Franz Kafka 's Metamorphosis : An Interpretation

The main character of Kafka’s book, The Metamorphosis, is a normal, everyday salesman named Gregor Samsa who happens to wake up one day only to find that he had suddenly become a hideous insect overnight. Throughout the book, Gregor experiences neglect, disgust, and eventually complete isolation

     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

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.

The deeper meaning of “The Metamorphosis”, by Frank Kafka, can be interpreted in many ways depending on critical theory is used to examine it. From a feminist criticism, one can observe how Gregor’s dominance as a male diminishes after he becomes a bug as his sister’s strength and role in the family grows stronger. From a biographical criticism, one can compare and contrast the traits of Gregor and the people around him with that of Kafka’s own life and his relationships. However, the focus of this essay will be applying a psychoanalytical criticism to the characters in “The Metamorphosis”, using the studies of Sigmund Freud to approach

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.

Franz Kafka, an exceptional writer of the 20th century, is the creator of many controversial pieces of literature, which still cause a great deal of debate between scholars in this modern day and age. His collection of works feature many elaborate themes such as labyrinths of bureaucracy, physical and psychological brutality, parent-child conflict and mystical transformations. Yet it is his theme of the limits of sympathy in his 1915 novella, The Metamorphosis, which is arguably his best work. It is Kafka’s extensive use of symbolism that not only vividly illustrates this argument, but also allows readers to understand and appreciate the work as a whole. Kafka thus uses Gregorꞌs monstrous appearance, the removal of his furniture and the

In Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, Gregor’s life dramatically changes with the event of his transformation to a bug. His family is not in full acceptance of what has become of him and Gregor begins to lose himself. He had once been the provider for his family and now it is as if his family reproaches him for his inability to take care of them. Gregor wants to again have a role in his family yet recognizes that his family would be better off without him and dies. There are several situations that Gregor experiences that makes him lose all hope. From Maslow’s hierarchy of needs it can be be seen that Gregor loses his humanity including the essential needs to humans such as his safety, his desire to be successful, and his desire for affection from others. The desire to feel love from his family and their rejection is the final event that leads to his depression and at the end to his death.

Gregor’s parents evade the situation and avoid touching the subject of Gregor’s transformation. His dad forbade his mother from seeing his son. On a cleaning day, mother and sister began to remove his furniture which scared Gregor and caused him to run away. When the mother sees him, she goes into shock and faints. This episode triggers Gregor’s dad’s anger towards him as he slams Gregor with apples causing him a severe wound. When the family finds themselves in economic hardship they rent out rooms for guests. Gregor causes some problems for his family becomes very depressed and stops eating. He believes that it will be best for his family if he dies freeing them from all the problems he has caused. The next day the maid finds Gregor dead and throws him in the

Waking up one morning as an insect is not a common occurrence. Although there are many different ways to interpret and describe Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, there is no doubt that the main character, Gregor Samsa, experiences prominent acts of betrayal after his strange alteration, both with others and within himself. Consequently, The Metamorphosis embodies various examples of betrayal through Gregor’s father abandoning him, Gregor giving up his life, and Grete losing her faith in Gregor’s human restoration.

When Gregor inexplicably becomes an insect his family is primarily worried about how this will affect them, and their financial security. The morning Gregor awakes as a ‘monstrous vermin' is the first day he has missed work in five years; his family's immediate concern is for Gregor's job. His father begins to admonish him before he can even drag himself out of bed. When Gregor hears his sister crying at his door he thinks, "Why was she crying?? Because he was in danger of losing his job and then his boss would dun their parents for his old claims?" This is very significant to their relationship; he considers himself close to his sister, but feels her emotion spent on him is related to money. Gregor has been the sole breadwinner for years; working at a job he abhors only to pay his fathers debts. The family leads an extremely comfortable life of leisure; the father sits at the kitchen table and reads all day, the sister wears the best clothes and amuses herself by playing the violin, and all even take a mid-day nap. Gregor is extremely pleased and proud to provide them with this lifestyle; however, his generosity is met with resentment by his father and indifference by his sister and mother. Once the family grew accustomed to this lifestyle they no longer felt the need to be grateful, "they had grown used to it, they accepted the money, but no particularly warm feelings were generated any longer." At one point Gregor is deeply

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.

The novella, "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka, begins with the main character, Gregor Samsa, awaking from a bad dream to find himself "transformed into a monstrous verminous bug" (Kafka 255). The transformation is not questioned by Gregor nor his family, leaving them to try to adjust to this transformation without any attempt to reverse it or cure it. The significance of the drastic change that the protagonist has to face has been analyzed in various ways for its symbolic meaning. Using various critical analyses and interpreting the written work, it is ratiocinated that Franz Kafka’s "The Metamorphosis", is a fictional depiction of Kafka’s repressed internal sentiments he has as an alienated member of his family due to factors such as, an estranged relationship with his father, pressure to pursue a life he did not enjoy, and his inability to express his true feelings.

Throughout literary history, certain authors are so unique and fresh in their approach to the written word that they come to embody a genre. Franz Kafka is one such author; “Die Verwandlung” or “The Metamorphosis” is one of his works that helped coin the term “Kafkaesque.” Through this novella, Kafka addresses the timeless theme of people exploit-ing others as a means to an end. He demonstrates this point through showing that a family’s unhealthy dependence on the main character results in that character’s dependence on the family.

“The metamorphosis,” is a story by Franz Kafka, published in 1915 is a story divided in three chapters: transformation, acceptance, and the death of the protagonist. There are many interpretations that can form this tale as the indifference by the society that is concerned with different individuals, and isolation pushing some cases to the solitude. Some consider "The Metamorphosis" as an autobiography of the author, which tries to capture the loneliness and isolation that he felt at some point by his family due to his hard work. Kafka, was born the 3 of July of 1883 in Prague, in the bosom of a family wealthy belonging to the minority Jewish of language German. Son of a merchant that overwhelmed his existence, in a letter to his father, written in 1919, he expressed feelings of inferiority and parental rejection. Moreover, he lived with his family greater part of his life and did not marry, although he was engaged in two occasions. . In terms of his literary technique, scholars of his work sated that part of the characteristics of expressionism and surrealism, lucid and ironic style of Kafka, blending natural fantasy and reality, gives his work a claustrophobic and ghostly style as for example in this story. “The Metamorphosis” is one of the few works for which Kafka actively sought publication. Since Kafka 's death, critical interest in the novella has been considerable. In addition to the attention critics have placed on thematic analysis of “The Metamorphosis”,

During the time that Gregor was forced to live out the remainder of his existence in his now prison like room, many family matters occur. For one his younger sister whom he is used to taking care of now trades places with him as far as roles in responsibility go. She now after years of good loving and nurturing feels obligated to repay Gregor for all his years of dedication. Since Gregor in his current metamorphosed state cannot do his every day activities, she sees to it that he is feed and his room is kept clean though she personally finds it hard to look at him for undisclosed reasons. While she is doing this it is interesting to see how much utter disgust and loath his father looks at him with, and not for just physical reasons either. This after years of