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The story The Metamorphosis revolves around Gregor Samsa, a devoted son and brother who works tirelessly to provide for his family, waking up finding out that he has been transformed into a larger than life insect. Franz Kafka enlightens the readers to how being dependent on one person can lead a family to being weak when that support system is ripped away from them. The situations that Gregor is put into knocks him down from the head of the family into nothingness while at the same time boosts his family from that nothingness into being a strong support system for each other. Gregor 's transformation, his dependency on his sister for food, his injury, the family choosing strangers over him, and ultimately his death are all things that lead to this downfall, or metamorphosis. The first significant event in the story is the obvious transmutation into a large insect. Gregor awoke in his room and laying in his bed however, he was not inhabiting his body "he found himself transformed right there in his bed into some sort of monstrous insect" (Kafka 1880). Gregor is now an insect, a beetle of sorts. This is the first …show more content…
The apple doesn’t just bounce off of Gregor as one would expect, it instead lodges into his shell and begins to weaken Gregor. Like a poison, over time this apple keeps Gregor in a weakened state. This is another example of how Gregor 's father moves back into a position as the leader of the family. This moment is the turning point in the views of the family. The family as a whole now turn to the father as a provider and protector, not Gregor "then he saw his mother rush to his father 's side … and, embracing him, in perfect union with him" (Kafka 1902). Previously Gregor felt weak but it is at this moment his family views him as week and unwanted, a burden, a
Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is so strikingly absurd that it has engendered countless essays dissecting every possible rational and irrational aspect of the book. One such essay is entitled "Kafka's Obscurity" by Ralph Freedman in which he delves down into the pages of The Metamorphosis and ferrets out the esoteric aspects of Kafka's writing. Freedman postulates that Gregor Samsa progresses through several transformations: a transformation of spatial relations, a transformation of time, and a transformation of self consciousness, with his conscious mutation having an antithetical effect on the family opposite to that of Gregor. His conjectures are, for the most part, fairly accurate; Gregor devolves in both his spatial awareness and his consciousness. However, Freedman also asserts that after Gregor's father throws the wounding apple, Gregor loses his sense of time. While his hypothesis certainly appears erudite and insightful, there really is no evidence within the book itself to determine whether if Gregor has a deteriorating sense of time. If Freedman had only written about Gregor's spatial and conscious degradation, then his entire thesis would be accurate.
Gregor as a human loved and would do anything to help his family, even if the same affection was not reciprocated to him. As a bug, he attempted to stay true to his human values, even if he was no longer human. This can be seen in the very beginning of the story, when Gregor was anxious to get to work to support his family, even though he was a bug. But, as the story progresses, Gregor becomes less human and more buglike, as seen in this quote: “‘I hereby declare,’ the middle lodger said, raising his hand and casting his glance both on the mother and the sister, ‘that considering the disgraceful conditions prevailing in this apartment and family,’ with this he spat decisively on the floor, ‘I immediately cancel my room. I will, of course, pay nothing at all for the days which I have lived here; …’ In fact, his two friends immediately joined in with their opinions, ‘We also give immediate notice.’ At that he seized the door handle, banged the door shut, and locked it” (Kafka 66). In this scene, the three lodgers staying in the Samsa home spot Gregor for the first time, because Gregor was supposed to stay locked in his room always, and wasn’t allowed out. In coming out of his room, Gregor has betrayed his parents, and therefore also betrayed himself. Gregor as a human would never dare to disobey his parents, because he cared too deeply for them. But, as a bug, Gregor openly disobeyed them, and betrayed his own human values in doing
The novel immediately begins with Gregor, the travelling salesmen, waking up in his bed and discovers himself transformed into a “monstrous vermin” ( Kafka ). Gregor is the money-earner of the family due to the failure of his father’s business. He is perceived as the most important man in his family as he “[earns] enough money to meet the expenses of the entire family” (26). Even though he disliked his job as a salesman, he readily accepts his new role as the money-earner in the family without hesitation. Similarly, as he wakes up to see himself in his new body, he quickly accepts that he has become a bug and tries to go about his life as best he can in his new c...
conviction that Gregor was set for life in his firm . . . they were so
One morning, Gregor awakens to find himself with the body of a beetle. Although it never explains how Gregor morphed into a beetle, or shows that Gregor gives much thought to having the body of an insect, Kafka gives the strong impression that Gregor is extremely devoted to his work and is the sole support for his family, none of whom work themselves. Gregor devoted himself to a life of work and self sacrifice, following ...
Thomas Paine once said, “The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection” (brainyquote.com). Throughout The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, particular events reflect upon his life. The aforementioned quote emphasizes the idea that one reflects upon their life among various ways, particularly for Kafka, in literature. Moreover, the author uses the main character in order to demonstrate his struggles amidst society. As a result of Kafka’s personal experiences, the story draws similarities throughout leading to the development of the plot.
When comparing Franz Kafka and his personal life to The Metamorphosis it is obvious in more ways than one that he was writing a twisted story of his life. The emotional and physical abuse Gregor goes through are similar to what Kafka went through in real life. They were both abused and neglected by their fathers when they were disappointed with them. Kafka uses Gregor transforming into a bug as a way of exaggerating himself, trying to express his feelings and point of view. When writing, Kafka felt as if he was trapped in his room which he referred to as "the noise headquarters of the apartment". Gregor was an exaggeration of this because he could not leave the house to escape the noises and abuse.
