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Theme of the metamorphosis
Theme of change in the metamorphosis
Theme of change in the metamorphosis
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“The Metamorphosis” written by Franz Kafka is a book about the obligations of family and how far it goes. The Story takes place with a travelling salesman named Gregor Samsa who supports his family financially however he hates his job and situation socially.He wakes up to find that he has transformed into a bug and this impacts him and his family significantly.Franz Kafka uses allusion and irony to convey that the Samsa Family all go through a Metamorphosis. What leads to the Samsa family metamorphosis is a change in their obligations. Previously, Gregor was working hard and long to provide for his family and pay off their debt. It was an imprisonment for Gregor by his family’s need and comfort. Now after Gregor’s change to an insect, the family now has the responsibility to take care of him and providing …show more content…
The most obvious person is Gregor, who changed into an insect from a human. But it is uncertain if he really changed into a bug, however it leads to his actual deteriorating altercation that leads to his death. Gregor cannot eat his regular meals anymore. During the beginning of his time as a bug, when he drank milk “he turned away from the bowl almost with repulsion and crawled back to the middle of the room”(Kafka 21). This fasting of Gregor changes his body to frail and weak which is also influences his emotional state. The rest of the family also go through a metamorphosis, as a their financial worries takes toll on them physically. Their situation leads to all of them getting jobs ; the father becomes a messenger, the mother sewes lingerie, and “his sister, who had taken a job as a salesgirl” (Kafka 38). Because of Mr. Samsa’s job, he becomes increasingly filthy because he doesn’t take care of himself. Gregor metamorphosis to a bug has affected the whole family including gregor to physical deterioration which then leads to their emotional
This title holds more weight than what meets the eye. It is more than his actual metamorphosis from human to bug. There are many transformations that take place in this novel, even more than the obvious physical change. With the physical change of Gregors body, he also goes through a psychological change with it. When he was a human, his family depended on him. He quickly ended up depending on his family as he could not do anything on his own. His morale also diminishes throughout the novel. We were introduced to him as a very hopeful man who wanted to pay off his family’s debts. In the end, he loses hope and gives up on himself for the wellbeing of his family. Along with Gregors change in the novel, the title represents the change of other characters as well. From beginning to end, Grete transforms from a girl to a young lady. She also becomes more independent on herself by taking on more responsibility and getting a job. The family also must make some changes because they do not have Gregor to support them financially. This finally forces them to all get jobs and give up some luxury things they had
“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.
In The Metamorphosis Kafka illustrates a grotesque story of a working salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking up one day to discover that his body resembles a bug. Through jarring, almost unrealistic narration, Kafka opens up the readers to a view of Gregor’s futile and disappointing life as a human bug. By captivating the reader with this imaginary world Kafka is able to introduce the idea that Gregor’s bug body resembles his human life. From the use of improbable symbolism Kafka provokes the reader to believe that Gregor turning into a bug is realistic and more authentic compared to his unauthentic life as a human.
Family’s ignorance has also quickened the process. In exposition of The Metamorphosis, Gregor is presented as a relatively successful citizen. He and his family live in their own house, although Gregor is the only one working, they still have a maid to work for them. Nonetheless in the end, Gregor dies alienated and involuntarily. As “his head involuntarily sank down altogether” (Kafka 49), his destruction as a human is determined. Kafka reveals to readers the process of Gregor’s self-destruction throughout the story. Some would argue that the story begins with a climax, which is most biggest sacrifice Gregor made: He is transformed into “an enormous bug” (Kafka 11). As he did not make sacrifices to the family, he is still considered as an individual with all the human attributes as the rising action develops. He is able to think logically; there is a detachment between his bug body and human mind, as “each time he rock[s] back into the supine position” (Kafka 11) when he wants to move. He is also able to see. However as the rising action develops, the family begins to ignore him as Gregor but see him as a monster, he is forced to make sacrifices and compromises to wards the family. His human qualities begin to destruct. He has more connection with the body, and starts to enjoy “hanging up on the ceiling” (Kafka 32) like a bug. He also “no longer derive[s] the slightest pleasure from eating” (Kafka 32) when Grete starts to neglect him. When the story getting closer to the climax, Gregor loses more humanity when he sacrifices his room into a cave where a bug lives. His last confrontation with the family is when he comes out to save his sister from the lodgers. He has almost no humanity at the time; to others Gregor is only a giant bug. Grete eventually declares that “[they] have to get rid of it” (Kafka 47). The declaration can be
Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is a masterfully written short story about Gregor Samsa, a man who devotes his life to his family and work, for nothing in return. Only when he is transformed into a helpless beetle does he begin to develop a self-identity and understanding of the relationships around him. The underlying theme of The Metamorphosis is an existential view that says any given choice will govern the later course of a person's life, and that the person has ultimate will over making choices. In this case, Gregor?s lack of identity has caused him to be numb to everything around him.
