In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, change is rampant throughout the novel. The social, emotional and physical changes affect all the characters. After his transformation, Gregor’s attitude towards his family shifts from adoration and sacrifice to the acknowledgement that his family no longer cares for him. The Samsa’s blatant dislike of Gregor’s new physical condition is met with feelings of guilt and a need to be loved. He becomes a creature of great disappointment and sullenness, not helped by his parents’ obvious resentment towards him.
Although he is a bug, Gregor continues to maintain his guardian-like position over the family. Gregor, although his family refuses to directly associate with him, focuses his entire existence on them. As he lies in his room, he “could see the whole family sitting at the table . . . and could listen to their conversation” (Kafka 38). Gregor watches and presides over his family and still attempts to remain a member of his family despite their attempts to ignore his existence. “Everyday around dusk, the living-room door- which he was in the habit of watching closely was opened” (Kafka 38). This exemplifies the Samsa’s attempts at keeping him a member of the family, but disallowing him to fully interact with them. Gregor’s deplorable and dismal existence leaves him little responsibilities with which to preoccupy him. He spends his new-found free time focusing on his family’s affairs. He is confined to his room and his only outlet to the world is his bedroom door. He “[watches] it closely for an hour or two” (Kafka 38) before it’s opened every evening. Even though Gregor is allotted to come in contact with the outside world only a few times per day, his family captivates his attention all the ti...
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...o care for them.
The Samsas are a family that pride themselves on appearances. Gregor no longer fits into their plans, so they treated him with as much disdain as possible. Kafka presents this through symbolic meaning, personal reflections, role reversals within the family, and Gregor’s maintaining of the guardian position in the family. Gregor continues to try to involve himself in his family’s affairs, but is unsuccessful. His physical ailments symbolize the problems in his life and relationships with his family. His relationships suffer mainly due to the change in family dynamic and responsibility. Gregor’s death is symbolic of the end of his family’s patience in dealing with him, as well as his final understanding that the family he thought loved him, actually does not.
Works Cited
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. NY, NY: Bantam Dell, 1915. 38-39. Print.
“Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.” John le Carr. The novel Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka is a story about the transformation of a man named Gregor who turned into a bug. The story takes place inside an apartment and describes the struggles Gregor goes through with his life and family. Throughout the entirety of the writing he is met with different challenges and obstacles. Grete, his sister and his parents have a unique bond that is not always the strongest. Gregor has not been close with his parents for awhile, but Grete especially at the beginning was the only person who truly cared about his predicament. This conflict results in the desertion of Gregor and the downfall of the family. These negatives compound, causing the his suicide. The Metamorphosis portrays how the betrayal of Gregor and Grete by their parents, and Gregor by his sister, leads to the demise of the family.
Throughout The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka shuns Gregor. At first glance, Gregor’s transformation creates the only isolation. As the story evolves, the Samsa family’s segregation begins to play a larger role. Through intuitive actions, each family member isolates themselves. The Samsa’s accommodate the renters generously, in order to win communal approval. Failing the renters positions the Samsa’s lower in society than they previously were. Not only do the Samsa’s isolate themselves, they are also secluded from society. Many instances allow the Samsa’s severance from society to shine through Gregor’s isolation.
The story of Gregor Samsa and his metamorphosis is one of sorrow, but more a story to unveil the cruelties of Humankind. Kafka’s brilliance and understanding of human nature can not be fully grasped by quickly reading the story, but instead divulging into the hidden messages Kafka inserts within the text.
“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, not only tells the troubling story of Gregor Samsa but of the underlying autobiographical influences of Kafka himself. The first similarity is the unhappiness in both men’s careers, both induced by their strong-willed fathers. In the short story, when Gregor awakes he realizes the problem is not that “he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin” but that he will be unable to do his job, that pays for his parent’s debt (1156). Franz spent his life, unhappy but successful just like Gregor. Franz majored in law to please his father. Both men strived for similar family duties, Gregor to pay off his father’s debt and Franz for a false sense of hope that one day his father would love him (1157; Sulkes).
Franz Kafka, in his novel The Metamorphosis, explores two conflicting ideas through his protagonist Gregor: unity and isolation. Gregor’s transformation created a whole life of distress for him, but on the other hand also formed a deeper and better relationship for the rest of the family.
