The Metamorphosis and Ethan Frome
The routine of life can bring some people a sense of stability and happiness. For others this routine can be the cause of immense discontent and a feeling of entrapment. The main characters of the books The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton both experience this feeling of being trapped by their everyday responsibilities and environment. Family obligation, societal expectation, and their internal and external appearances trap both Gregor Samsa and Ethan Frome.
One main cause for Gregor being trapped is his obligation to his family. His financial obligation alone is enough to put a great amount of pressure on him. His job and his secret plan to put his sister through school also place a demand on him. Gregor is solely responsible for repaying his parents’ old debts. The weight this puts on him is demonstrated when he says, Well, I haven’t given up hope completely; once I’ve gotten the money together to pay off my parents’ debt to him-that will probably take another five or six years-I’m going to do it without fail(Kafka 4). Even after discovering he has turned into a bug he still feels his obligation to his family.
Society also has expectations of Gregor that he cannot escape even when he is locked up in the room that eventually becomes his grave. On one of his agonizing sleepless nights he is still thinking of his workday and of people he mingles with on a daily basis. He realizes that instead of helping him and his family, they were all inaccessible and he was glad when they faded away(Kafka 43). Gregor receives no help from the society that he is so loyal to.
Gregor is obviously trapped by his external appearance. His physical limitations deepen his feeling of futility. His external appearance mimics his internal feelings, as he now feels helpless by not being able to physically carry out his responsibilities.
Ethan was also trapped by obligation to his family. It trapped him when he wanted to go off with Mattie and it trapped him for the rest of his life after the accident. Zeena was the main source of the futility of Ethan’s existence. This is shown when Ethan reflects grimly that his seven years with Zeena seemed to Starkfield ‘not so long’(Wharton 64).
Ethan was an intelligent man, he had high dreams for himself as an engineer, and he wanted to have a life away from the ceaseless drudgery of life in Starksville. When his mother died leaving Zeena without a place to go, Ethan, being the kind man he was, offered to marry her because he felt obligated to do so. This decision however shut out his hopes for a better life. In order for Ethan to get an education he must have money. In order for Ethan to get money he must sell the farm. And with a new wife to take care of he could not possibly manage it. Ethan's decision to marry Zeena had fettered his social mobility and had brought about the backlash of Zeena's discontent.
Gregor’s life slowly ends due to the betrayal of his his loved ones. He feels bad once his parents betray him and he feels he is an inconvenience. Then his sister is too busy and exhausted for him and he has nobody to help him or bring him food. Lastly, with nobody left Gregor betrays himself by simply allowing himself to die. Betrayal contributes a lot to this book as it is evident in every part of Gregor’s downfall. If Gregor’s family did not betray him, maybe they could have found him help to get better and back to normal. He also could have learned how to cope with his metamorphosis and lived with it everyday, however; Gregor’s family did betray him, and it slowly led him to end his life by starving
First and foremost Gregor was betrayed by his own parents who failed to care for him after his transformation. The initial reaction of the parents, especially his father, set the tone for the whole novel. Instead of trying to resolve the issue with a reasonable solution, his father physically abuses him, “when from behind, his father gave him a hard
As Gregor struggles to get up and prepare himself for work he realizes that he is already late. As he looks around his bed room he thinks that’s he is just dreaming and attempts to go back to sleep. After many failed attempts Gregor realized that he could not turn over on his side, which was the only position he could sleep in. Moments later, each of his family members knock on his door in an effort to see what is taking him so long. Unable to control his numerous legs, Gregor next tries to move his lower body, but finds out that it is almost impossible to move due to the unbearable pain.
The Metamorphosis is said to be one of Franz Kafka's best works of literature. It shows the difficulties of living in a modern society and the struggle for acceptance of others when in a time of need. In this novel Kafka directly reflects upon many of the negative aspects of his personal life, both mentally and physically. The relationship between Gregor and his father is in many ways similar to Franz and his father Herrman. The Metamorphosis also shows resemblance to some of Kafka's diary entries that depict him imagining his own extinction by dozens of elaborated methods. This paper will look into the text to show how this is a story about the author's personal life portrayed through his dream-like fantasies.
Sadly, Gregor's family treats him like the beast that he truly has become. Seeing the damages as irreparable, they strip him of his worldly possessions and leave him in a "naked den fit for a beast." The struggle that he puts forth when his furniture is taken is symbolic of his struggle to return to human form.
Gregor’s new life is now controlled by others. His room serves as a microcosm for his life, which he could once control but missed his chance to do. He cannot not decide between an empty room, which would
There was no room in Gregor's life for people other that his family and as a result was condemned to a life without love or caring not to mention basic companionship. He worked diligently to provide for his family and that remained his only goal in life. Gregor's family relied on him to be the "breadwinner" of the family, but gave him nothing in return. The life that he had led until now was one fully of obligations and loneliness; he came home to empty hotel rooms or his apathetic fam...
