the description of the size of the bug, but it is very generalized, which is similar to the previous descriptions.

- structure: The sentence is in more of an active voice because it shows that he transformed, not that he was transformed by something or someone. 

- any other stylist/figurative elements: The tone of this sentence is still mainly startling, but is a little more expectant as the sentence is really setting up that something happened to Samsa.  

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

- diction (connotation/denotation): 
Agitated has a negative connotation that makes the character or reader feel uncomfortable, and in this context, it can show that the presumable nightmare Samsa had left him uncomfortable, and possibly nervous. 
Monstrous has an extreme negative connotation that makes the sentence much more horrifying. In the context, the thing that Samsa had turned into was so horrifying that it was monstrous. 
Vermin also has an extreme negative connotation, and also explains how Samsa feels about the whole situation. 

- syntax: This sentence has a longer syntax, and is filled with phrases leading up to the huge reveal of the sentence. 


- imagery/details: The bug that Samsa has turned into is much more descriptive, as it is no longer a bug, but a monstrous vermin, and this detail helps to explain Samsa's emotions on the fact. 


- structure: The structure is more of an active voice than a passive voice, and this is showing that Samsa himself transformed into the vermin, not someone else turning him into the vermin.


- any other stylist/figurative elements: The tone of this sentence is so different compared to the other sentences, despite it being startling. It is also horrifying and gives a sense of internal hatred due to the description of the bug. 

Each of these translations were pretty similar, but they had their differences, especially in their meaning. The basic meaning was along the lines of: This guy woke up to find he was a giant bug. While the four translations stuck to this meaning, the tone and negativity of the meaning varied. The fourth translation stood out for it's negativity, and it's horror inside the meaning. The other three had variations, with the second and third being a bit more scientific, while the first one was very basic (vanilla ice). The words within each translation give it the tonal meaning, such as the fourth translation's "monstrous vermin" that gave the negative meaning to the text. The stronger the words are, the more effective the meaning is, even if the basic words make the most sense. Syntax also affects the intensity of what is happening, as most of the translations are utilizing flowery words and longer phrases that make the bug appearance more awaited and drawn out. The lack of imagery that was presented made the story feel more abstract and disconnected as there wasn't much description, even for the bug.
The difficulty of reading translated texts is that there are so many words that have so many different meanings that they infer totally different things that give a whole new meaning to the text. Also, as someone who has spent several hours reading translated texts (#HistoryIA), I know that meanings of words don't necessarily cross over from one language to another, so the true meaning of the text could potentially be hidden. While I'm 99% positive that the word from German (or whatever language that is, I'm sorry I'm not cultured) means bug, there are texts that have words that only exist in German or French or Spanish and the translations for those are usually different than what the original language meant.

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

Never Let Me Go - picture not mine!

The first cover is very similar to the original (I guess) cover on Never Let Me Go. Containing a girl with blond hair and a neutral face, it is similar to the original cover. However, this cover has the purpose of showing something is off, as seen in the foreground and background of the cover. Around the girl, there is all of this natural scenery. In the background of the picture, there is a dark green/black color that could represent foreboding. The girl is wearing simple, but non natural colors - orange/red and black. This helps her stand out from the natural scene and creates an almost disturbing aura about the cover. With this, the purpose is to tell the reader that the girl is different and out of place by sitting in a natural scene. This cover is one of two with an actual person in it, but the implementation of this girl is just off enough to tip the audience that she is different.

Never Let Me Go - picture not mine!

This cover depicts a boat, which is a very important scene in the novel. The boat is an old row boat that is leaning up against a pole, with faded dark colors around it. The faded colors are a mix of black, gray and yellow, which can always symbol ominous or depressing subject matter. The darkness of this cover shows that this book will be sad, and in this case, the purpose is to let the audience know that, along with providing more significance to the boat scene (which actually brings a whole new light to the scene, as I thought it was a meh scene). Along with this negative outlook, the black coloring represents death, and it could show that the purpose of the cover is to let the audience know that death will be a prominent theme of the book.

Never Let Me Go - picture not mine!

This cover is more different than the others, with cooler colors, and nothing natural about it. The cover has important organs such as lungs, stomach, and liver (I actually have no idea what some of this is... I guess I blocked bio from my mind). However, the rest of the body parts, such as all of those other arteries are not present in the cover, it's just those 4 things. Along with this, there are no colors, only shades of black and gray. These colors represent death, such as what the colors mean above. This cover takes a much more scientific approach to the plot of the book. The purpose of this cover could be to go along with the scientific elements of the stories along with identifying all of the essential/nonessential organs that the donors are giving away.

Never Let Me Go - picture not mine!

This final cover is much more upbeat and mysterious than the other ones. This cover has a girl, who is faded and blurred in a blue dress in a yellow background. The overall mood of this cover is nostalgic, and it appears to be representing flashbacks and memory. The yellow can represent the faded parts of a photograph, or a faded memory. The blurred girl adds to the memory aspect of the cover, as she is blurry and as someone gets older, the more blurry and faded their memories become. This cover's purpose could be to hint at the memory aspect of the novel, and to hint at the fact that Kathy as a narrator is unreliable, which is something seen throughout the novella. This hinting is demonstrated through this memory concept as nobody remembers anything perfectly except if they are photographic (lucky).


The four covers are very different from each other, but also are mostly similar in their negative, off putting and freaky moods. The first three covers all hint at something bad, whether it be death or the oddity of what is assumed to be Kathy. Both the boat cover and the body cover utilize black, which symbolizes death. This differs from the woods cover, which just shows the creepiness and uncanny sense of fear that the reader would feel. All three of these covers differ from the fourth, which has a much more positive light with it, along with having a different color scheme than the other three book covers. While the other covers have black, and a sickly yellow and green, the fourth cover has a bright blue and a parchment yellow. Another aspect that all four covers differ in is their themes, because each one is about a different thing in the book: clones, death, science, and memory.

The third cover would make anyone get the scientific vibes from it, as it has to do with a body and important organs, and had I not read the book, I would think that it was about some old person dying due to organ failure and their family being really upset about it. When I first saw this cover, it made sense to me, but I thought of science and death, as I explained with the color scheme earlier. Now that I've read the entire book, not only was I right, but also I think that the relationship lies in the death aspect of the book, as everyone dies (spoiler!!), and they are all dying due to the organs they have to donate. This is obviously from the scientific perspective, and it is focusing on the aspect of being a donor, which is a real thing today because when you get your license you can be a donor. While this may not spark any form of controversy, it is still relevant because in this world people choose to be donors. Overall, someone who is not overly sensitive would probably take a look at this cover because the oversensitive teenager writing this wanted to curl up in a ball and sob after studying it for so long.

The fourth cover is very nostalgic and gives the memory vibe to it, and its also the first word I think of when I see this cover. If I hadn't read the book I would think this book was about a relationship that was on and off, probably taking place in a high school. The relationship between the cover and the novel is about the memories that Kathy shares throughout the novel, and how memories fade making her an unreliable narrator. Memories don't really have much controversy, unless someone is obsessed with the Mandela effect, and in that case, they could argue for hours over the Berenstain Bears. Overall, this cover makes this book appear to be all about relationships, and that would usually appeal to girls as there are a lot of relationship books meant for girls.

Wow, this was a lot... maybe next time I shouldn't develop color scheme theories until after I decide to compare all of the book covers.