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Use of symbolism in Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis
the use of symbolism in franz kafkas metamorphorsis
Use of symbolism in Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis
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Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is so strikingly absurd that it has engendered countless essays dissecting every possible rational and irrational aspect of the book. One such essay is entitled "Kafka's Obscurity" by Ralph Freedman in which he delves down into the pages of The Metamorphosis and ferrets out the esoteric aspects of Kafka's writing. Freedman postulates that Gregor Samsa progresses through several transformations: a transformation of spatial relations, a transformation of time, and a transformation of self consciousness, with his conscious mutation having an antithetical effect on the family opposite to that of Gregor. His conjectures are, for the most part, fairly accurate; Gregor devolves in both his spatial awareness and his consciousness. However, Freedman also asserts that after Gregor's father throws the wounding apple, Gregor loses his sense of time. While his hypothesis certainly appears erudite and insightful, there really is no evidence within the book itself to determine whether if Gregor has a deteriorating sense of time. If Freedman had only written about Gregor's spatial and conscious degradation, then his entire thesis would be accurate.
Freedman states that Kafka "portrays shifts in spatial relations which suddenly circumscribe Gregor's movements and world." ( 131). Due to Gregor's transformation, he has immense difficulty because he has to "swing himself . . . with all his might" just to liberate himself from the bed (Kafka 9). Freedman recognizes that since getting out of bed is such a formidable task to Gregor, Gregor's spatial world has already shrunk immensely. Until he manages to fling himself out of bed, Gregor's habitable world consists only of the bed. Another limitation to the world that Gre...
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... to do this every day Gregor would have had to have some sense of time. His dwindling human aspects are prominently marked in two places: the first when Gregor is incapable of communicating with his family and the sales manager and the second when he takes pleasure in rutting about in dirt and filth. Lastly, Gregor's loss of consciousness causes a polar change within his family. As Gregor is no longer able to earn money to support the family, everyone else is forced to take action to bring in capital. The most obvious change is in the father who transformed from a dead weight into a zealous worker. Despite Freedman's employment of flawed logic to formulate some of his theories, the majority of his conclusions are quite valid and probe deeply into the meaning behind Kafka's writing.
Works Cited
Nabokov, Vladimir. "Vladimir Nabokov's Lecture on 'The Metamorphosis'".
To his surprise it takes him much longer to get up from his bed, and so he starts worrying and overthinking about his job as a salesman and how he is going to finish paying off his parents debt if he gets fired from his job. Gregor is now overwhelmed with thoughts that keep protruding out like how, “he thought back on his family with deep emotion and love. His conviction that he would have to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister’s” ( Kafka 51). The cruelty involves Gregor having to get out of bed on his own with nobody caring to help him, and, to top it off, he does not worry about being late as much as not getting to work, which could lead to him getting fired, and, therefore, he will not be able to pay off his parents’ debt. When Gregor reveals himself to his parents, his mother faints, and his father, on the other
Society also has expectations of Gregor that he cannot escape even when he is locked up in the room that eventually becomes his grave. On one of his agonizing sleepless nights he is still thinking of his workday and of people he mingles with on a daily basis. He realizes that instead of helping him and his family, they were all inaccessible and he was glad when they faded away(Kafka 43). Gregor receives no help from the society that he is so loyal to.
The idea that “Humankind is disconnected from reality,” is set in stone by Kafka when he writes about the transformation of Gregor’s families’ lives, and his own. The Samsa’s treated Gregor simply as a means to get out of debt, although the reader comes to realize later that the family was not as bad off as Gregor had believed. Also, the father returns back to work after Gregor cannot, which proves that his disability not nearly as severe as he had Gregor believed. Although Gregor is the family member that turns into a bug, he remains the only one of them to retain humanity. The family cannot grasp that the bug in the bedroom is Gregor, their son and brother. They disconnect themselves from him, forgetting that they have known him his entire life, and once perhaps loved him. After his metamorphosis, Gregor became the member of the family in need, yet instead of helping him, as he helped them, Gregor became a burden to the family. The family, especially the father and mother do not make an attempt...
As represented through the character Gregor, Kafka shows that passivity is not the best way to live one’s life. One must have an active role to survive.
Franz Kafka had explored two conflicting ideas with the use of his protagonist Gregor: unity and isolation. Gregor’s transformation formed a whole life in which he could not escape. But on the other hand his family members were able to improve from his isolation. Especially Grete who went through a metamorphosis of her own
Always feeling like he does not belong, Gregor faces strong feelings of alienation in his life. He is never able to escape these feelings as he is rejected at both work and at home. When Gregor loses his job and his position as the sole provider, his family begins to view him as a repulsive insect. Kafka physically transforms Gregor into vermin to show how others truly view his existence as a human.
In sequence, the story progresses into an ultimate partial realization of Gregor’s predicament and its origins. Gregor Samsa’s obliviousness to his daily experiences, in essence, produce his present plight by allowing himself to fall farther from reality. Occurrences after the transformation collectively form reasoning for the bizarre situation Gregor remains in as a result of Kafka’s muddied plot setup. Various characters partake amongst this indirect syntax as symbols of the world Gregor is not aware of. Work takes over as Gregor stands as the sole provider, leaving him with few focuses or cares.
