Gregor as Christ in Kafka's Metamorphosis
In his "Metamorphosis", Kafka utilizes an allegorical technique to compare Gregor's sacrifices to those of Jesus in the Bible. Ultimately, both Gregor and Jesus sacrifice their lives so that they can help their loved ones, despite betrayal. Kafka uses this biblical allegory to illustrate Gregor's Christ-like actions.
In the Bible, God, sacrifices his only son, a respectable, revered "heavenly" figure, allowing Jesus to live amongst sinful people. In human form, Jesus treats the common people's illnesses and performs miracles to help them; above all, he cares for them and loves them. Jesus is selfless, endlessly devoting himself to helping and serving others, and ensuring that they will have a better life by showing them "the way" to God. Jesus sacrifices his life in heaven to come to Earth and help his people.
Just as Jesus makes personal sacrifices to help his people, Gregor similarly sacrifices his dreams and happiness to provide a good life for his family. Gregor's life revolves around his job as a travelling salesman. He is committed to his work, although he dislikes his job, "what a gruelling job I've picked. If I didn't hold back for my parents' sake, I would have quit long ago" (4). Gregor's life lacks comfort and joy; he is constantly travelling, and is unable to form quality relationships. However, he sacrifices his dreams for future happiness so that he can provide for his family. As the sole 'breadwinner' of his family, Gregor keeps only a few dollars from his paycheque each month, using the rest to pay family debts and sending the money home to his parents. His family is completely dependent on him for financial security, and Gregor's generosity preven...
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...trayed by his family, he is imprisoned in his room; however, he "thought back on his family with deep emotion and love". His affection for his family results in his conviction that he must disappear, so that he can bring them happiness and peace. Gregor sacrifices his life and dies during the night to save his family from hardship. He loves them unconditionally, like Jesus loves his people, and does not criticise them for betraying and mistreating him. Gregor's final sacrifice of his life is the strongest comparison of his Christ-like attributes.
In Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" Gregor's sacrifices are shown to be Christ-like by the horrible treatment he receives from others, his betrayal by his family, and his selfless reactions and eventual death.
Works Cited:
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Trans. and ed. Stanley Corngold. New York: Bantam, 1972.
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.
Gregor as a human loved and would do anything to help his family, even if the same affection was not reciprocated to him. As a bug, he attempted to stay true to his human values, even if he was no longer human. This can be seen in the very beginning of the story, when Gregor was anxious to get to work to support his family, even though he was a bug. But, as the story progresses, Gregor becomes less human and more buglike, as seen in this quote: “‘I hereby declare,’ the middle lodger said, raising his hand and casting his glance both on the mother and the sister, ‘that considering the disgraceful conditions prevailing in this apartment and family,’ with this he spat decisively on the floor, ‘I immediately cancel my room. I will, of course, pay nothing at all for the days which I have lived here;.’
Gregor’s life slowly ends due to the betrayal of his his loved ones. He feels bad once his parents betray him and he feels he is an inconvenience. Then his sister is too busy and exhausted for him and he has nobody to help him or bring him food. Lastly, with nobody left Gregor betrays himself by simply allowing himself to die. Betrayal contributes a lot to this book as it is evident in every part of Gregor’s downfall. If Gregor’s family did not betray him, maybe they could have found him help to get better and back to normal. He also could have learned how to cope with his metamorphosis and lived with it everyday, however; Gregor’s family did betray him, and it slowly led him to end his life by starving
“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.
Guilt is deadly. Gregor's guilt actually leads him to his death. The stress built up from his guilt was part of his death. Because of the stress and guilt Gregor did not eat much. He became malnourished. Many tragedies have been written on the guilt of a person. In the tragedy the guilt kills them.
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
In Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," some might argue that Gregor was a terrible person and his metamorphosis was not real, but only an illustration of the terrible person he had become. However, it can much more strongly be argued that he was an extremely unselfish person and his actions were largely taken for granted by his family. Kafka was emphasizing the common practice of selfless actions being unappreciated through his story of Gregor and his family.
Since Gregor's physical change renders him no. longer able to work, the family's financial situation changes. Gregor's. mother, father, and sister have to get jobs. Mrs. Samsa, Gregor's. mother, sews lingerie for a local clothing store.
