Kafka Dehumanization

Although Gregor turned into a bug, the real Metamorphosis occurred before the change and with the whole family. Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis reflects the ideals about industrialization and existentialism during the turn of the century. In the novella, Gregor turns into a bug, and the whole family has to deal with it in different ways. Many characters go through a metamorphosis in the novella. Although the changes may not be physical the changes occurred greatly in Gregor, Mr. Samsa, and Grete.

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.

At that moment Gregor was no longer himself he had actually turn in to something new. He did know who he was, and how does his life is going to change. However Kafka did not turn in to a bug, but he belonged to a generation of Jews who were not fully integrated in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In nineteenth century majority of the Jews in the Austro-Hungarian Empire lived in the countryside and spoke Yiddish in an empire that spoke German. Kafka just as when Gregor transformed in to the bug had many restrictions. Gregor could move because the rest of his body was bigger then his many small leg, his belly divided in to many stiff section. That was an unusual situation so he did not know how to handle the situation. Kafka in the other hand his Jewish generation were not free to chose where they can lived, who they can have a relationship with and even if they can have children or not. Just as Gregor had to come to term with him become a bug. Kafka had to adapt with being a Jews with limited access to things around

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.

The first example of distortion in this novella is the description of Gregor’s physical appearance when, “[he] found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. 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… His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, were waving helplessly before his eyes” (Kafka 3). Despite this physical description, the reader can infer that Gregor is not an insect due to the author’s background, the time period in which Kafka wrote and set The Metamorphosis in, and additional plot details further into the novella. Kafka suffered from debilitating self-image issues that

In our interactive Oral we discussed about Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, through point of time and place matter, the relation to the society, the culture and experience and the technique in the work, I learned about the society oppressive expectation can lead an individual to loss in identity

In the beginning of the novella, Gregor undergoes a transformation. Many readers view his transformation as he turns into a bug because of the way Kafka describes Gregor. Kafka may have been undergoing a transformation of his own. Kafka dealt with many issues growing up such as self doubt, issues with his father, and eventually, health issues. Like Kafka, Gregor deals with issues with his father and within himself and begins to feel less and less like himself as the novella continues. He awakes from his sleep to ask himself, “What’s happened to me (Kafka, 3)?” With the conflicts Gregor has with his family, especially his father, he begins to feel unwanted and unappreciated. Gregor also feels that he is becoming less sensitive when that used to be one of his main traits as a human (Kafka, 24). Seeing that Gregor is losing his sensitivity, that shows that he is truly losing himself since he is losing one of his main traits. Feeling less like himself, Gregor becomes more distant with his close

In the novella, Gregor transforms into an insect; he and his family must navigate his new life as a bug. As Gregor undergoes a physical transformation, there is also a shift in financial power in his family. Kafka shows that a capitalist society dehumanizes the working class, this is seen through the characterization of Gregor, the symbolism of food, and diction surrounding Gregor’s father

In the novella The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, the main character Gregor undergoes a physical transformation from human to bug. Despite this change in appearance, he maintains his human brain as insect tendencies slowly take over his day to day behavior. He maintains his thoughtless state of mind, memories, and inner dialogue during his exterior transformation. Although he maintains his mental capacities, it is his change in appearance that causes his family to turn against him and eventually kill him. These events show how people can become dehumanized by society and the government only because of a difference in behavior or appearance.

In his novel The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka describes his own life through the life of his protagonist Gregor Samsa.  Careful study of Franz Kafka's life shows that Kafka's family, workplace, and reaction to the adversity in his family and workplace are just like those of Gregor.  So we might ask why Gregor was transformed into a bug since Kafka obviously never turned into a bug.  The absurd image illustrates how Gregor lacks self-respect and feels like he's a bug in the eyes of his family and society.  Franz Kafka was unhappy and never found his place in life, either.  Therefore, he might have felt just like Gregor, like a bug.  Furthermore the novel describes Kafka's expectations of his own future and he was partially

One aspect of Magical Realism Franz Kafka uses is realistic elements. The start of Gregor’s morning is similar a normal morning where “his immediate reaction was to get up quietly without being disturbed, to put on his clothes, and above all, eat his breakfast” (1113) before going to work. During this scene, Gregor still thinks like a human, however he has physically turned into a bug. A human’s normal thoughts, on a weekday, is to get up and get ready to go to

Franz Kafka uses metaphors in the story to show the readers that Gregor’s worthless and useless as a human bug. By doing so, Franz is able to show the readers how Gregor human life is really similar to a bug life.

Kafka certainly starts the novella off strong by explaining the situation Gregor is randomly put into. The ridiculousness of the circumstance is enough to hook the reader into the story. Gregor is transformed into a giant insect, but dismisses it as him being tired. The first part is quite enjoyable as the reader has the suspense of his family and boss seeing Gregor’s new appearance and the humor of Gregor saying that he will be leaving for work soon while getting accustomed to his new body. The amount of work Gregor put into explaining that he will be leaving for work soon is ironic as well since the reader later finds out that his speech is incomprehensible to humans. However, one must wonder how Gregor planned to go to work as a giant insect to begin with. Even when he fully realized he actually transformed into a giant insect,

One of the most important concept in “The Metamorphosis” is individualism. It states the personal choices which is going to govern the individual’s life and in case of Kafka’s story this leads to loneliness and isolation. Gregor’s solitude is evident from starting when he is locked up inside his room and no one is there to help him, the important thing here is he even locks himself when he is in his home. Another aspect of isolation can be how he only thought of the idea of sending Grete to conservatory but he never told her about this, his belief of what his family thinks about him and the reality was totally different. The main reason for Kafka to turn his character into an insect is to make people realize how helpless Gregor was in both

While reading the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, it is clear to the reader that there are many underlying metaphors and meanings behind the main character being turned into a large bug. Some readers have gone as far as to even believe that Gregor is actually insane and he is the only one that can see he is an insect. In my opinion, I believe these claims to be completely baseless as Kafka puts many pieces of evidence in this novel to help support the idea that Gregor is actually a large bug. One of the main ideas is the fact that Gregor’s family can see that he is a bug as well. An argument made by people who believe he is not a bug is the fact that the descriptions are too vague from his family to show that he is truly a bug. However, Kafka writes, “She brought him, to test his taste, an entire selection all spread out on an old newspaper. There were old half rotten vegetables, bones from the evening meals..” (P. 49). Kafka shows that clearly Gregor must be a bug, including the description that Gregor was actually less attracted to the real food and more attracted to the rotten vegetables. One could make the argument that this could be a result of Gregor’s insanity, but from his sister’s curiosity, it would have to be a large coincidence for her to get the exact right foods for Gregor without her knowing that he was a large bug. In addition, in the description of how Gregor eats, Kafka describes the exact way a bug eats, only furthering the belief that Gregor must truly be a