Analysis Of Franz Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis'

Everyone has people they depend on. People that he or she knows will always be there when they’re needed. But what happens when those people just don’t show up or just all of a sudden stop caring? The feeling of loneliness can break down a person’s character and reduce him to a shell, or in this case and exoskeleton, of who he once was. We can see this in The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. When Gregor Samsa finds himself transformed into a giant beetle-like creature, what he needs more than anything is the love and support of his family, but he disgusts them. They shut him up in his room so that no one can see him. They are ashamed of him, and quickly forget that he was part of their own flesh and blood. All that they can see is the monster that appears on the on the outside. Gregor’s sister and parents betray his love for them and leave him feeling lonely in the most terrifying and desperate time of his life.

In the metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, there are significant actions and transformations which make the story sad, and strange with a happy ending. Explanations that are dramatic events that intensify the excitement of all these actions. Reality and reflection play an important role in this story because the events that happened could be applied and assimilated with modern society.

Analysis of the story “The Metamorphosis”, by Franz Kafka was written back in the early 1900’s, but reflected a more modern way of thinking and lifestyle of today. Gregor felt that he was a slave to his job, isolated from his co-workers, and misunderstood by his family. Although that is the norm in today’s society, it was not the norm back then. In the story Gregor finds himself transformed into a cockroach and his internal struggles become a permanent reality. Kafka’s choice of the family member to play the role of the cockroach was necessary in portraying the curse of the working man only living each day in hurried lifestyle with no freedom.

“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug.” (Kafka 3) That right there is the famous opening line to The Metamorphosis, that line drags people in and make them want to read more of the novel. Franz Kafka gave vivid details of the morning Gregor had woke up realizing that he had changed into a monstrous verminous bug. What people don’t realize is that Gregor is Franz Kafka, it all started during 1912. “The aftermath of the war (raging as Kafka composed The Metamorphosis) was the “Balkan slaughterhouse,” as it widely called at the time with well over 200,000 soldiers killed in a few weeks” (Stach 227). Franz Kafka started writing about the dejection, which led him to envisioning himself as a large insect which is what gave him the idea to write The Metamorphosis. “The protagonist of The Metamorphosis,Gregor Samsa, has declined from a respected army lieutenant into his present status as giant house pest” (Whitlark 3).

The Menace of Expectations In Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, he describes a huge life change for a man named Gregor. One day, Gregor wakes up and finds himself transformed into a bug. Scholars have tirelessly debated whether Gregor transforms into an actual bug or a figurative bug. State aside, it is impossible, unrealistic, to think that a man can one day become a bug. Gregor becoming a literal bug is more extreme than if he would wake up just “think” that he is a bug.

Writing and literature is seen as a way for the author to freely express his or her ideas to the public. In writing, the author has control of every aspect of their work and allows for the writer, no matter the world state, a sense of freedom inside their work. The 20th century, battered by economic depression and two world wars, saw these writers take their creative control to emphasize the current state of the freedom and control of the individual. Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, various World War I poems, and Brecht’s Fear and Misery of the Third Reich show the lack of individual freedom and control that people had over their lives during the destruction that occurred in the 20th century.

Franz Kafka is known for his fusion of realism and fantasy elements in his stories, often featuring characters in isolated scenarios where the characters have unexplained attributes or powers. In the Kafka novella, The Metamorphosis features a protagonist that become isolated from his family. Gregor, the main character, wakes up as a bug mysteriously. The transformation leads to Gregor and his family adjusting to his metamorphosis. Furthermore, strangely, the novella is about Gregor’s family changes and development throughout novella and about him as a character.

The metamorphosis advances the existentialism view that choice is the opportune of the individual. It is the responsibility of the individual to maintain a balance between work and leisure. The story gives a sense, that if one chooses to devote their life to work will just make them droning incest, and if they devote their life to only leisure they will still not maintain a stable life. A balance in life needs to be maintained. Gregor doesn’t seem to know that his choice of working was making him very unhappy. Even though, Gregor was not maintaining his job very well and failing it, whereas he ignores the basic needs for social interaction by working hard and long hours. For a long time of reaping in the unwanted started to effect him. In spite of, one day Gregor awakens to find himself with the body of monstrous vermin. However, it is never explained in the book how he was morphed into a vermin. “When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams "What's happened to me?" he thought. It was no dream”. (Kafka) Kafka never mentioned the reason of Gregor weird transformation, but he gives reader a sense that Gregor’s life was always a misery and when he woke up in the morning he didn’t doubted the miserable things happening to him, In fact he

