‘What would you do if I became a cockroach?’

What kind of answers do teenagers expect when they ask their parents the Kafkaesque question?

PARK HYUNG-SOOThe author is an international news reporter of the JoongAng Ilbo. “What would you do if I became a cockroach?” Teenagers like to ask this question to their parents. “When I woke up, I turned into a cockroach over 1 meter big. But it still has my soul. What would you do?” they ask their parents.

If parents ask, “What’s up?” they would say, “Just answer the question!” When they get the answer, they share it online and analyze their “parent identity” with peers.

Some parents responded, “I will look for a fly swatter” or “I’ll call an exterminator,” making the children frustrated. Others gave moving answers, “I will put it in a pretty cage and take good care of it.”

Some realistic parents say, “Because it is disgusting, I will lock it up in the room,” while others say, “I will do anything to turn it back into a human.” While parents’ answers are consumed as “jokes,” teenagers want to affirm what they mean to their parents.

The origin of this question is Czech writer Franz Kafka. In the novel “Metamorphosis” (1915), protagonist Gregor Samsa finds himself transformed into a big, gross insect. The salesman has been responsible for the family’s livelihood, and one day, he suddenly realizes that he has become a bug and worries that he cannot report to work. But his family treats him as a bug and confines him. The story ends in the shocking scene of Gregor choosing to die, and the family leaves for a picnic.

The lives of teenagers in Korea are hard. The happiness index was the lowest among the OECD members in 2021, according to the Korea Bhang Jeong Hwan Foundation. The rate of suicide is also increasing — the only trend appearing in all age groups — according to Statistics Korea. Drinking, depression and stress levels are also increasing every year. Late Lee O-young, the renowned literary critic, defined “Metamorphosis” a genre of “extreme realism.” He explained that anyone experiences a moment of being worthless, just like a bug, and that people can restore their lost value through relationships with families.

What kind of answers do teenagers expect when they ask their parents the Kafkaesque question? In an online moms group, a mother said that when her eight-year-old child asked the question, she responded that she would also want to become a bug. That’s a manifestation of her determination that she would be by the side of the child under any circumstances. If Gregor’s parents felt that way, the ending of the novel would have been quite different.