Despite his situation Gregor still feels that he can go to work. However he proves unable to do this when he encounters so much trouble when trying get out of bed and open the door. Gregors manager comes to his home, wondering why he didn’t show up for work. The manager gets irritable and tells Gregor in the presence of his family that he wanted a real explanation as to why he would not come out of his room. Gregor finally has enough strength to open the door with his mouth but by that time his manager had already left. He is now saddened and in fear that he lost his job, because he knows that he is the financial “backbone” of the family. When his family finally sees that he is an insect they are immediately disgusted. His mother faints, and his father forbids his mother and daughter to see him. Grete, Gregors ...
Kafka brings secrecy and shame twice in Metamorphosis by having Gregor bottle his hatred for his sales job and burden his parents place on him. His family has no clue that Gregor feels this way. The other secrecy and shame is of Gregor’s metamorphoses into an insect. The Samsa’...
Franz Kafka illustrates in his book the struggle that most humans have throughout their life: ‘Who am I?’ He demonstrates this through his radical and exaggerated formation of The Metamorphosis, a man becoming a bug; or a bug always thinking he was a man, then realizing that he is and always has been a bug. This bug, Gregor Samsa, goes through an immense psychological realization at the beginning of the book; he had been deceived by his own mind from the beginning of his life. Throughout Gregor’s Metamorphosis, Gregor experiences the loss of his self actualization, recognition, belonging, security, and physiological needs. His situation had taken away all the basic psychological needs of any human as illustrated by Maslow’s Hierarchy of
His family used to care about him but after the transformation, they were no longer concerned for him. Every time the family talks about money, Gregor feels guilty and embarrassed because he can no longer provide for them. When he was able to work before, he had brought money home and “They had simply got used to it, both the family and Gregor; the money was gratefully accepted and gladly given, but there was no special uprush of warm feeling” (Kafka Ch 2 pg 6). Now that he can no longer provide, the family had to come up with ways to keep up with finances. Gregor is dehumanized each time his sister Grete walks into the room to look after him because she cannot bear the sight of him so he hides each time. Each day following Gregor’s transformation, the family’s behavior towards him became more cynical and resentful towards him. They do not allow him to leave his room and worry about how they can go on living with him. They think of him as being a creature, losing their view of him as a human being and no longer important. When Grete decided to take his furniture out of his room, Gregor feels he is dehumanized because they are taking away the link to his humanity. When it came to Gregor’s father, Gregor would “run before his father, stopping when he stopped and scuttling forward again when his father made any kind of move.” His father then threw at apple at him which ‘landed right on his back and sank in; Gregor wanted to drag himself forward, as if this startling, incredible pain could be left behind him” (Kafka Ch 2 pg
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.
He had worked a job he did not enjoy, and even wanted to send his sister to music school. Kafka wrote Gregor out as a good son, a kind brother, and a hard worker. He was, by no means, a bad person. This makes readers question exactly why he was turned into a bug, and died a sad, lonely death. After careful examination of this novella, readers can learn why. Kafka was not trying to make a point out of Gregor, but of his family. His family turned their backs on him of a time of need. Kafka writes, “the apple remained lodged there in his flesh, a visible memento, since no one dared to remove it-seemed to have reminded even his father that Gregor, despite his current lamentable, repulsive form, was a member of the family who should not be treated like the enemy, for family duty dictated that the others swallow down the disgust he aroused in them and show him tolerance, only tolerance (Kafka 1902).”Kafka seems to be saying that family duty is what kept the family members from hurting Gregor. But, family duty does not involve love or compassion or gratefulness. They must “deal” with him. Family duty essentially comes down to suffering the company of ones family because they have no other
Without doubts, before the metamorphosis, Gregor was alienated from many aspects of his life, including his own body; that’s why his transformation was almost no surprise to him. After the metamorphosis, Gregor was alienated from everything around him, even his room; Kafka symbolizes that by the hospital across from his window that he could not see after the metamorphosis. Kafka was brilliant in the sense that all the themes in the story led to the same outcome, which is the theme of alienation…