Alienation In The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

The title of the story “The Metamorphosis”, by Franz Kafka is misleading. Merriam-Webster defines metamorphosis as the “change of physical form, structure or substance, especially by supernatural means, a striking alteration in appearance, character or circumstance”. While there is an obvious change in the appearance of the character Gregor Samsa, it becomes apparent after reading the story, that his appearance is not the only thing that transforms. In the story, Gregor wakes up one morning to realize that he has changed into a giant insect. Not only did he transform into a creature, but he was also stripped of his humanity. The author Franz Kafka uses this symbolism to focus the reader's attention on one character that mirrors himself and his life. Both Kafka and Gregor are traveling salesman from Prague, experience dysfunctional personal relationships throughout their life and suffer from psychological conditions including alienation and isolation. Franz Kafka’s life, a heartbreaking story of human conflict, parallels with the main character of metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa.

It appears that the people who care the most end up getting hurt by the ones they love. The more time, energy, love, and money that a person sometimes invests get thrown back in their face once something drastic happens. In turn, this causes feelings of worthlessness and isolation and can eventually lead to death. Franz Kafka understands this better than anyone else and can portray this in his novella, the Metamorphosis. In his novella, The Metamorphosis, the protagonist, Gregor Samsa is one who undergoes a physical and mental transformation due to the unrelenting pressures that his father placed upon him which eventually cause him to die. At the heart of the father-son relationship lies Gregor and his father whose relationship is explored

In The Metamorphosis, Gregor is completely isolated throughout his whole life with his lonely job and later on due to his condition. When he was a human, a traveling salesman, he did not have a life outside of his job. Gregor focuses so much of his time on work, that his mother often worries that, “All that boy thinks about is work” (12). He isolates himself by not leaving the house when he is off the clock. He reads the paper, studies the train schedules and spends his time carving small frames all by himself. By doing this, he pushes himself away from a chance to socialize with others and create relationships. Gregor describes his traveling job as extremely lonely. He enlightens the readers on page 7 and 8 with a description that, “the steady stream of faces who never become anything closer than acquaintances”. Human beings need to have communal interactions with others. If not, well, it might bug you to death. When Gregor realizes that he is now a monstrous vermin, the alienation he experiences becomes even worse. He locks himself away in his room for days at a time. At first, his sister Grete, was understanding of his current condition. She often made meals for him to eat and left the living room of the house unattended, so Gregor could walk around. As Gregor

Prior to the metamorphosis Gregor led a physically isolating life with little time for anything other than superficial relationships. Hinted at the beginning of the piece he longed to break free from his traveling salesman's job and shrug off the financial burden placed on his back. The metamorphosis was equally as mentally imprisoning as to what it was physically. Gregor was unable to express his emotions or even communicate his needs to his family this ultimately led to the family’s gradual shift of resentment towards him solely because they were unable to see how much of their once family member remained.

The metamorphosis very possibly was written by Kafka as an outlet for his feelings of isolation and helplessness. In it, the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, awakens one morning to find himself spontaneously "transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin." The story continues from there in a most realistic fashion: his family rejects him, and he stays cooped up in his room until he dies. Although interpretations of the story differ, my opinion is that Kafka wrote this story as a protestation, whether consciously or unconsciously, of his own inner needs not being met. Franz Kafka suffered from severe mental disorientation. This man suffered severe tragedies as a child: as the first child

After Gregor's metamorphosis, he stays in his room all the time. Gregor also doesn’t get to really talk to anyone or come out of his room his sister cleans his room but she doesn’t every really stay in there that long and they don’t talk to each other. The mother can’t even look at Gregor after his metamorphosis into a bug.

Gregor feels isolated because not even his own boss will listen to him and Gregor feels like nobody will listen to him, so why bother speaking and hanging out with his family. Physically, we can also see how Gregor's isolation as a bug is mirrored to his life before. In one instance, Gregor's mother had passed out at the realization that this gigantic bug really was Gregor, and right as that happened, his father had walked in: “It was clear to Gregor that his father had badly misunderstood Grete’s short message and was assuming that Gregor had committed some violent crime or other”(Kafka 18). Gregor's father had walked in to see his wife on the floor with Greta by her side and Gregor standing across the room, and without any words said, Gregor's father assumed it was something that Gregor had done out of violence. This could mean that Gregor, before his transformation, was violent and had a bad reputation with people, so his father walked in and just immediately assumed that Gregor had done something to cause

In Franz Kafka’s fiction novella The Metamorphosis, the isolation of Gregor Samsa is made apparent as he “[looks] out the window, obviously with some sort of memory of the freedom he formerly enjoyed”. As Gregor loses his humanity, his physical isolation parallels the social isolation he experiences from his family and society. Through the use of theme, symbolism, and characterization, Gregor’s transformation reflects the changes within an individual, a family, and a society.

