Surname 1 Student Name Affiliation Course Instructor Date The Kugelmass Episode Prompt: Write a summary (in your own words) of each character and who would play them in the movie version of this story. Response: a. Kugelmass Kugelmass is the main character of the story. He desires to live a fantasy more than he desires to live his real life. The greed for an affair lands him in a book where a verb chases him. A character who would best play this role is Leonardo DiCaprio. b. Daphne Daphne is Kugelmass' wife and is described as an oaf. She has two sons and is unaware of her husband's desire to cheat. An actress who would best play this role would be Chrissy Metz. c. Perski Perski is a magician. He leads Kugelmass into attaining his desires. However, he has a heart attack and cannot bring Kugelmass back to the real world. An actor who would best play his role would be Michael Joseph Carbonaro. Surname 2 d. Emma In a different novel, Emma acts as Kugelmass’s mistress. She even asks him to marry her when she cannot go back into the book. A character who would best play this role would be Julie Gayet. Prompt: Describe Kugelmass and Emma Bovary’s relationship as the story progresses. Why does this change happen, and how does it illustrate human nature? Response: The story begins with Kugelmass needing an affair. His fantasies of a French lover are fulfilled when Perky the magician can get him into the book "Madame Bovary." Their relationship starts as intimate but gets to a point where it becomes unsustainable as Emma demands to get married to Kugelmass when she cannot get away from real life. Human nature is insatiable, and human beings have to decide to stick to and get satisfied with what they have at hand. Kugelmass cannot stop himself from having an affair with Emma. He goes back to the magician severally. At some point, he even explores a new book from whence he does not come back. On the other hand, after learning about the natural world, Emma feels the urge to see it. However, her inability to return makes her want more than a mistress. Prompt: Look up “Madame Bovary” and read a summary. Why is Kugelmass’ choice of her as a mistress humorously appropriate? Response: Kugelmass's choice of Emma is humorously appropriate because, just like him, Emma is bored in her marriage. In the story, Emma is a mistress first to Rodolphe, then to Léon. It is also humorous because Kugelmass seems not to realize that Emma, just like he later does in the story, does not find the fulfillment she desires from having an affair. This would have been a realization that sometimes the desires that human beings have are insatiable, but it is not. Surname 3 Prompt: What is the symbolic significance of the Spanish verb “tener” at the end of the story? “tener" means "to have." How does this definition relate to Kugelmass’s conflicts/desires? How is Kugelmass’s fate ironic? Response: The symbolic importance of the word “tenner" represents greed. From the beginning of the story, Kugelmass is greedy. He desires a mistress because his wife does not attract him anymore. When he tells the magician, Perky, that he has learned his lesson, he has not because he later asks the magician to take him into another book. Although his affair with Emma was almost tragic, he does not learn his lesson with Emma pestering him to marry her. He is still greedy. Therefore, when the word Tener which is a representation of "to have," chases him, it represents that he is being chased by greed. The verb relates to Kugelmass's desires in that in all is the life represented in the story; he wanted to have more than he already did. He is, therefore, always being driven by his greed in the story. The term chasing him stands for the times represented at the end of the story and even throughout the entire story. His fate is ironic because he is chased by what he has chased after his entire life. He desires to have an affair, which he consults a magician about. His desire is fulfilled, but he does not get enough of it. He goes back time and again. He is trapped in a Spanish story where he is chased by the desire 2to have" just as he has chased after it. Prompt: what is this story satirizing? Response: Kugelmass satirizes mid-life crisis. The main character, Kugelmass, is a middleaged man desiring to have a more fun life. It is not that he seeks love. He, in reality, seeks a more fun relationship because he is tired of his overweight wife. Allen uses all the irony, humor, and exaggeration to criticize contemporary society with particular attention to the midlife crisis where a middle-aged man unsatisfied with his wife seeks to dwell in fantasy instead of accepting and dealing with his actual situation. Surname 4 Prompt; What does this story say about happiness/ the pursuit of happiness. Write it as a theme statement. Response: Happiness cannot be attained by dwelling on the achievement of human fantasies but rather by solving problems in the real world. Work cited Allen, Woody. The Kugelmass Episode. Braunschweig: New Yorker, 1977.
