Transformation In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka, a prominent Jewish Czechoslovakian author who wrote in German, recognized as an influential writer across the globe due to his abstract and twisted, parallel societies. He is well known for inducing and bewildering oppressiveness of modern life. Furthermore, his characters usually deal with anxiety, alienation, and constantly face failure and futility. Numerous characteristics are displayed through Gregor Samsa, in Kafka’s novel, The Metamorphosis, published in 1915. A glance at the title clearly suggests that there will be some kind of transformation, being a physical or literary change, involving the characters. Kafka successfully demonstrates a change in relationship between Gregor and his family before and after his transformation.

The majority of conflicts are influenced by his drastic change, thus Gregor being imprisoned in his room which is the only physical memory he can hold on to. This is of vital importance, because Kafka utilizes Gregor’s room as a symbol of character development, conflict, the past, and recurring social tensions throughout the novel.
One day a man, the next day a monstrous vermin. Gregor Samsa came to the realization that due to his transformation he would not be able to aid his family financially anymore, nor keep a steady income, he felt guilt, sorrow, and failure. On the other hand, Gregor was no use to his family, and soon became neglected and mistreated by the ones he loved the most. Tensions begin to rise within the first few pages, “With hostile expression his father clenched his fist, as to drive Gregor back to his room” (Kafka 14). The diction of the word “hostile” itself is significant because his father’s attitude had already changed as soon as Gregor was late to his job for the first time in many years. Things really begin to change as soon as Gregor is trivial to the family, “His mother, bent low under the light, sewed delicate lingerie for a clothing store, his sister, who had taken a job as a sales girl” (38-9). The situational irony is demonstrated how his whole family held a job as soon as he stopped working, it never occurred to them before. The relationship is developed over time, and the family became less dependent and grew a lot closer without Gregor, after his metamorphosis.

Gregor remained a static character, remaining in the burden of his so called room; while everyone around him underwent a dynamic change, thus changing their attitude toward Gregor in a negative way.

Gregor beings to realizes that he cannot go to work, “I'm just opening up, in a minute. A slight indisposition, a dizzy spell, prevented me from getting up. I'm still in bed. But I already feel fine again” (11). One would typically think waking up as human sized vermin would astonishingly petrify their own being; Gregor's initial thoughts were to catch the next train since he was already late. The reader begins to notice that abstractness from Kafka, where the abnormal is a typical day in the novel. Furthermore, Gregor would ought to see the best in anyone, no matter the situation. For example, “Gregor heard him open the complicated lock and secure it again after taking out what he had been looking for. Their explanations by his father were to some extent the first pleasant news Gregor had heard since his imprisonment. He had always believed that his father had not been able to save a penny from his business…” (25). All his life, Gregor did not once question his family, and now that he found out that his father had been taking his own hard earned money for personal uses. Kafka chooses to make Gregor ignorant about the financial situation to characterize his family as selfish, and greedy. On the other hand, he has not come to realize that he has been used and taken advantage of, thus being characterized as innocent and most definitely vulnerable. It does not get much better, the diction of “imprisonment” demonstrates Gregor’s true feelings of unsatisfaction and isolation. Gregors own room stands in his between him and his family in his own point of view. While his family look at it as a resolution to having to deal with the

bug.
The relationship between Gregor, his family, and people develops into a mutual misunderstanding; The room is utilized as a physical manifestation of a burden that Gregor tries to overcome, only resulting in problems of negligence, and constant abuse. Gregor begins with no control of the situation, “I'm amazed. I thought I knew you to be a quiet, responsible person, and now you want to start strutting about, flaunting strange whims” (11). It is quite the exaggeration, how the manager comes all the way from work just to get Gregor back to work. Once again, Gregor has not missed a day in over five years and his boss is tormenting him at an unnecessary cause, only showing how Gregor had been manipulated over the course of his employment. Gregor can not do anything because he can not open the door and barely move his body. To only make things worst, “Did you understand a word...he isn’t trying to make a fool of us, is he?” (12). Kafka chooses to make Gregors language foreign to his family because in the end no one understands Gregor on a literal and on an emotional level to actually make him feel wanted. His feelings become an emotional rollercoaster, “...lying in the darkness of of his room, invisible from the living room, he could see the whole family sitting at the table under the lamp and could listen to their conversation, as it were with general permission; and so it was completely different from before” (38). Furthermore, he is not allowed to leave his room, only on certain occasions. His family actually seems a lot happier without him and can not see Gregor as a Samsa anymore. This is significant because this shows us how Gregor is a slave and is tied to the oppressive chains of misconception.
Kafka presents Gregor as a character who holds on to his memory, and past human life within his room, to be even the slightest bit of happy from his devastating alienated life. Gregor beings by expressing himself, “...lean against the window, evidently in some sort of remembrance of freedom he used to have from looking out the window... which he uses to curse because he saw so much of it, was now completely out of range” (28). This flashback is significant due to the fact that the minor things bring back major memories. It was not his choice to have a life like this, but he does have the choice to be happy, so he does so by holding on to his past. “They were clearing out his room, depriving him of everything that he loved; they had already carried away the chest of drawers, in which he kept the fretsaw and other tools...the desk he had done his homework on when he was a student at business college” (33). His tone takes a turn and suddenly feels quite hollow inside. Although he did not have that sincere and affectionate connection with his family, he was about to lose his memories. Although his furniture took up a lot of space, it meant a lot to Gregor for the little he had. “He didn't know what to salvage first, then he saw hanging conspicuously on the wall, which was otherwise bare already the picture of the lady all dressed in furs, hurried crawled up on it and pressed himself against the glass, which would give a good surface to stick to and smoothed his hot belly” (33-4). Kafka utilizes the diction of “salvage” to characterize Gregor as desperate and anguished, he seems to have a deep attraction to the women framed on the wall. It was Gregor's pleasure and the closest thing he had to a woman.
The significance of Gregor's room is a universal symbol for a variety of the literary aspects. It can be viewed as the major foundation of the novel. The character development, conflict, the past, and all sorts of social tensions are represented in not just any room, but the room where the primary basis of the novel started. Kafka demonstrates how vital the setting can be to show us how burdens can more than just a physical concept. If Kafka showed us one thing, is that life is like a room; one must find a door to their own destiny, instead of letting others close it, even the ones closest to us.