Met·a·mor·pho·sis:
- (In an insect or amphibian) The process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages.
- A change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.
Synonyms: Transformation, Mutation, Transmutation, Change, Alteration, Conversion, Modification, Remodeling, Reconstruction.
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The word metamorphosis was given to me during my fall term in University. I was sitting in the lecture hall as the professor talked about all sorts of novels. She had a British accent, it made her lecture more fascinating. I felt more privileged because of it.
The novel The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, is a novel about a boy named Gregor Samsa waking up to find himself transformed into a creature. I never read the novel that way though. I knew that writers did something crazy to their works where they never really meant everything literary as it was written. To me, Gregor was not an insect. Gregor was a man that changed, experienced a valuable metamorphosis within and had to deal with it in ways that he would stop being a burden to his family/himself. I had difficulty explaining it on my final exam.
My metamorphosis wasn't me changing psychically. Something changed about me since I was 14. I was surrounded by death, engulfing myself into it and then somehow escaping it. I lingered in it up to last summer and some of fall. I think the people in my life made me see everything different since then. My transformation was that I no longer needed a magnifying glass to find reasons to live. I found it internally, one day or maybe with all those months clustered together.
I saw metamorphosis happening in everyone in my life. I saw it happening in my parents, my siblings, my friends, and the people around me. It is a good thing to me, even if the transformation contains some bad. I knew metamorphosis had to hold some kind of evil transformation for people in order to change for better, sometimes not always.
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It was the night of my 'going away' party that I saw it happening in everyone. Was something in the drinks? I don't mean someone spiked all the drinks in the house. I mean we were all seeing things differently, hopefully all at once.
Katherine had invited everyone we knew, even the people that we couldn't stand or the people who couldn't stand us. I saw them come in one by one, sometimes showing up in groups or alone. Even when they showed up alone they went to their designated group. I saw them slowly mingle to other groups. We were like rain drops on a window sill, dragging down and joining new drops.
I walked around Katherine's house, where the party is. I saw her mingling, making new friends but not forgetting about her original friends. I saw her look over at me while she talked to a boy at the party. Her hair was shorter and she looked different than the last time this had happened.
My mind flashed before my eyes. There was Katherine at my birthday party, staring at me while clinging to James. Here she was now, alone and looking different. Her hair was to her shoulders, strong brown hair with bold remaining blonde. Her makeup was different, it brought out her brown eyes to look lighter than usual. She did her little smile, lifting only the corner of her lips rather than showing her teeth. As Katherine was looking at me, I noticed her eyes got lighter and lighter while staring at me. She pulled away from our staring contest to focus on the boy in front of her. That was my best friend.
I turned away and continued walking through the house. There was Stefan holding Tia's hand, with his other hand in his pocket. They were conversing with Nia and her boyfriend. I did that quick nod towards Stefan and he did his cheeky little smile back. I grabbed the beer can that was not open from the table from the dining room. I opened it while walking outside to get some fresh air.
