Nothing really matters (?)...

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

-  This translation is the least descriptive of the four. It is very simplistic diction and doesn't paint a very good image for the reader. All we know as readers was the fact he was sleeping restlessly and when he woke up he was a big bug. It sounded more like a statement than a description of what happened. The second thing I took notice of was the fact his name was spelled differently than any of the other translations. This could be done with the intention of making Gregory more of a child than an adult, or the fact "gregory" is more of an American name than "Gregor",  but what I found through this was that this translation was probably less reliable than any of the others. This one reminds me most of the Stranger, because it is so short, like most of the syntax found in the Stranger.

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

- I thought this translation was more detailed and we as readers now know what he looks like but with no connotation to influence the reader into thinking it was bad or good. the sentence is very smooth and easy to read. By starting out the sentence with the word 'when' this already alludes the reader into believing something was going to happen to Gregor. The words 'troubled dreams' provides a constructive image of what his dreams were like. This makes the reader picture Gregor in bed restlessly sleeping. This sentence structure uses a cause and effect structure type, by giving a reason for him turning into a bug. Lastly, I noticed there was no coma after the word 'morning' and although it didn't impact the sentence that much it made me think that this person was trying to sound as close to the original as possible. 

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

- Like the translation above, this one provided enough detail for the reader to paint a picture of a man moving around in bed with a troubled look on his face. The word 'gigantic' also helped in making an image in my head because it is such a strong word choice. I thought the use of the word 'insect' rather than the word bug added more formality to the sentence. The sentence again flows well, but this time I feel it flows more as an active description of when he awoke. When I read this translation I felt a more uneasiness for Gregor. The words 'found himself' make it seem like he was lost and he was now just coming back into his true form. 

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

- This is the most descriptive translation out of the four, and it is also the most formal. This is shown through the use of the words 'agitated', 'monstrous', 'transformed', and 'vermin'. What caught my eye was the use of the word 'vermin', because it is the most specific and it makes the reader picture a hideous bug instead of something less vile. This portrayed the transformation as something bad. The next word that caught my eye was 'monstrous' and this is because monstrous sounds like something mean and ugly, not big, which evokes the feeling that this transformation is bad. The use of commas made the sentence choppier than the rest and harder to read. It made it into a much longer sentence and it is very disliking. 

QUESTION ANALYSIS 

As we see in all writing small, simplistic words can have a huge impact on the meaning of a sentence, or the feeling it evokes in the readers. In the translations above, a shift in a single word leads readers to interpret one author’s translation differently than another. When the diction is simplistic, as seen in words like “woke” and “bug” in the first translation, the resulting simple syntax and imagery leads readers to interpret the sentence as statement-like, and a picture is  very hard to form in the mind. The author (who makes the statement from a third-person POV) appears detached from the action. Thus, the meaning readers draw from the first translation is that Gregory’s transformation doesn't have much of an impact. Oppositely, we see the word-choice in the second and third translations, where prepositional clauses like “as” and “when” are used, creating an active description of Gregor’s transformation. This could make the reader feel like the transformation means more than it really does.
      I would say that, in the different choices of diction, syntax, and imagery within the translations above, the most effective is the third translation. This is because its diction is descriptive but does not bear any strong connotations that will influence us. Also, its syntax and structure read well. However, this exercise, as well as the article “Lost in Translation”, highlights the difficulty of translating a text and two consequences of there being a variety of translations. The first is positive and that is because we must always assume ‘our’ translation is different from others, we will more consistently look for bias. The second is from “Lost in Translation” and is negative. It shows that the first line can influence how we interpret tone in the rest of the book. So, different translations, like the fourth one portraying Gregor’s transformation as negative, can lead to readers interpreting the entire story differently. 

Never Let Me Go

* Visual Characteristics: The viewers eye is first drawn to the focal point of the cover, the young girl. The artist achieves this through use of contrast, making her shirt a red compared to the varying values of green we see in the background. She is sitting with her head and her eyes cast downward, She is situated in a well lit-area, with her close proximity to objects such as ferns and moss-covered rocks giving the feeling that she is nestled amongst them (In the woods?!!!!ohhhh scary). To the sides of her and into the background the image recedes from brighter greens into darker shades of green and black.

*Intended Effect: By making the girl the focal point through contrast the artist wants to draw attention to her relationship to the rest of the image. When the viewer's eye settles on her downcast head and eyes, we are given a feeling of her being lost in thought. The purposeful decisions made in terms of where she sits and the background achieve the most important message being communicated, isolation. The woods was picked for a specific reason as well. After reading the book the woods symbolize a very scary part in their childhood, and having her placed here, with sunlight beating down on her shows she truly is alone. Overall, this girl is likely intended to be Kathy and the artist wants to communicate that she is alone. 