In the novella The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, the author analyzes change and its repercussions in its entirety. Kafka offers a unique perspective as he follows the transformation of the main character, Gregor Samsa. The transformation from human to insect, as exemplified by Gregor, helps the reader understand Kafka's portrayal of Samsa as a character. The reaction of Gregor's family and their own transformation throughout the progression of the story also provides readers with Kafka's thoughts on change and alienation as well as other key themes. One may argue that the two most prominent transformations were that of Gregor and his sister Grete. Although Gregor's personality remains relatively consistent throughout, his physical transformation serves as the basis of the plot which strengthens its prominence. Grete goes through several changes throughout the novella as well. Grete's transformation from girl to woman holds nearly as much significance as Gregor's. Ultimately, each member of the Samsa family undergoes transformations of various degrees. Throughout the novella, the relationships between the Samsa family emphasizes the common practice of completely disregarding someone once they have changed in a way that doesn't abide by the standards society has deemed as acceptable. Through the use of Gregor Samsa as well as other characters, Kafka expresses his ideas on change and the stigma that is, at times, associated with it which can lead to alienation; each character can also serves as a metaphor by representing society and our tendency to reject people based on their flaws physically or personality-wise.
Many views of existentialism are exposed in Kafka's Metamorphosis. One of these main views is alienation or estrangement which is demonstrated by Gregor's relationship with his family, his social life, and the way he lives his life after the metamorphosis. Namely, it suggests that man is reduced to an insect by the modern world and his family; human nature is completely self absorbed. Kafka reflects a belief that the more generous and selfless one is, the worse one is treated. This view is in direct conflict with the way things should be; man, specifically Gregor should be treated in accordance to his actions. Gregor should be greatly beloved by his family regardless of his state. This idea is displayed in three separate themes. First, Gregor's family is only concerned with the effect Gregor's change will have on them, specifically the effect it will have on their finances and reputation. They are more than willing to take completely gratuitous advantage of Gregor; he works to pay their debt and they are happy to indulge themselves with luxury. Gregor is the soul employed member of his family and this is their primary interest when Gregor is transformed. Secondly, Gregor is penalized for his efforts to be a good son, and a good worker; his toils are completely taken for granted by his family. The Samsa family is not interested in Gregor beyond their own needs, outsiders are reverentially treated. Thirdly, it is displayed by the positive changes that occur in the Samsa family as Gregor descends into tragedy and insignificance. As Gregor's life becomes more painful, isolated, and worthless the Samsa family becomes more functional and self-reliant.
People want their family to love and support them during times of need, but if they are unable to develop this bond with their family members, they tend to feel alone and depressed. In the novel The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Kafka describes the theme of alienation and its negative effect on people and their relationships with the people around them. This theme can be shown through Gregor Samsa, the main character in The Metamorphosis. After Gregor’s metamorphosis, or transformation, he is turned from a human being into a giant bug which makes him more and more distant from the people in his life. The alienation that Gregor experiences results in his eventual downfall, which could and would happen to anyone else who becomes estranged from the people around them. Gregor’s alienation and its effect on his relationship with his family can be shown through his lack of willing interaction with his family members due to his inability to communicate to them, the huge burden he puts on the family after his metamorphosis, and his family’s hope to get rid of him because he is not who he was before.
In The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka manifests naïveté of Gregor Samsa by prolonging his realization of societal banishment due to underexposure. Revelations made by Samsa later prove his ignorance of his purpose in the eyes of his family. In addition to the many instances in which Gregor is trialed, Kafka’s continuous stream of distractions mimic Gregor’s persona.
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.
When first reading a story about a family, the reader typically thinks of the perfect usually family that is portrayed in many movies and television shows to come. The father works and loves his family, the mother is a stay-at-home mom and takes care of the whole family, the son goes to college to make a life for himself, and the daughter goes to school and excels in everything she does. In the short novel The Metamorphosis written by Franz Kafka, the family is not portrayed in this way. The father stays at home and is abusive not only physically but emotionally as well, the mother does stay home but only to take care of the father, their son Gregor is the breadwinner of the family but he has no say in anything, and the daughter Grette stays in her room to avoid trouble. Kafka wrote all of his stories to express his emotions, but The Metamorphosis expressed it on a whole new level by
In a similar manner The Metamorphosis, Kafka's pneumatic Gregor Samsa finds himself as a material expression, but after his form is altered, he begins embrace the freedom alienation can provide. Through the character of Gregor Samsa, Kafka suggests that, although one may be continually defined by others as an outside form is altered, if any independence is achieved it can be crushed by society. Kafka believed soc...
Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to discover that he has been transformed into a repugnant vermin. One may never know what initiated this makeover, but the simple truth is that Gregor is now a bug, and everyone must learn to live and move on in this strenuous situation. In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, the characters that interact with Gregor, including his mother, his father, and his sister Grete, must come to terms with his unfortunate metamorphosis, and each does so by reacting in a unique way. Gregor’s family members are constantly strained by this unusual event, and all three of them are pressed to their breaking point.
After attaining his readers attention Kafka goes onto describing Gregor’s new physical state. It is thus established that Gregor is the main character of the story. Gregor’s new body ‘which was as hard as armour’ can be seen as a protecting net for him; possibly preparing him for his troublesome future.
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...