Loneliness in Metamorphosis and The Love Song of J. Arthur Prufrock

995 Words2 Pages

Franz Kafka’s character Gregor Samsa and T.S. Eliot’s speaker J. Alfred Prufrock are perhaps two of the loneliest characters in literature. Both men lead lives of isolation, loneliness, and lost chances, and both die knowing that they have let their lives slip through their fingers, as sand slips through the neck of an hourglass. As F. Scott Fitzgerald so eloquently put it, “the loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly”. Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” are both exceptional examples of such lonely moments. Both authors use characterization, imagery, and atmosphere to convey the discontentedness and lack of fulfillment in the life and death of both Samsa and Prufrock.
Eliot and Kafka characterize their respective characters as having negative self-images, a prior lack of success, and as being fundamentally lonely. Prufrock views himself as undesirable, and his self-image seems to grow worse with age. While Prufrock has the chance early on to make something of his life, he sits in a room, presumably one in which there is a display of artwork, and “the women come and go / Talking of Michelangelo” (ll. 13-14). Prufrock goes by unnoticed next to what could be the beautiful works of Michelangelo. It can especially be presumed that he feels inadequate next to the Statue of David, a sculpture for which Michelangelo is famous. As time goes on, his feelings of inadequacy increase when he begins to fear what others will think of his aged appearance, for “They will say: ‘How his hair is growing thin!’” and “They will say: ‘But how his arms and legs are thin!’” (ll. 41, 44). Prufrock’s lack of self-confid...

... middle of paper ...

...emonstrative of Prufrock’s longing for the women; even though he is on the inside with them, he still lingers hesitantly like the fog. This is later reinforced by Prufrock stating that he has “gone at dusk…and watched the smoke that rises from the pipes / Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows” (ll.70-73). Both Prufrock and Samsa long for things they cannot have, because they are afraid to take a chance.
Eliot and Kafka use images of insects as well, although for different purposes. Eliot’s use of insects portrays Prufrock as being an insect “pinned and wriggling on the wall” being observed as an object of study (l.58). This is indicative of Prufrock’s anxiety and neurosis as he feels judged by everyone he meets, especially the women. Kafka’s use of insect imagery is prevalent throughout the entire novella, as Samsa has transformed into a giant bug.

Show More
Related

  • The Metamorphosis Theme Essay

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    The feelings of loneliness and betrayal are feelings that we all feel one too many. Some have these feelings for a few simple days, and then those feelings soon pass. For others, however, this is a feeling that is felt for most of their lives. Our loneliness may make us feel alone, when our loneliness is actually common. In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, the topic of alienation is an ongoing theme from beginning to end. I have interest in this passage because it reveals the writers understanding of a feeling that we all get from time to time. This novella helps us relive these emotions with an understanding that we are not alone in our loneliness.

    Read More

  • Comparing Winterbourne and Prufrock

    594 Words  | 2 Pages

    "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is about a timid and downcast man in search of meaning, of love, and in search of something to break from the dullness and superficiality which he feels his life to be. Eliot lets us into Prufrock's world for an evening, and traces his progression of emotion from timidity, and, ultimately, to despair of life. He searches for meaning and acceptance by the love of a woman, but falls miserably because of his lack of self-assurance. Prufrock is a man for whom, it seems, everything goes wrong, and for whom there are no happy allowances. The emptiness and shallowness of Prufrock's "universe" and of Prufrock himself are evident from the very beginning of the poem. He cannot find it in himself to tell the woman what he really feels, and when he tries to tell her, it comes out in a mess. At the end of the poem, he realizes that he has no big role in life.

    Read More

  • Profound Narrative Point of View in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s "The Great Gatsby" and Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the popular literary works of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Franz Kafka’s novella “The Metamorphosis,” we are given examples of the importance of a profound narrative point of view in creating an integral depth to the author’s story and enchanting its characters. Through key placement of well-rounded characters, both works of art succeed in creating a perfect narrative point of view which illuminates their stories in emotionally moving ways. The Great Gatsby’s Nick Carraway, plays the role of a secondary character in most of the novel. Enabled by his laidback, trustworthy nature, he manages to provide an extremely interesting first person point of view on all the events surrounding him throughout the story. He also functions as the author’s voice as he reflects on the human condition of man, the American dream, and the “modern” world’s moral values. In “The Metamorphosis,” we experience a third-person omniscient point of view which is mainly limited to Gregor Samsa’s thoughts, feelings, and assessment of his predicament. After Gregor dies, the point of view shifts to his remaining family members, but we don’t experience the same intimacy involving their innermost thoughts and feelings; instead we are given an impersonal third-person narration. Kafka intelligently uses this technique to further establish the Samsa’s sense of morals and final adjustments to the situation. We are left with an unmistakable impression of the opposing natures man can live at and accept. A strong, well-written narrative point of view is evident in both these literary works; it is the character’s undertaken, excellent role in their expression which ultimately shape and guide the author’s stories into a masterpiece.

