The Theme Of Alienation And Social Status In Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka uses various themes throughout his work in The Metamorphosis. Two that stood out to me were the themes of alienation and social status. I feel as though Kafka uses Gregor’s transformation into a giant vermin as a metaphor to pique the reader 's interest and tell a frame narrative about society and class. Kafka uses his work to show his readers the alienation that Gregor feels in his life and the expectations his family, society and work have placed on him. The Metamorphosis shows us the effect money and material things have on people and how it ultimately caused Gregor to end his life.

We dive into the theme of alienation right away when Gregor wakes in the early morning and realizes that he is no longer human but has turned

We see this when Grete and his mother start clearing out his room of all the furniture. They wanted to give Gregor more space to climb and crawl around. During the move Gregor became upset and climbed on to the picture on his wall to protect it from being taken down. "It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer." This framed picture is an important item in Gregor 's room as it shows his desire for an intimate relationship, something he couldn’t have because of his work. “He saw, hanging conspicuously on the wall, which was otherwise bare already, the picture of the lady all dressed in furs, hurriedly crawled up on it and pressed himself against the glass, which gave a good surface to stick to and soothed his hot belly”. He needed some sense of normalcy in his life now that he was a vermin and this was the only thing left that made him feel like a human

In The Metamorphosis Gregor was a working class man who only concerned himself with working and providing for his family. He had no friends, no life or love interest. Gregor was capital to his boss and his family. Without his labor his boss had no product to sell or money to make and without Gregory money his family would not have had a comfortable lifestyle. Once Gregor transformed into giant vermin he became useless to society and his family. He could no longer provide for his family, which in turn like the bourgeois, began treating him like a worthless nobody by not caring for him when he needed it the most.

As per Grete “we can’t go on like this. If you can’t see it, I can. I don’t want to use the name of my brother in front of this monster, so let me just say this: we have tried as much as humanly possible to care for it and to put up with it. I don’t think it can reproach us in the