In Metamorphosis, through the personal detached perspective of Gregor Samsa, Franz Kafka makes a societal statement on the modern middle-class human existence as petty and inherently meaningless by comparing the struggles of an average business man, such as Gregor, to that of a lowly insect. Kafka utilizes how Gregor sees his existence in society, and how it relates to his metamorphosis, to criticize how we lose our basic human goodness in a middle-class working society that is chiefly concerned with money. At the start of the book, Gregor is characterized as the average middle-class working provider. He possesses the perspective of being the head of a household: the strong sense of unwavering and righteous duty to provide for his family,

In the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, the style of his writing enhances the nightmarish feeling the work portrays. “But then he said to himself: "Before it strikes quarter past seven I'll definitely have to have got properly out of bed. And by then somebody will have come round from work to ask what's happened to me as well, as they open up at work before seven o'clock." And so he set himself to the task of swinging the entire length of his body out of the bed all at the same time” (Paragraph 13, Lines 1 and 2). Gregor is immediately turned into an unidentified bug at the very beginning of the story. Instead of him focusing on his own person problem of being transformed, he is more worried about getting out of bed to go to work. This gives the reader an uneasy feeling right at the start.

Last, but not least the dialogue was withdrawn in the film. The was the most important meaning of the story. In the film Gregor only spoke in the beginning of the segment. Otherwise throughout the picture he was mute, his family was the only ones who was talking. It's essential for the dialogue to be present, for that's the only way the author can communicate to it's audience. According to Kafka, Ms.Samasa wanted to remove some items out of Gregor's room; Gregor appeared to her and caused her to become faint (Kafka, ch.2). Mr. Samsa entered the home frantic from the sight of his wife and asked Grete what transpired. Grete explains how Gregor frightened her. Mr. Samsa replies by saying " Just as I always said, by you women wouldn't listen would

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is an early twentieth century masterpiece in which the author tries to convey a certain theme to readers. To really understand this theme, readers have to be informed on who Kafka is and why he wants to convey a theme. They should be informed on him because they can better understand the protagonist, Gregor, and get a glimpse of why he feels a certain way about something. In this scenario, the theme is trying to display mankind’s descent into something sub-human. Mankind’s descent into something sub-human can be represented through Kafka’s depiction of Gregor’s tragic literal and metaphorical transformations.

Kafka was critical in bringing the new outlook on modern culture and particularly on modern man. Franz Kafka studied the modern man in the face of contemporary culture, and how he was steadfast in retaining his spirituality and identity, and gravitate towards authenticity and happiness. However, Kafka saw how the dehumanizing forces of industrialization and capitalism in the post- the WWI Europe posed a challenge to the modern man. Modern culture can be viewed tolerating and open to all. To Franz Kafka, modern culture coupled with technology is fast changing, and man has to maintain his self-consciousness in order not lose his spirituality and identity amidst these changes (Wintle pp. 708-710). Hence, as modern culture changes with the changing technology, religions are poised to change too, which presents fears to a man about losing his spirituality and identity upon embracing the modern culture. Interestingly, Kafka was mystical in his writings, with a keen interest in themes such as metamorphosis, existential and identity. If we look at “The Metamorphosis,” we can view the idea of how the dehumanizing effects of capitalism and industrialism are indicated within the writings. Kafka contends we become dehumanized with buying power and working too much. The transformation of Gregor seems to indicate a denial of responsibility to the changing forms of society’s conventions and values.

Franz Kafka is a twentieth century author who's most of his work would not be published if it were not for his acquaintance who refused to get rid of all of Kafka's work upon his request. Kafka's first pieces of literature were published in 1908. These were 8 stories were published in periodicals. He would write letters, as well as short stories and novels. Amongst his novels he wrote Amerika written in 1912, The Trial written in 1914, The Castle written in 1922. Kafka's writing is very symbolic and as well as very original although there might be tension at times. The Novel, The Metamorphosis was published in 1915. This story

1. Gregor’s initial reaction to his transformation, more specifically his worrying about missing the train and dwelling on the hardships of his job, reveals the extent to which Gregor’s own self-identity and way of life is dependent on his work. While most people would probably be horrified to find themselves transformed into a bug, Gregor instantly thinks of his job because that is what comprises Gregor’s identify and without his job he has no purpose or worth in his society. As Gregor contemplates his future, he thinks to himself, “Well, there’s still some hope; once I’ve got the money together to pay off my parents’ debt to him [his boss] – another five or six years I suppose – that’s definitely what I’ll do. That’s when I’ll make the big change” (Kafka 8).