More handpicked essays just for you.
All passages analysis of metamorphosis short story by franz kafka
Franz Kafka and Gregor Samsa compare and contrast
All passages analysis of metamorphosis short story by franz kafka
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis
In German, the word Kafka uses to describe Gregor Samsa's transformation is ungezieter, which is a word used by the Germans during his lifetime in reference to the Jews. The literal English translation is "monstrous vermin." Kafka uses Gregor's family to show how inhumane society can be.
In The Metamorphosis, Kafka uses his experiences to create much of Gregor's life. He indicates that Gregor's family only saw him as a means of survival before the change and took advantage of him. After the change the family is unable to communicate with him because they are blinded by his outer appearance. Kafka's life of alienation directly relate to his development of Gregor Samsa, the outcast son who Kafka symbolically turns into a huge, repulsive creature.Kafka pulls much of his personal experience into the writing of this book. Kafka was a German-speaking Jew in a society where Jews were oppressed. He pulls this into the writing of the book showing Gregor's employer expecting more of him because he is a Jew. The company does not trust him, even though he has not missed a day of work in five years, and a chief clerk comes to check on him . Had this been a German employee, the company would not have so quickly questioned his absence.
Kafka also had a rough time dealing with his family because he renounced his Jewish heritage and did not live up to the expectations of his domineering father. Kafka implies that Gregor's father to father feels the...
However, the cultural difference was referenced when Ravi first entered the scene dressed in his Sherwani and explained it was worn for important events in his culture. Social acceptance is a struggle for many young children. Ravi felt rejected by Luke, therefore, he chose to change his image. In order to fit in, it is common for youth to consider altering their appearance and values for the ultimate goal of acceptance. The diversity of the characters allows viewers multiple chances to relate to the show. This particular episode focuses on the importance of family and accepting
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is the story of Gregor Samsa, his turning into a bug, and his ultimate death. In the beginning of the novel Gregor wakes up as a bug and struggles to become used to his new body. Gregor is locked in his room and late for work; he is the only one who works in his family, so it is important that he shows up and earns money to pay off his parents debts. His office manager shows up wondering where he has been and everyone is shocked to see Gregor’s transformation when he finally makes his way out of his room. Upon seeing him, his father shoves him forcefully back into the room, scraping Gregor’s back. Grete, Gregor’s sister, is his primary caretaker throughout the book and she makes certain he is receiving the food he wants and is the only one to clean his room for him. Gregor’s mother and father do not pay much attention to him at all throughout the book. The mother occasionally checks on him, but can barely stand the sight of him. Eventually, Grete starts working and stops taking care of him too, leaving Gregor all by himself. Betrayal is evident in The Metamorphosis and contributes to
Gregor’s relationship with his father shows resemblance to the relationship between Kafka and his father. Kafka, as a child, suffered abuse from his father. Kafka viewed his father as a forceful monster, which resembles Gregor’s father. Gregor wanted nothing more than the love of his family, especially his father, just as Kafka had wanted. His reason for writing “The Metamorphosis” could also relate to the situation which he lived in. He was a Jew raised in Austro-Hungarian Empire, modern day Czech Republic. He was a Jew in an area of the world which Jews were not well accepted. Gregor was described as cockroach, something that Jew were often equated to during this time period. Jews were treated like vermin, they were thought of a creature that was to be rid of. Gregor experienced similar treatment from his family. They discussed leaving or getting rid of Gregor during the story. Experiences of Gregor are similar to those that Jews would have experienced during Kafka’s life. “The Metamorphosis” could also demonstrate the issues that normal people face every day. People face trials and tribulations every day that change their lives dramatically, nobody has ever been transformed into a bug, but it does represent the extreme circumstances that may
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...
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.
Kafka’s The Metamorphosis takes on an wide variety of main themes. One of the most important of these is the collapse of morality and mercy, even among those people who are expected to be most fair and compassionate. Gregor’s metamorphosis is indeed terrible, but more terrible still is the psychological corruption of Gregor’s family. Their inability to adapt to the changes that have occurred signal a total breakdown in the family structure, and offer a cautionary tale about the fragility of notions of justice and mercy and how a certain change can change a persons perception of them.
