Patriarchy in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

Patriarchy in The Metamorphosis

Patriarchy, that is, the supremacy of the father in a family and the reckoning of

descent and inheritance in the male line, plays a major part in family

life. However, the institution of patriarchy is not just limited to

European cultures. In this essay, we will examine the instances of

patriarchy in "The Metamorphosis" and compare it to instances in Japan.

In the beginning of "The Metamorphosis," we can tell from the way

Gregor's family is organized that Gregor is the 'father figure,' in that

he is the primary breadwinner and the one who makes most of the decisions

for his family. On page 1781, we can see Gregor thinking that me would

"take charge of the family's affairs again," hence showing that before he

turned into a bug, he was the dominant person in the family. He is the only

person in the family who actually goes out to earn money. His father has

already retired, while his mother and sister, following the standards of

that time, do not go out and work. Gregor is the only one who goes out as

a traveling salesman, and is responsible for earning money for the whole

family. His father stays at home and only "lies wearily buried in

bed"(1778) while Gregor goes out on business trips. From this, we can see

that Gregor has taken over his father's responsibilities as head of the

household. He is earning money and supporting the family while his father

has retired and only stays at home, doing nothing. This conforms with the

practice of patriarchy in that the son, Gregor in this case, inherits the

position and responsibilitles as head of this household from his father.

In Japan, the son of a family is expected to take over the

responsibilities of taking care of his family when his father retires,

similar to how Gregor takes over in his family. The son is also expected

to look after his parents after they grow old and retire, similar to how

Gregor looks after his retired father and mother. If he does not look

after his parents, he is thought of as being 'unfilial' and seen as a bad

person. In contrast, daughters are expected to go out and find a good

husband and get married, similar to Grete at the end of "The