Examples Of Dehumanization In The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

     Throughout the story there is a metamorphosis that is taking place in his home. He has traded places with the family and is now living the life they had previously embelished in. His father begins to work along with his sister and his mother must now work and do the cooking and cleaning. Gregor on the other hand does nothing but daydream, crawl, and nap through his days. One ironic statement from his sister “He must go, if this were Gregor he would have realized long ago human beings can’t live with such a creature, he’d have gone away one his own accord. This creature persecutes us, drives away our lodgers, obviously wants the whole apartment to himself, and would have us all sleep in the gutter.” How selfish of her, had he not taken care of them and he was not the only one working

In Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, the character Gregor transforms from a man into a bug, specifically a cockroach. Although Gregor physically changes, he does not change as a person. Gregor merely accepts his new condition as a bug and his family’s continuous abuse and hostility. Gregor’s acceptance of his new bug form is representative of his passive personality before and after his transformation. Gregor’s passivity, in response to the hostile world around him, causes his eventual downfall. Therefore, Kafka uses the character Gregor to exemplify how a passive attitude can cause one’s demise.

Almost everyday people are getting abused around the world, and its up to the point that its becoming more and more common in todays time period. He's getting abuse so much but still he changed into a bug. When Gregor turns into a bug his family doesn't want to deal with anymore, so that makes his father abuse him. I believe in "The Metamorphosis" Gregor father abuses him physically, mentally, emotionally.

Grete undergoes a change in perspective to such a degree that by the end of the novella it is she who declares, “we must get rid of it” (84). This change in perspective shows how Kafka believes that members of society often stop sympathizing with the isolated group when it becomes inconvenient for them to continue doing so. Gregor’s mother reacts in an initial manner somewhere between the father and sister since when first seeing him she “went two steps toward Gregor and collapsed right in the middle of her skirts” (23). These conflicting desires continue through the novella, such as when Mr. Samsa tries to kill Gregor, “she begged him to spare Gregor’s life” (65) but at the same time she is repulsed by him. This illustrates how she wants to help him and tries to think of him the same way she did before his transformation, yet is unable to. This resembles the idealists in society who theoretically support the alienated person but often succumb to social pressures when they are forced to face the problem. These three reactions to Gregor’s transformation as a result of the initiation of his isolation by the manager demonstrate the spectrum of reactions. From the immediate acceptance of the hierarchy represented by Mr. Samsa, to the true compassion of Grete and the idealism of Mrs. Samsa, Kafka shows how a wide variety of reactions is expected from society, and how people often change their opinions.

In the beginning of the story, Grete and Gregor are close. An example of this is when Grete brings Gregor the different foods to choose from. She cared enough about him to go through the trouble of bringing him different types of foods to discover what he likes and dislikes. According to The Metamorphosis, “Only the sister remained close to Gregor” (Kafka 26). This phrase indicates that Gregor’s sister is the only family member who still truly appreciates Gregor. Even when the mother, and especially the father, becomes hostile to Gregor, the sister takes care of Gregor and comforts him. Even though Grete’s affection for Gregor slowly diminishes, he still displays great amounts of concern toward her. An example is when she takes on multiple jobs to help make money. Gregor feels guilty for not being able to work, and seeing Grete suffer physically and mentally because of her jobs adds to his guilt. Another example is when Grete performs for the boarders. When she plays, the boarders do not display much admiration or attention toward her, which upsets Gregor. This concern and protectiveness toward Grete demonstrates Gregor’s concern for her as well. As stated by Kafka, “if she did not do so on her own, he would rather starve than bring it to her attention” (23). This statement describes to readers that Gregor would rather die than

Grete starts to take on more adult responsibilities but starts t close her ability to care for Gregor. Gregor notices how much she has started to grow up and questions wether or not she should

Instead of staying on her brother’s side and feeding him and taking care of him she to is begging to abandon him, as she sees he has nothing to offer to the family anymore. Grete also believes that he is killing his parents on the inside and that “It will be the death of you [them].” (1187). She keeps insisting that this bug is not Gregor and is not a part of the family. Grete even thinks that all the disintegration that is happening to their family is to be blamed on Gregor.

Many views of existentialism are exposed in Kafka's Metamorphosis. One of these main views is alienation or estrangement which is demonstrated by Gregor's relationship with his family, his social life, and the way he lives his life after the metamorphosis. Namely, it suggests that man is reduced to an insect by the modern world and his family; human nature is completely self absorbed. Kafka reflects a belief that the more generous and selfless one is, the worse one is treated. This view is in direct conflict with the way things should be; man, specifically Gregor should be treated in accordance to his actions. Gregor should be greatly beloved by his family regardless of his state. This idea is displayed in three separate themes. First,