Through the incorporation of figurative language in both Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and Equus by Peter Shaffer, they set the characters in isolation during the experience of hiding emotions and focusing on other’s needs in order for the undergoing of self-discovery and peace within self. Therefore analyzing the behavior that occurs during the process and the aftermath of their seclusion will determine the success of their accomplishment with the breakthrough of peace. When comparing the two texts along with their historical context of sense of loss and alienation of individuals, the main characters, Gregor Samsa and Alan Strang, undergo the allusion of isolation and finds the understanding of self. Through the merging of characterization, it signifies the main characters difference among others in society. The exposure of Gregor and Alan’s point of view depicts their own moral belief of their priorities in life. Also in the course of their journey, they realize their epiphany which guides them in overcoming the tragedy that occurs. The overall purpose then concludes to the experience of secluding self assists an individual on a better understanding of their own identity.
Long before the story takes place, Gregor Samsa's father had a business failure that left him deep in debt. His son, Gregor, works as a commercial traveler for the company to whom he owes money; in effect, Gregor is slowly working off his father's debt. Gregor is not happy with his job, which Greenburg calls "degrading" and "soul-destroying," but believes that his family's existence depends upon him "sacrificing himself by working at this meaningless... job," and so he continues (274). Heinz Politzer goes far enough to say that Gregor is a slave to his boss (276), which would imply that there is no escape for Gregor- at least, no conventional escape.
Gregor’s denial takes place when he prepares for work, ignoring his transformation, “First of all he wanted to get up quietly, […] get dressed, […] have breakfast, and only then think about what to do next” (Kafka 6). By characterizing Gregor as determined, Kafka shows his protagonist’s resolve to remain firm in ignoring his transformation for his family’s sake. Typically, such a metamorphosis would warrant panic, but Gregor is so selfless that he denies his own emotions to be useful for his family. Through the sequential syntax employed in this quoate, Kafka shows that Gregor does not want to stray from his usual routine. This attribute, along with his physical transformation, separates Gregor from humanity.
Due to his current state as a bug, he wants to keep his distance from his family as they are already afraid of him. It states, “In order to spare her even this sight, one day he dragged the sheet on his back onto the couch (this task took him four hours) and arranged it in such a way that he was now completely concealed and his sister, even if she bent down, could not see him.” This shows that he is isolating himself for his family from being able to see his body as a bug. He is confined to himself under the couch or under sheets so he can solve his problem of this conversion by himself. Gregor has to physically hide himself from the tenants who come into the house so they do not run away due to fear. This shows the theme of isolation because he can not get out of hiding or else people will fear him. The novel demonstrates his struggle as a bug since he is forced to isolate himself due to the perspective of
Hence, after his unexpected transformation, the family’s financial situation, as well as the parents and sister themselves, change drastically; what were once three people who used to depend on Gregor for every single penny now find themselves all working to sustain themselves. By the same token, it can be seen that Gregor, in a way, depends heavily on the family himself; this dependence can be seen in his need to be their caretaker, an identity he then loses in his transformation. In the time that follows Gregor’s identity loss, he deteriorates, and eventually dies, due to his inability to form an identity shaped to benefit his now self-sufficient family. It is thus by this sort of “identity dependence” aspect of Gregor that ultimately leads to his downfall as caretaker and his family’s ascension into self-sufficiency. This notion is better expressed in Inez Martinez’s article on unconsciousness and survival in The Metamorphosis, who says, “Gregor is a portrait of a human so invincibly unconscious that even if an unconscious identity is revealed to him through a literalized transformation, he continues to garner his sense of who he is from without rather than from within.” A safe assumption, then, may be that Gregor has been experiencing an existential crisis in the entirety of
Gregor, despite being the main provider for the family, was locked in his room and isolated from humanity after his transformation. “His room, a regular human room, only a little on the small side, lay quiet between the four familiar walls.” (Kafka, Part I). Kafka describes Gregor Samsa as feeling out of place in his own room as he thought of the room as a human room rather than the home of a bug. “The manager burst out with a loud “Oh!” it sounded like a rush of wind – and now he could see him standing closest to the door, his hand pressed over his open mouth slowly backing away, as is repulsed by an invisible unrelenting force.” (Kafka Part 1). Prior to this point of the novella Gregor had chosen to live a life of detachment, locking himself in his own room at times. The manager’s reaction to seeing Gregor was the first time Gregor experienced isolation and exile from someone other than himself. As described by Franz Kafka in “The Metamorphosis” Gregor Samsa, previously chose to be detached from society, after he transformed into a bug his family imposed isolation upon
...fact that his condition requires aid and later is upset that his parents devote more time to the alien “roomers” than to him (45). Guilt also dominates Gregor’s thoughts, causing him to feel stressed because of his inability to thank his sister and parents for their care. Ironically, Gregor’s “vacation” from work seems to add to his anxiety more than his stressful job had. Perhaps the only way to find enduring peace of mind is to abandon everything, both the good and bad, Kafka suggests; introducing the word peaceful into his story just four pages from the end. After realizing that “his conviction that he would have to disappear was... firmer than his sister’s,” Gregor at last dies in “peaceful reflection,” realizing that his darkness is “beginning to grow light” (51). Having nothing, being nothing, wanting nothing- what a sigh of relief! I would rather stay anxious.