Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is a novella that takes place in the 1900s. The Metamorphosis is a story about a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa ,that finds himself transformed into a vermin. It is a commentary on the fragile nature of human life and the stained relationships we have with family and friends. Kafka’s novella deals with Gregor’s attempts to get used to his new condition and body as he deals with trouble with his family that are very angry with the bug/ insect Gregor has become. An analysis of Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis will show his quest for his search of identity through his death.
Gregor’s metamorphosis happened as a result of all the pressure that his family puts on him. Since his father’s business had failed, Gregor was “assigned” the role to be the provider of the family and that meant taking on a job that he disliked. He hates the traveling ,the worrying and stress that are involved .His chief is overly dictatorial and he would of quit a very long time ago if he didn’t have to pay off his family’s debt off to the chief. In the course of a man’s roles in the 19th century , Gregor is obligated to be the provider and “money maker” for his family. Men have always been the providers and made sure that their family has everything they need. Gregor works very hard for his family and receives no acknowledgment for his efforts. All he really wants is to be appreciated and to be loved by his family, but he is seen as just a commodity for the family.
Gregors perception of himself and the world starts to change. He is dealing with tuberculosis1 and is getting sicker by the day.
1. Tuberculosis : an infectious disease that causes small rounded swellings to form on mucus membranes- it mainly affects the lun...
... middle of paper ...
...n them. Being unable to provide for his family or even find comfort/love in them, Gregor dies alone, secluded from humanity.
Franz Kafka’s, The Metamorphosis is a novella that questions humanity’s humanity.(He questioned the things that make us human.) He believes that all the traditional values like reason, order, religion, obedience were being questioned.
2. Dehumanization : to take away somebody’s individuality, the interesting/ creative aspects of his/her compassion or sensitivity towards others; to take away qualities of something or features to make it meet human needs and desires.
His life experiences influenced the novella. Kafka himself had a strained relationship with his father and had trouble relating to other. He relives his life by telling the story of Gregor Samsa and his hardships while dealing with his physical transformation.
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Ed. Stanley Corngold. Trans. Stanley Corngold. New York: Bantam, 2004. Print.
First and foremost Gregor was betrayed by his own parents who failed to care for him after his transformation. The initial reaction of the parents, especially his father, set the tone for the whole novel. Instead of trying to resolve the issue with a reasonable solution, his father physically abuses him, “when from behind, his father gave him a hard
Gregor’s father demotes societal views of himself by his actions. Gregor’s father depends on Gregor for the income for the family. When Gregor morphs into a bug, Mr. Samsa reluctantly becomes the sole provider for his family. Getting a ...
One morning, Gregor wakes up from his dream to realize he has completely mutated into a bug. Due to this physical change in his life, he phases out different experiences with each of his family members. In which he alienates himself and his family because of his new appearance. In fact, he has a lot of care towards his family. He actually works hard to support them, pay off their debt, and tries to keep them as comfortable as possible.
Humans feel obligated to do certain things. It makes them feel good, or worthwhile. If these responsibilities are not met or to the obligator's own standards then guilt comes upon them. In The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, Gregor's self-condemnation keeps him trapped. Gregor is enslaved to his family. Therefore Gregor's guilt emerges from the families' burden.
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...
...in. For the past five years, he provided for his family, and when he needed them, they did not care. After his metamorphosis, they all got jobs, something Gregor thought they were incapable of. After his death, they moved out of the flat, which was too expensive for them, leaving all of their memories, starting anew without him.
Many scholarly writers such as Robbie Batson believe that Gregor is an extension of Kafka himself, both having been traveling salesmen, similar family life with an abusive father, a dependent mother, and although Kafka had three sisters he had a close relationship with Ottilla like that of Grete and Samsa. Kafka even is similar to Samsa in spelling, almost like a cryptogram(Barfi, Azizmohammadi, and Kohzadi). As the breadwinner in his house, both Kafka and Gregor had the responsibility of taking care of their family through
His sister, who took a job as a salesgirl to help the family. also learns French in the evening so she might get a better position in the future of the world. Mr. Samsa, Gregor's father, takes a job as a messenger for banking institutions and the public. Turning into a bug, Gregor causes a lack of harmony. among the family members.
One may argue that Gregor undergoes the most drastic change throughout the novella. Over night, he is transformed from ...
The Metamorphosis lends itself more to the psychology student instructed to profile an author based on his work than to the literature student instructed to cite and expand on different literary elements. It is obviously the work of a very disturbed man, although the disturbance would probably be more of the chronic type that slowly eats a man away than the type which causes, say, one to hallucinate. To sum up The Metamorphosis, I would call it a very deceiving book. On the surface, the simplistic plot, apparent lack of imagination with regard to the syntax, and the largely flat characters tend to drive the reader away. However, when one looks just a little deeper, Kafka's whole world of fear and isolation opens up before his eyes.
We as readers will never know the true reason behind Kafka’s Metamorphosis, but it is a masterpiece. It relates surprisingly well to today’s society, even though it was written between 1912 and 1915. The topic of metamorphosis is really universal, we as humans are constantly changing, growing and evolving. Works Cited Aldiss, Brian W. “Franz Kafka: Overview.” St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers.
Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is a novella that follows the story of Gregor Samsa who, one day, wakes up as an insect. On the surface, it’s just a story about a man who’s transformed into a bug; but, when deeper analyzed, you come to understand that it’s a about a man who was always a bug conflicted by his identity in a class struggle between what is known as the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Kafka’s work was written in a time in history when the struggles between the classes were becoming more defined due to the rise of industrialization and other changing social structures. This story can best be interpreted though a Marxist lens. In Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, his Marxist ideology comes through in the way the characters represent the struggle between the proletariat and bourgeoisie classes during the turn of the century.
After Gregor wakes up and realizes that he has been transformed into a bug, he starts to worry about how he will go to work in order to provide for his family. He debates about calling in sick as he thinks ”The chief himself would be sure
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.