Alienation And Social Status In Frank Kafka's The Metamorphosis

Frank Kafka uses various themes throughout his work in The Metamorphosis. Two that stood out to me were the themes of alienation and social status. I feel as though Kafka uses Gregor’s transformation into a vermin as a metaphor to peek the readers interest and tell a frame narrative about society and class. Kafka uses his work to show his readers the alienation that Gregor feels in his life and the expectations his family, society and work have placed on him.

We dive into the theme of alienation right away when Gregor wakes in the early morning and realizes that he is no longer human but has turned into a giant vermin. Instead of worrying about his current predicament, Gregor is over come with guilt and burden knowing that he can no longer financially provide for his family. Gregor’s life has revolved around working at a job he hates just to pay of his Families debt and provide stability and comfort. Until this day Gregor’s family has shown little to no appreciation for everything that Gregor has done for them. From the

In The Metamorphosis Gregor was a working class man who only concerned himself with working and providing for his family. He had no friends, no life or love interest. Gregor was capital to his boss and his family. Without his labor his boss had no product to sell or money to make and without Gregory money his family would not have had a comfortable lifestyle. Once Gregor transformed into giant vermin he became useless to society and his family. He could no longer provide for his family, which in turn like the bourgeois, began treating him like a worthless nobody by not caring for him when he needed it the most. As per Grete “we can’t go on like this. If you can’t see it, I can. I don’t want to use the name of my brother in front of this monster, so let me just say this: we have tried as much as humanly possible to care for it and to put up with it. I don’t think it can reproach us in the