Kafka used the constant setting of the Samsa household to show the true repercussions of the metamorphosis. It is here that Gregor is truly dehumanized. No longer can he stand the taste of what used to be his favorite dish. He is reduced to a vermin who feeds on rotted, decaying food and who finds the presence of fresh food repulsing. The very means by which he sustained himself is not fit for a human, but rather for a dependent beast.
...ained by the "love" the admiration of his family, and his inability to realize his position is another path to his demise. Kafka's Samsa family reflects the darkness of human nature, and the expectations of society on individual, as Gregor Samsa undergoes a physical, emotional, and mental transformation as he awakes one morning to find himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin." Gregor, seemingly innocent, experiences something which will allow him to reject the burdens of society, and alter his own perception of reality; however, Kafka also illustrates society's brutal reaction to these attempts, suggesting that one cannot escape these restrictions. The place of society, reflected in the character's throughout the story, is to act as judge and jury on Gregor's condition, allowing their own reactions to Gregor's altered form to determine his worth and value.
The Metamorphosis is said to be one of Franz Kafka's best works of literature. It shows the difficulties of living in a modern society and the struggle for acceptance of others when in a time of need. In this novel Kafka directly reflects upon many of the negative aspects of his personal life, both mentally and physically. The relationship between Gregor and his father is in many ways similar to Franz and his father Herrman. The Metamorphosis also shows resemblance to some of Kafka's diary entries that depict him imagining his own extinction by dozens of elaborated methods. This paper will look into the text to show how this is a story about the author's personal life portrayed through his dream-like fantasies.
From the beginning of The Metamorphosis Kafka offers a comical depiction of Gregor’s “squirming legs” (Kafka 13) and a body in which “he could not control” (7). Gregor’s initial reaction to this situation was the fact he was late to his dissatisfying job as a salesman, but Gregor knows that he has to continue his job in order to keep the expectation his family holds upon him to pay of the family’s everlasting debt. When Gregor’s family eventually realizes that Gregor is still lying in his bed, they are confused because they have expectations on Gregor that he will hold the family together by working. They know if Gregor was to quit his job there would be a great catastrophe since he is the glue to keeping their family out of debt. The communication between his family is quickly identified as meager and by talking to each other from the adjacent walls shows their disconnection with each other. Kafka introduces the family as lacking social skills in order to offer the reader to criticize and sympathize for Gregor’s family dynamics. Gregor’s manager makes an appearance quickly after experiencing the dysfunction within the fami...
...within the story completely alienates Gregor from his family and the reality of life. The ironic setting, the family, specifically Grete, and the presence of the violin playing all contribute to Gregor’s downfall caused by the inability to communicate. Gregor’s struggle to converse both begins and ends his downfall, yet people, surroundings, and objects spark his depression. Kafka emphasizes the true importance of communicating and how society depends on it. The inability to properly communicate combined with uncontrollable factors often relates to the destruction of families in our modern society. Focus less on the world’s distractions and more on the people that need the most support, because many never know when others need to express themselves and require insight.
Kafka’s shows the shifting in the structural dynamics when Gregor’s new formation changes the attitudes from supportive to neglect when his needs affect their wants, needs and lifestyle. Gregor’s sense of duty to family was his main propriety towards his family. Even though he loathed his job as a travelling salesman, his devotion to financially clear his parent’s debt and care for his sister Grete was more important. He dreamt of fleeing the tightly coiled grip from his parent’s hands, but his loyalty was a pertinent family duty. To Gregor, this was what family was all about.
For the majority of the story, Gregor can only explore one room. This one room becomes the majority of Gregor’s reality. By designing Gregor’s reality this way, Kafka emphasizes that Gregor has become cut off from reality and is placed in his own enclosed world. This claustrophobic setting helps to add an element of unease to the story and helps to express Gregor’s loneliness. By cutting Gregor off from his former reality, Kafka is emphasizing that Gregor is no longer a part of humanity. By doing this, Kafka shows that Gregor’s transformation has erased Gregor the man and all that remains is Gregor the bug. This is further highlighted by the removal of the furniture of the room. This removal shows that even Gregor’s own family has stopped seeing him as a part of humanity highlighting his loneliness. This can be seen here, “I won't pronounce the name of my brother in front of this monster, and so all I say is: we have to try to get rid of it. We've done everything humanly possible to take care of it and to put up with it."(Kafka
Using symbols, Kafka illustrates the story which is not just about Gregor’s transformation but it is more than that. The entire Metamorphosis is an allegory about Gregor changing into a vermin, symbolize that he wanted to free himself from his family obligation. “As Gregor Samsa awoke from unsettling dreams one morning, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin” (Kafka 7). He thought his transformation was a dream but he soon realizes that it was reality. Gregor was the source of the income for his family and was employed in a job he did not like. “What a grueling profession I picked! Traveling day in, day out” (Kafka 7). This is ironic because Gregor was forced by his father to choose the alienated career. Mr. Samsa was indebted to his boss; working as a traveling salesman he would have pay off his father debt. Working as traveling salesman made Gregor alienated socially and mentally. The word transformation does not only app...