How does Kafka Comment on 20th Century Capitalism Throughout the Novel and what Symbolism does he Use to Depict it

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How does Kafka Comment on 20th Century Capitalism Throughout the Novel and what Symbolism does he Use to Depict it

Firstly, it is important to point out that I don’t believe that the individual characters symbolize a certain social or political group in the novel - the characters’ actions and responses to each other in the in the novel do though, representing a social or political group in a specific situation. For example, the majority of people agree that the father in “Metamorphosis” represents the powerful capitalist society, being the dominant male figure. If one tries to follow this concept throughout the novel, they will encounter many contradictions. While the father does seem powerful at points, such as when he drives out the lodgers, he is in the start portrayed as a rather idle figure, allowing his son to take the dominant position as the family’s income earner. This detail, which could be of great significance, is many times overlooked. All the novel’s links to capitalism are in the author’s choice of words, the concocted situations and in the character’s interaction.

The time period in which “Metamorphosis” was written in (1912) is very significant, because of its historical impact on the novel and the particular views of the time. America was becoming increasingly prosperous with its capitalist views, and was seen by the world as ‘the land of opportunity’, where anyone could be wealthy. Between 1880 and 1930, approximately 2,800,000 Germans and Czechs immigrated to America, in search of a better life, possibly causing resentment and bitterness from those left behind for the capitalist way of life.

Kafka criticizes the capitalist views by portraying situations where the family responds to Greg...

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...nces you from humanity, and this is also an argument in favour of Communism. This message is clearly portrayed in Gregor’s family, who are forced to find jobs after Gregor’s transformation. As a result of Gregor’s escape from the capitalist economic order, his family is drafted into it. From what we are told of their work periods, they seem to have become much like the old Gregor in their dehumanising jobs, becoming servants even at their home, for the lodgers. Only when they decide that it is necessary for the lodgers to leave and for them to take a ‘day off’ that that seem to be happy again. Though they mourn for Gregor, and in my opinion, they have some sort of ‘enlightenment’, realizing that their financial condition is not the most important aspect in of heir lives. The family takes a ‘day off’, something Gregor would never have done, and go for a walk together.

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