Metamorphosis- a striking change in appearance, form, or structure. Change is viewed throughout Franz Kafka’s novel, The Metamorphosis. Kafka’s character, Gregor Samsa, goes through several changes and his transformation calls for change in his family. Everyone in the Samsa family undergoes some type of change throughout the novel, but one subject that did not change was Gregor’s feelings towards his family before and after his metamorphosis.

Kafka carefully utilizes doors as a symbol to convey the theme of isolation throughout the novel. Doors are first mentioned when Gregor’s father forces him back into his room and the narrator states, “The door was slammed shut with the cane, and finally it was quiet” (26). This is the beginning of Gregor’s confinement in his room as his family members are mortified by his his new appearance. Kafka ends the chaos among the family with a sense of relief which reflects the comfort Gregor feels behind closed doors, alone. Within the walls of his bedroom, Gregor uses the door as a portal to his family, Kafka describes that, “In the living room, as Gregor saw through the crack in the door, the gas was lit, but where on other occasions at this time

You know those weird people that you see that you think are so different that they have no value in society, these people are called outsiders. You are wrong though outsiders have a huge value in our society. Outsiders have a value in society. They can bring new ideas and knowledge.

A fundamental and underlying reason for Gregor and Kafkas imposed alienation is the lack of ability to communicate with their families. As Gregor speaks through his door on the first day of his metamorphosis, nobody in the house has a clue as to what he is saying. Gregor’s mother calls out to Grete, Gregor's sister, and shouts”Call the doctor that was the voice of an animal”(Kafka 12). Nobody in Gregor’s family can understand a thing he says, relinquishing his ability to convey his needs. Without the ability to convey thoughts and desires, Gregor has no choice but to forever be alienated and suffer alone. Afterwards Grete pleads

“He was lying on his back as hard as armor plate, and when he lifted his head a little, he saw his vaulted brown belly, sectioned by arch-shaped ribs, to whose dome the cover, about to slide off completely, could barely cling” (3). With this startling opening, Franz Kafka begins his story, The Metamorphosis. Kafka tells the story of Gregor Samsa, a man who has turned into a vermin overnight. Throughout the story, money plays an important role by having a significant effect on relationships within the Samsa family. Gregor Samsa is burdened with the fact that his family depends on him to bring money home.

Gregor only lives to work and serve the ‘queen’ of his ‘colony’, his family. He has his ““parents and sister to think of,”” (44) but he hardy think about himself. Gregor and his family seem to simply accept the transformation and act as though the protagonist is non-existent. The family sees Gregor (himself included) as worthless, since he can no longer provide. Additionally, at the beginning of the tale, he alienates himself from his family, he always “sits at the table, […] quietly reading the newspaper.”

Marx would say this was because the bourgeoisie no longer benefited from Gregor so he no longer needed him around. Supporting that statement, as soon as the manager saw that Gregor in his transformed state, he fled the house and never returned or sent any word to the family. After Gregor becomes unable to support his family financially, they all eventually abandon him as well. Marx and Engels state that "The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation into a mere money relation" (771). The Metamorphosis shows an example of this when Gregor is no longer capable of working which leads him to be unfit to provide for his family with money, his relationships suffer. The second person in the story, first person in Gregor's family to abandon him is his own father. Gregor has worked his whole life trying to pay off his father's debts. Gregor and his father were never very close and was the harshest towards Gregor. His father never once tries to help his son once he has transformed into this inset instead he shames him and even attempts to kill him. For example, upon first seeing his transformed son, he "clenched his fists, as if to drive Gregor back into his room" (15). Then, one day when his son is trapped outside of his room, he attacks him by throwing fruit. The apple that he threw left Gregor with a "serious wound, from which he