Parasitical relationships are commonplace in nature. A parasite attaches itself to a host and gradually benefits while the host's assets are drained. When the initial host's assets are completely depleted, the parasite moves on to another to leech off of while the host is left to gradually lose its life. This type of parasitical relationship is highlighted in Franz Kafka's short story, The Metamorphosis, in the relationships of members of the Samsa family. Gregor Samsa is a traveling salesman, whose family is completely dependent on his salary. The short story begins, "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect" (Kafka 1). This alteration symbolizes Gregor's change from his family's primary caregiver to an unnecessary nuisance, which is a position that will ultimately lead to his death. In beginning of the short story we awake with Gregor right after his conversion, Kafka is pointing out the disintegration of this once highly regarded son and his position in his family. In this case, the family takes on the role of the parasite and Gregor of the host. Throughout the short story, the parasite saps away the assets of Gregor, leaving little for him to do but ultimately die.
People want their family to love and support them during times of need, but if they are unable to develop this bond with their family members, they tend to feel alone and depressed. In the novel The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Kafka describes the theme of alienation and its negative effect on people and their relationships with the people around them. This theme can be shown through Gregor Samsa, the main character in The Metamorphosis. After Gregor’s metamorphosis, or transformation, he is turned from a human being into a giant bug which makes him more and more distant from the people in his life. The alienation that Gregor experiences results in his eventual downfall, which could and would happen to anyone else who becomes estranged from the people around them. Gregor’s alienation and its effect on his relationship with his family can be shown through his lack of willing interaction with his family members due to his inability to communicate to them, the huge burden he puts on the family after his metamorphosis, and his family’s hope to get rid of him because he is not who he was before.
In the context of The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa is being isolated from his family and the rest of society. Gregor was isolated from his family and society long before he turned into a bug. He was isolated before because he was was the traveling salesman who rarely saw his family. Gregor was hardly eating. He believed that it was because he had become depressed and unhappy about his room. His room had become the catch all for everyone else’s things (Kafka 42). The only attention that Gregor had been receiving from his family was all the assorted items that they kept placing into his room. In his analysis of The Metamorphosis, O’Connor considers, “It would appear that the truly deformed characters are the supporting cast of Metamorphosis. Indeed, the hero of the story contains more pathos and more human qualities than any of the other characters who are free of being transformed into cockroaches” (59). The deformed characters that make up Gregor’s family are causing harm to Gregor. His morale is so low in result of his family the low morale is causing Gregor to quit eating. Gregor’s family is isolating and alienating him. The separation between Gregor, his family, and society is detrimental to Gregor’s life because it is inhumane to cause him to feel this
Kafka, Franz. “The Metamorphosis.” The Metamorphosis and Other Stories. Trans. Michael Hofmann. Toronto: Penguin Books, 2007. 85-146. Print.
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.
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories. 1st ed. Translated by Stanley Appelbaum. New York: Dover Publications, 1996.
As a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa garnered an impressive income to provide for his financially dependent family consisting of elderly parents and a sister of sixteen. His life consisted of travel, only stopping to drop a paycheck on the dining table to his family 's delight. Within Franz Kafka 's "The Metamorphosis", this breadwinner has his only track of normalcy stripped from his being, woken late to work one morning to possess the body of a beetle. The physical metamorphosis Gregor endures can be seen as an analogy in reference to his mental alteration of a man who 's life is in all aspects estranged, a hopeless existence proven by a beetle for a body.
...uses symbolism to convey his message about humanity. The underlying message of the Metamorphosis is that it unfolds the truth about human nature; the story tells us that humans have lost their humanity. He uses the vermin, food, Mr. Samsa’s uniform, apple, his autobiography, and violin as symbols in the Metamorphosis. The word transformation does not apply to Gregor but also to all the family members of Samsa family. Grete was one of the members of the family, who transformed. For the first few weeks, she took care of Gregor and leaves food for him but then she transforms and she starts to hate Gregor because the family members thought Gregor was a burden to them and was worthless. The family lost the sympathy for Gregor.
In “The Metamorphosis,” Franz Kafka depicts the life of the central character, Gregor Samsa, and his family after his transformation into a giant insect. Metamorphosis is a very major theme throughout the story, not only for Gregor but also that of his little sister Grete.
To what extent did Kafka use comedy/irony to develop his tragic, cynical view of society and family?Gregor Samsa, a young traveling salesman who lives with and financially supports his parents and younger sister, Grete, wakes up one morning to find "himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin" or insect. At first, to my surprise, he is preoccupied with practical, everyday concerns: How to get out of bed and walk with his numerous legs? Can he still make it to the office on time? Most persons would be devastated to find themselves in such a position as Gregor, but he did not seem to care much about himself, but only about his obligations, instead of panicking, he starts cursing his job : "If I did not hold back for my parents’ sake, I would have quit long ago, I would have marched up to the boss and spoken my piece from the bottom of my heart", " Well, I have not given up hope completely; once I’ve gotten the money together to pay off my parents’ debt to him, I’m going to make the big break. But for the time being, I better get up, since my train leaves at five." This is a sort of dry humour; a person in a tragic situation does not seem to notice the predicament he is in.He tries to get out of bed, but his new form does not enable him to do the things he used to do so easily.