Since we've been talking about the Industrial Revolution a bit, including many of the negative aspects alluded to in The Metamorphosis, I wanted to mention something else. Not only were wages low and hours long during this time period, and not only was the working class suppressed, people actually came up with theories as to why working class people should die.
Of course, a lot of others were outraged about these theories, pointing out that the poor were also people, not just numbers, but one of the most well-known advocates of "Social Darwinism" was Herbert Spencer, who published Social Statics.
He was an advocate of laissez-faire capitalism (no surprise there) and didn't want the government to interfere in giving help to the poor. In fact, as I learned from AP Euro, he thought that "spurious philanthropists who, to prevent present misery, would entail greater misery on future generations." Meaning: all you people helping the poor starving masses survive, you are stupid, and you're harming the generations of the future. He thought that the world should be allowed to progress according to the natural order of things, including the "unhealthy, slow," etc. people dying off. Otherwise, society will become "diluted" by the weak.
His proposition is rather harsh and totally NOT empathetic. What happened to the idea of everyone following their own enlightened self-interest to create a better community? Surely starving to death is hardly anyone's enlightened self-interest? (Even Gregor's!) As I mentioned, there were a lot of social activists who vehemently disagreed with him, though, and of course today most people wouldn't dare to publish such an inhumane-sounding opinion.
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