One of Franz Kafka's most well-known and most often criticized works is the short story, "Die Verwandlung," or "The Metamorphosis." "The Metamorphosis" is most unusual in that the first sentence is the climax; the rest of the story is mainly falling action (Greenburg 273). The reader learns that Gregor Samsa, the story's main character, has been turned into an enormous insect. Despite this fact, Gregor continues to act and think like any normal human would, which makes the beginning of the story both tragic and comical at the same time. However, one cannot help but wonder why Gregor has undergone this hideous transformation, and what purpose it could possibly serve in the story. Upon examination, it seems that Gregor's metamorphosis represents both his freedom from maintaining his entire financial stability and his family's freedom from their dependence upon Gregor.
His loss of humanity throughout the story symbolizes how in the family’s eyes, Gregor should no longer be part of the family and should be removed. When Gregor first turns into a bug, his sister and mother show him some sympathy. Grete and Frau Samsa both believe that some part of Gregor still remains inside him. The belief that Gregor still has his humanity slowly disappears as he continues to become more bug-like. Grete sees how much Gregor has changed and her view of him drastically changes. At first, when Gregor transforms into a bug Grete gives him milk and food, but he will only eat rotten food. Grete starts to view Gregor more as a bug and that has a lasting effect on Gregor. She starts to lose touch with him and he gets moved to the back burner by the family. Gregor experiences a big dilemma about his humanity because he can’t seem to accept the fact that he turned into a bug. Gregor can see that he now acts like a bug, but doesn’t want to give up human thought. The suffering that Gregor goes through ends up causing his death and he is just swept out into the trash. The family realizes that because Gregor cannot work, he has become more of a burden than a member of the family. When Gregor chased away the boarders, that was the final straw for the family because they felt like Gregor would never do something like that: “You have to try to let go of the notion that this thing is Gregor. The real disaster is that we believed this for so long. But how could it be Gregor”
Kafka’s unorthodox beginning of “The Metamorphosis” reads as what would seem to be a climactic moment: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” The reader is henceforth bound to the story in search of the reason for and meaning of this hideous metamorphosis. Shortly thereafter, the reader may also notice that although Gregor is quite aware of his condition, given these bizarre circumstances he is not at all in the state of panic one might expect. On the contrary, the insect is frustrated that it cannot get out of bed to go to work! As Gregor tries to rouse himself from bed in his “present condition,” his observation that “he himself wasn't feeling particularly fresh and active” is macabre in its passive acknowledgment of the absurdity of his state (p. 855). This sets the tone for the remainder of the first chapter of the story. Gregor, a person typically not a hindered by “small aches and pains,” (p. 857) clings to his rational nature as he struggles with the slow-in-coming realization that he is more than “temporarily incapacitated” (p. 863).
Gregor’s transformation can be seen as a reflection of his mental state and the way he was living his life before transforming into an insect. Before the transformation, Gregor did not have much control over his life. He is unhappy in traveling sales job, to pay off the debt his parents owed to his boss. Gregor assumes the role of the provider for his family, because his
The Metamorphosis powerfully illustrates the ability of literature help us reflect on the sometimes bitter realities of our world. Kafka’s novella tells the story of Gregor a travelling salesman, who one day finds himself transformed into a monstrous large insect. The rest of novella continues with Gregor’s attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being a burden on his parents and sister. As an insect, he cannot communicate at all and, forced to stay in his room, he is almost entirely cut off from the rest of humanity. His father locks Gregor in his room and later t...
Gregor’s family continuously displays their rejections towards him throughout the entirety of the novel. Gregor’s father is the biggest contender of this after the transformation because he takes on the role as man of the house once again, putting Gregor down. When Gregor first encountered his family as a beetle, he came out into the living room and his father attempted to force him to go back into the room. When trying to, Gregor got “stuck fast and would not have been able to move at all by himself, the little legs along one side hung quivering in the air while those on the other side were pressed painfully against the ground. Then his father gave him a hefty shove from behind which released him from where he was held and sent him flying, and heavily bleeding, deep into his room. The door was slammed shut with the stick” (Kafka 19-20). His father, not only, forcefully shoved Gregor into his room causing him great pain, he also, shut him away from the family by slamming the door behind him. This shows how Gregor’s father held no concern for his feelings and well-being, he was only concerned about getting Gregor away from the rest of the family. Gregor’s father is not the only one rejecting him as his sister contributes to this, too. When overwhelmed with the responsibility of taking care of Gregor, Grete, Gregor’s sister, began to push him away, too. She tells her mother and father, “I don’t want to call this monster my brother, all I can say is: we have to try and get rid of it”(Kafka 52-53). By referring to her brother as “this monster” and “it”, Grete demonstrates her view of Gregor changing to nothing more than a thing, and no longer as her brother. She wants to get rid of him and she feels it is necessary for the welfare of her family. Therefore, Gregor’s family has come to the point of denying him as family and no longer viewing him as human. This goes to show how in
As you know, in the book “The Metamorphosis”, Franz Kafka tells us how Gregor transformation into an insect changed his whole life. Even though, he was the same person from inside, he was being treated differently and
father begins to pelt Gregor with small red apples, one of them embedding in his