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 novella “The Metamorphosis”, Franz Kafka focuses on the topic of alienation and considers its underlying effect on the human consciousness and self-identity. The alienation Kafka instigates is propagated towards the main character Gregor Samsa, who inevitably transforms into a giant cockroach. The alienation by family relations affects him to the extent that he prioritizes his extensive need to be the family’s provider before his own well-being. This overwhelming need to provide inevitably diminishes Gregor’s ability to be human-like. Kafka also enforces the idea of the ability to resurrect one’s self-identity following psychologically demanding events. In this essay, I utilize Gregor Samsa’s metamorphosis to address that alienation, in its various forms, is instrumental in the dehumanization process and can also oppositely induce a restoration of self-identity. The metamorphosis acts as a metaphor to express the inhumane change of state that occurs to a victim of alienation; it also formulates Gregor’s epiphany. He suffers through three forms of alienation: exploitation, violence, and neglect. The joint presence of these three external forces deprives him of a human distinctiveness, but in turn, influences a final realization that enforces the restoration of his self-identity, and therefore human identity.
It’s apparent in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis -as with any author- that his own personal experiences influence his work. His socio-economic status matches up with that of the Samsa’s. Kafka had a Jewish, German-speaking family. They were middle-class and lived in Prague, which was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time. Where Kafka lived, there was disunity between Czech- and German-speaking people. The Jewish community found themselves stuck in between, which probably left Kafka in search of an identity considering he was fluent in both languages. Gregor had a similar experience when his father was no longer able to work and he had to support the family. They went from being upper-middle class to lower-middle class and perhaps even poor. The family was conflicted by their transition from the bourgeoisie to the proletarian class.
When comparing Franz Kafka and his personal life to The Metamorphosis it is obvious in more ways than one that he was writing a twisted story of his life. The emotional and physical abuse Gregor goes through are similar to what Kafka went through in real life. They were both abused and neglected by their fathers when they were disappointed with them. Kafka uses Gregor transforming into a bug as a way of exaggerating himself, trying to express his feelings and point of view. When writing, Kafka felt as if he was trapped in his room which he referred to as "the noise headquarters of the apartment". Gregor was an exaggeration of this because he could not leave the house to escape the noises and abuse.
Gregor Samsa’s outcast status sent him into a short lived life as a “monstrous vermin” (Kafka,7). While his predicament may have appeared avoidable, a life of constant selflessness to the point of severe adult naïveté remains inevitable in Gregor’s case. Kafka’s portrayal of a pitiful young man’s support of his family can produce none other than the childlike thinking of Gregor Samsa.
...ally becomes so meager he starves to death. Upon hearing the news of Gregor's death, the family does not show sadness, but instead, relief. "Well... now we can thank God!" (Kafka 55). Gregor's father felt relief from the economic burden of supporting his son. Even though the exact story told in Kafka's The Metamorphosis could not occur outside the domain of fantasy, it represents the real course of events of a worker being abandoned by his employer and family, after becoming unable to work and support them financially. Examining the novella from a Marxist perspective, the underlying theme of the story shows a conflict between proletariat and bourgeoisie. Economics replace everything else in a capitalistic society, a citizen who is unable to labor and earn wages is quickly abandoned. The result of this abandonment is often, as it was in Gregor Samsa's case, death.
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...
At a glance, accounting might appear as a repetitive cycle of preparing and examining financial statements. However, a brief exposure to accounting has taught me how chaotic it can be for accountants. An accountant captures and represents the information of businesses. By reviewing financial operations, an accountant helps a business run efficiently. This profession can be intellectually stimulating and rewarding. After learning about accounting, I cannot help but be interested and desire to work toward a degree in accountancy. In my studies, I have learned accountants require a plethora of qualities to be successful. And to mature from a student to a professional, I must resolve to strengthen my weaknesses. There is much I must learn and achieve, but a degree in accounting is well worth the time spent.
Accounting dates back as far as first centuries, is the language of business. As everything has gone through many changes, accounting has also changed many times through out the centuries. It went from the use of abacus to the most advanced softwares, and computers. With these drastic improvements nowadays accounting, financial accounting and management are facing big challenges. From the presentation of the reports to communication to the users, investors, and owners, the accounting field has gained totally a new shape from two decades ago. Today with the dynamic change in every aspect of life, the accounting field has to act fast and be able to adapt these new changes and challenges in order to survive.