The Metamorphosis Symbolism Essay

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The story tries to justify the quote that it is those who are close to us who are the ones who hurt our feelings the most. The author is out to let the people know the real nature of the human beings, which is that men have lost their mortality humanity. Franz uses a large number of symbols in the short story, The Metamorphosis. For example, he uses words from the German language to pass his information such as ‘ungeziefer’ which stands for vermin. Vermin refers to an animal with undesirable trait as well as nature. It is so sad that it is the same name that the was used to define the disgusting nature of the Jewish during the Second World War The word has been used to show the groups of people that were looked down upon by the superior groups. In the story, Gregor is mistreated in the same way that the Jews were during the World War II. The other symbols used in the novel comprise of vermin, food, the dad’s uniform.

The story is just an illustration of how Gregor was having his life turn into a vermin, which implied that he was trying to walk away from his family duties as well as responsibility. This is evident from the quote “As Gregor Samsa awoke…..he found himself changed into a deadly vermin” (Franz, 7). He did not realize that the transformation as he thought it was a mere dream, but it came to pass later on. He was the breadwinner for his family, but he did not like his job. “What a grueling career did I select!” (Franz, 7). This is ironical as it was not him who selected the profession but his father. The work entailed a lot of traveling making him be far away from his own family most of the time, which seem to have played a major role in changing him into a disrespected father. The lack of respect would be from his desire to be close to his family and the failure to provide for them as