*Visual Characteristics: In this particular book cover, the viewer is drawn to the large white words on the page, as well as the boat right under them. Through the colors used, greens, browns, and blacks, the book seems to take on a gloomy/depressing feel. the boat seems to be washed up on shore, yet still attached to a wooded pole that disappears within the looming fog. 

*Intended Effect: The boat seems to represent isolation, just like in the one above. Through the color scheme and landscape, a feeling of being lost is present. The wooden pole abruptly going into the fog could represent how Kathy and all of the other clones are told only what will not hurt them, leaving them cut off from everything else, and providing a mysterious feeling for the viewer.  The open lake could also symbolize all of the knowledge and life Kathy and the others will never experience, due to them being tied to donations. Overall, the artist's purpose is likely to portray the dystopian-like outside world that stories from Never Let Me Go, such as the woods and the kids leaving the fence, seem to instigate.

*Visual Characteristics: The Artist for this cover used a monochromatic color scheme with the different shades of blue filling up the background of the page. Yet, if you look closely there is an outline of pine trees (THE WOODS!) and a sky. It is very simplistic, due to the wording and artwork created by black lines. Importantly, the artist chose to emphasize the words LET and GO. It is also important to point out that the body in the picture is outlined with barbwire. We can see as well that within the body there are four important bodily organs outlined. 

*Intended Effect: The artist purposefully outlined four of the most important organs in a human body, because it foreshadows the donations every clone in the book has to go through, and it just so happens to be that there are usually only four donations before the person 'completes'. The barbed wire symbolizes how Kathy's body, as well as the others are protected from cuts and bruises and the outside world. It is also noted that the word "Me" in the title of the book is strategically placed in the center of the body. Lastly, the color scheme drags in the feeling of creepiness and sadness. (this is the best one to drag an audience in). 

*Visual Characteristics: Starting off with the color scheme, light blues and pastel orange are used, which helps brighten the mood of the book. When a viewer first looks at the cover their eyes are drawn to the girl on the left side of the page, and the colors help draw this attention. the girl is facing away and her body seems to blend in with the background, which indicates rapid movement. 

*Intended Effect: The way the girl is drawn, where her body is blurred in the background and she is faced away, shows confusion and fleeting fear to the viewer. The blurred lines could also represent/foreshadow the rapid change Kathy and others endured from Hailsham to the Cottages. Overall the cover was intended to draw in readers. 

Similarities and Differences: 

After analyzing the four covers it was evident that Cover 1 was most similar to Cover 4, and Cover 2 was most similar to Cover 3. Cover 1 and cover 4 both include the female human form. However, in cover 1 the artist uses body posture to give the viewer a feeling of loneliness, while body posture is used in cover 4 to communicate rapid motion and confusion. Three covers have color-schemes with strong use of yellow, and cover 3 stands out from the group because it does not. Conceptually, covers 1 and 2 are linked by their artist's desires to create a lonely and isolated scene. Covers 1 and 3 both incorporate woods and this was intentionally done because on top of the color scheme being dark, in the book the woods symbolized fear and something dark as well. Finally, I think that covers 3 and 4 are abstractedly related in their use of specific visual elements to create confusion in the viewer. Cover 4 to create a sense of mystery and cover 3 to create a mystery that is intended to be shocking.

Close Examination: 

Cover 2:  Through the visual elements present in this cover I am drawn to the word "isolation" when viewing this. The thick mist, barren and gloomy landscape, and singular post that the boat is moored to, make me think of a dystopian environment, with the boat being the last remaining survivor, all alone. I think that the effectiveness of this imagery makes my initial reaction to it, and the one I have after reading, exactly the same. After finishing the book I believe the boat probably symbolizes Kathy, and the way she has been isolated from non-clone society and how by the end of the book she is the last of her friend group and is the last one to begin donations. The landscape in my mind represents all of the life and knowledge that Kathy will never be able to gain or experience, due to her being tied to the donations. The pole going abruptly into the fog could represent how her and others were cut off from the truth as well as the outside world. The perspective of this image makes the viewer feels as thought they've been placed in this world. If I was picking up the book for the first time, judging by the cover I would feel as if this book was depressing, as well as mysterious. I would have initially thought that it would be about someone never wanting to leave a place or a person. 

Cover 3: I personally believe that this cover was the best one because It is one, confusing but interesting and two, it best represents the book. The artists intentionally made the black lines form a body with four vital organs because it foreshadows the importance of Kathy and all of the other clones in the book. Once they reach a certain age they begin to transition into the 'donation' phase of their lives, where they have to donate vital organs to others, and four donations are the normal amount before completion, and four organs are pictured on the cover. the barbed wire that surrounds the body symbolizes how Kathy's body, as well as the others are protected from cuts and bruises and the outside world. It is also noted that the word "Me" in the title of the book is strategically placed in the center of the body. This could be because the artist wanted the viewers to relate to the book and place themselves in the body. If I was picking up the book for the first time the dark colors used and the barbed wire would make me believe the book was sad and deals with isolation.