    Read More

  • T.S. Elliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    First, Eliot weaves several layers of symbolism into Prufrocks’s narrative. This ambiguity shows largely through the vehicle of the yellow fog, which Eliot personifies with cat-like characteristics using phrases such as, “…rubs its back…rubs its muzzle on the window-panes” and “…curled once about the house, and fell asleep” in reference to the mist (Eliot). This feline depiction of the city smog creates an eerie setting which serves to further the tone of unsteadiness in Prufrock’s ramblings. The seeping movements of the fog also mirror the uncontrolled movements of Prufrock’s thoughts and his polluted self-concept which causes him to question his every move to no end (Childs). The smog is uncontainable and indefinable, much like Prufrock’s emotions when dependent upon his non-existent actions (Childs). In another instance, Eliot breaks up the deep, incessant wanderings of the speaker’s mind with the phrase, “In the room the women come and go talking of Michaelangelo” (Eliot). These women symbolize the society in which Pr...

    Read More

  • Response to The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

    452 Words  | 1 Pages

    Prufrocks next thoughts tell of his old age and his lack of will to say what is on his mind. He mentions his bald spot in his hair and his thin arms and legs. This suggests that he knows he is growing old, and therefore contradicts what he had mentioned earlier in the poem about having plenty of time. Throughout the poem he is indecisive and somewhat aloof from the self-involved group of women. One part of him would like to startle them out of their frustratingly polite conversations and express his love for her, but to accomplish this he would have to risk disturbing their ?universe? and being rejected. He also mentions ?sprawling on a pin?, as though he pictures himself being pinned in place and viciously analyzed like that of an insect being literally pinned in place. The latter part of the poem captures his sense of overwhelming lack of willpower for failing to act daringly, not only at that tea party, but throughout his life.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

    1939 Words  | 4 Pages

    By a correct reading of "Prufrock," I mean a reading consistent with the central theme of the poet's belief made mute because the poet lives in a culture of unbelief--that is, the "silence" of the poetic vision in modernity. Prufrock renounces his inherited, romantic role as "poet as prophet" and renounces poetry's role as a successor to religion. The future of poetry may have once been immense, but that future no longer exists for Prufrock, who is faced not only with the certainty of the rejection of his poetic vision but also with a situation in which there are no grounds for rhetoric: "That is not what I meant at all. / That is not it, at all." Fear of rejection leads Prufrock to the ultimate silencing of the prophet and hero within himself, to being "a pair of ragged claws." He cannot share his poetic vision of life: to do so would threaten the very existence of that life. Paradoxically, not to share his light, his "words among mankind," threatens the loss ...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Love Song Of Prufrock

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    T.S. Eliot has been one of the most daring innovators of twentieth-century poetry. His poem“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, is different and unusual. He rejects the logic connection, thus, his poems lack logic interpretation. He himself justifies himself by saying: he wrote it to want it to be difficult. The dissociation of sensibility, on the contrary, arouses the emotion of readers immediately. This poem contains Prufrock’ s love affairs. But it is more than that. It is actually only the narration of Prufrock, a middle-aged man, and a romantic aesthete , who is bored with his meaningless life and driven to despair because he wished but

    Read More

  • Search for Identity in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    It seems to be very rare to stumble upon an honest, crystal-clear self reflection and criticism, a true necroscopy of one’s self, because it is much easier to “beholdest [..] the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye” [Matthew 7:3]. Perhaps it is only through the eyes of a vermin that Franz Kafka was finally able to open up completely to his father but, most importantly, to himself, reaching a level of frankness that could not even be attained in “Letter to His Father”. In “The Metamorphosis”, the theme of humanness and identity is revealed through the eyes of Gregor Samsa, who, in his claustrophobic, anxiety-ridden state of being trapped in the body of a vermin, experiences having his whole conception of identity changed while watching his life slip away in front of his eyes, as his family contributes to his final act of giving up. Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” completely messes with any conceptions of humanness and identity a reader might hold, and perfectly captures the element of anxiety that emerges simultaneously with accepting that you do not know yourself at all. At first, the book seemed like an abandonment of common sense, a completely absurd situation, nothing more than an “entomological fantasy”.

