Theme Of Isolation In The Metamorphosis

The main existential themes/ideas in The Metamorphosis are absurdity and alienation/isolation as shown throughout Gregor and his life. The absurdity in life shows that anything strange can happen at any given time and “existing as a human is wholly absurd”. Isolation shows that one may have to conceal themselves from others due to several reasons. Throughout the novel, both absurdity and alienation are presented by Gregor Samsa when he turns into a bug and has to hide from his family as a result.
In philosophy, absurdity is the human inability to find a meaning to your life. It is used to describe something that is nearly impossible, which is similar to the idea in The Metamorphosis. One way the novel presents an existential theme of absurdity is when Gregor transforms into a bug while he is asleep. It states, “ he has been changed into a monstrous verminous bug.” Gregor’s reaction shows that this conversion did not make an impact on his life and he

continued to think about his daily routine. He thinks about how he will get to work and how his manager will react to him being late. Changing into a large bug is one of Gregor’s least worries and it seems his life is completely normal in his perspective. This shows a theme of existentialism because there is no exact reason for his metamorphosis into a bug, however the reader can interpret the situation in any way. The concept of Gregor shifting to a bug is absurd as it is impossible without any reason and this shift making no change in his life expresses the same idea.
Alienation/Isolation is the state of being separated from others and being confined to yourself.

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

society.
The Metamorphosis demonstrates many ideas of isolation such as Gregor isolating himself from his family and isolating himself from society. Even before his transformation, Gregor usually did things without interacting with anyone other than his family. He always took the early train to work because of his struggle of collaborating with his coworkers. Gregor knew he would not be able to communicate with others so he purposely took measures to not talk. Even at home, he would read the newspaper by himself and do fretwork without getting any assistance. Gregor has always struggled with communicating with others even before his metamorphosis into a bug. This demonstrates an idea of existentialism because he is unable to interact with others and always does things so he doesn't have to talk to people.
In conclusion, both alienation/isolation and absurdity are predominant existential themes in the novel The Metamorphosis. Absurdity is shown through the main conflict of the novel which is Gregor transforming into a large bug. Alienation/Isolation is shown throughout Gregor’s struggle of communicating with others and isolating himself from the family due to fear.