In the beginning of the story, Grete is near the bottom. When the family realizes that Gregor has transformed into a giant bug, Gregor is put below Grete, effectively giving Grete an upgrade in status. With the little power given, Grete had, “This feeling sought release at every opportunity, and with it Grete now felt tempted to want to make Gregor’s situation even more terrifying” (Kafka 45). Grete has been oppressed her whole life and had a feeling that “sought release at every opportunity” which meant her upgrade in stature was her quick release. Once Grete was given the role of caretaker for Gregor, she felt her female paradigm slipping away. She was not satisfied with being a caretaker and wanted to “make Gregor’s situation even more terrifying”. Grete did not want to have to take of Gregor, it was a mother’s job and Gregor was not her son. Grete wanted to terrify Gregor because it made her feel more dominant. In “Transforming Franz Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’”, Nina Pelikan Straus elaborates on Grete’s role and how she does not want to continue it. Grete cared for her brother, she was the first to feed and take care of him in the story however when she sees new responsibilities given to her she rebels against her role as his caretaker. Nina Pelikan Straus states, “early twentieth-century masculine attitudes toward women and transforms these attitudes by presenting Grete and Ms. Samsa

This obsession proves fatal during his appearance at Grete’s violin performance. Gregor, in an attempt to remind his sister of the past times when he wanted to send her to a conservatory, sneaks out from his room to hear Grete’s beautiful music. In that daring act Gregor hopes that his family will see his reasoning behind revealing himself. Kafka asks, “Was he [Gregor] a beast if music could move him so?” Gregor’s sudden appearance only convinces his family that he is, indeed, a beast. By frightening and disgusting his family’s tenants, Gregor causes the household even more grief. Grete fails to see the humanity left in Gregor and rejects her brother. She implores, “Father, you must just try to get rid of the idea that this is Gregor. The fact that we’ve believed it for so long is the root of all our trouble.” Gregor, hearing this, then realizes he can never recreate his past humanity. He curls up and dies, as that is the only thing he sees fit to

Throughout the story there are many situations where Kafka shows when he is mainly writing about his own life. One instance where he shows through his writing is when Gregor's mom says, “‘That boy has nothing on his mind but the business. It’s almost begun to rile me that he never goes out nights.”’(page.13). Gregor just like Kafka, never goes out and has lived with his family his almost his whole life. Both Gregor and Kafka are always alone except when they go to work. They both live a lonely, sad, and isolated life and it is very apparent because neither Kafka and Gregor are able to have an intimate relationship with anyone. In Kafka’s novel he shows that when he is writing about Gregor he really is writing about himself in many different ways even if it isn't apparent right away. As the book progresses it shows more and more that Kafka is writing about

Gregor had previously worked hard as his family's sole provider without much recognition them, but once he transformed into a giant insect, all his physical humanity and worth, according to his family, was lost . However Gregor retains human thoughts and emotions, showing the readers that he is still mentally human and “normal”. As the story progresses, his family starts to abandon him, seeing him more as a burden, an “it” rather than a person in their family. This shows a big character change, especially in Grete, Gregor's sister. Grete had been the one who selflessly took care of Gregor in his insect form when his parents had been too ashamed and afraid to. However, even Grete eventually says: “We must try to get rid of it,” seeing Gregor as too much of a burden (85). She had transitioned from being selfless to being selfish, undergoing her own transformation from one side of humanity to the other. Gregor, ironically, was the only selfless one by the end of the story, choosing to sacrifice himself in order to relieve his burden on his family. His family further showed signs of being on the darker side of humanity by “...giv[ing] thanks to God” for Gregor’s death, a completely different reaction from Nagg’s crying as a result of Nell’s death

The only reason Gregor’s continued presence is tolerated in the home is due to the Samsa’s fading memory of their son’s humanity. It is Grete, who’s transformation reaches a climax when she begins to change from a loving sister, once concerned with bringing her brother, as Kafka writes “[food in]… a wide range of choices, all spread out on an old newspaper” (280), to a inconsiderate sibling who no longer recognizes the humanity of her brother despite his physical form, unwilling to see or meet any of his emotional needs, and even going so far as to refer to him as an ‘it’ rather than a member of the family. Grete’s dehumanization of Gregor is expressed by Kafka throughout the story, beginning with Grete’s decision to remove all the furniture in Gregor’s room, “They were cleaning out his room, taking away from him everything he loved (286).” And then from her impassioned plea to her parents in which she cries: “We can’t go on like this. Maybe you don’t realize it, but I do.

There comes a time when one’s life has experienced a series of downfalls and the only thing left to do is to transform into something entirely different. In the Metamorphosis, a short story written by Franz Kafka, Gregor Samsa is an individual that endures a transformation into an insect due to this process. For Samsa, entangled within madness, he tries to take on his old lifestyle of a vague cycle and, as a bug, he fails to adapt to a new life.

“We must try to get rid of it,” his sister now said explicitly to her father, since her mother was coughing too much to hear a word, “it will the death of both of you, I can see that coming.” In this statement Grete is at her wits-end about what to do with the bug that contains her brother’s soul. She no longer sees and semblance of him left in the creature, and wills it to leave on it's own. If she had been able to better understand Gregor, she would have seen that he is still a “he” and not an