    Read More

  • Kubler-Ross on Gregor Samsa and Meursault

    1598 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the novels The Metamorphosis and The Stranger by Franz Kafka and Albert Camus, Kubler-Ross’s five stages of death are incorporated to emphasize the themes of individualism and isolation. While denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance are common emotions when dealing with death, denial, anger, and acceptance are essential in connecting to Kafka and Camus’s ideas regarding individualism. Through their experiences relating to those three stages of death, the protagonists, Gregor Samsa and Meursault, are isolated from greater society and forced to acknowledge their individuality.

    Read More

  • Essay on the Loneliness of J. Alfred Prufrock

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    Elliot, T.S. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 3rd ed. Eds. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1997. 781-785.

    Read More

  • Prufrock Themes

    1136 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” T.S Eliot uses a man named Prufrock to describe the uncertainties in life and how they affect a person views. Prufrock does not have the confidence to give or receive love. There is an equally amount of unhappiness to the concept of time and space. He is unsatisfied with life and with the decisions to think rather than act. He claims that there will be much time to do things in the social world. Prufrock is more of an anti-hero that is controlled by fear. T.S Eliot uses tone, allusions, and imagery to explain a man’s inability to make decisions and his own self confidence in life in which he is afraid of the outlook of his future by being misunderstood.

    Read More

  • The Character of J. Alfred Prufrock

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem begins by suggesting that Mr. Prufrock is mentally disassociated with society. Mr. Prufrock, addressing the audience or some imaginary confidante, proposes the mental journey commence "When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherised [sic] upon a table" (ll. 2-3). The lines evoke images of drug induced, altered realities. He follows by recommending visits to "one-night cheap hotels" (l. 6) and "sawdust restaurants" (l. 7). The references infer that the locations are not the speaker's normal environments and are part of fantasy environments. In lines 15 through 22, the speaker credits the smog with feline characteristics. He further states "Though I have seen my head [...] brought in upon a platter..." (l. 81). Although it is a biblical reference to the decapitation of John the Baptist, the statement is indicative of an active fantasy life. He admits to having heard mermaids sing and speaks of life on a beach. He creates the fanta...

    Read More

  • Themes In Metamorphosis, The Stanger By Albert Camus And The Perfume

    1186 Words  | 3 Pages

    Firstly, in Kafka’s Metamorphosis we are presented with a man named Gregor, who one day wakes up as an insect, and we see how his life changes completely thereafter, leading up to his death. Gregor is described to be an apathetic loner, basically, whose only aspiration is to work hard as a traveling salesman to financially, and singlehandedly, maintain his family. After becoming an insect, though, he becomes more and more isolated, even from his own family. We see how he is slowly turning more insect than human. He loses his ability to communicate, and remains in his locked room, under his couch all day. He starts to enjoy crawling around his walls, and being in the dark, like any other insect would. He has no feelings of consciousness or remorse regarding the burden he was become to his family, economically and emotionally. His family ends up seeing him as a mere insect and even a parasite, rather than their son and dear brother, and once he is dead they are flooded with feelings of relief and a new appreciation for life and the opportunities it brings.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Alienation In The Metamorphosis

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    Isolation and alienation of one's own choice and others can lead to the dehumanization of a human. In Kafka’s short novel, The Metamorphosis, the character Gregor Samsa experiences isolation and alienation. Gregor is never recognized by his family for his efforts, but is instead taken for granted. The moment he becomes a bug, his family begins to realize that they can no longer rely on him for support. Due to Gregor’s loss of usefulness and his hideous outer appearance, it leads to isolation and alienation.

    Read More

  • T.S. Eliots use of Poetic techniques in The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Wasteland

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    The theme of Prufrock is the negative, individuality repressing effect that society has on its people. The Prufrock persona illustrates this, he is alienated by the inane social rituals that define his life, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” and make it insignificant and useless. The Waste Land’s theme is that the world, in particular western civilisation, is a culturally and spiritually barren place. Society is portrayed as a pile of “…stony rubbish…”, the ruins of a once great city now reduced to rubble where nothing can grow. Lives mean nothing, but the poem also offers hope through a return to basic religious values, ending with the repeated chant of “Shantih shantih shantih”, which means, “the peace which passeth understanding”. The poems both portray the same basic idea, but they have two main differences. Firstly, there is the way in which the themes are expressed. In Prufrock , Eliot uses a persona as an example of the debilitating effect of living with so many expectations, rules, standards and meaningless rituals has on a the individual. In many ways, this is a very effe...

    Read More

More about Loneliness in Metamorphosis and The Love Song of J. Arthur Prufrock

Open Document