Literary Criticism In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

“The Metamorphosis” is a surreal story by Franz Kafka surrounding the transformation and betrayal of Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one day, reborn into a large insect. Along with the bizarre and nightmarish appearance of his new hard back, brown segmented belly, and many legs, Gregor only desire is to live a normal life, unfortunately, this is impossible because he struggles to even get out of bed. Gregor transformation into an insect is a vivid metaphor for the alienation of humans from around the world. After losing human form, Gregor is automatically deprived of the right to be a part of society. Franz Kafka could relate to Gregor because he too was mistreated/neglected by his father and worked a job that he was unhappy doing. Franz and Gregor both were providers for their families. Alienation, isolation, and loneliness were not hard to recognize during the Modernity and Modernism time period.

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 story, “The Metamorphosis”, by Franz Kafka, is a piece of literature that introduces the idea of being an outsider, and falling out of the social order you have spent so long trying to prosper in. As a reference for some background, the story features the main character, named Gregor, waking up one morning as a beetle. This is the source of many problems to come, such as not being able to go to work, leave his room, eat normal food, or succeed in a public setting. One could easily understand how Gregor would become an outsider. This proposed this question to the reader- Are outsiders merely those who are misjudged or misunderstood? The simple answer to this is no. Outsiders are not born into their life of loneliness and solitude. They either consciously or unconsciously stray from people that love and care for them, such as friends, family, and peers. They could effortlessly re-include themselves into any social group, but instead they wallow in self pity, yearning for sympathy. Of course, there are exceptions, but they amount to few.

Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, is the story of Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman who is responsible for the financial well-being of his entire family, yet experiences an unfortunate metamorphosis into a giant bug. However, while Gregor undergoes a disturbing physical transformation, the family dynamic changes drastically as well. The family’s treatment of Gregor slowly deteriorates from them regarding him as the basis for their financial success and security to regarding him as no more than an extraordinary nuisance that holds them back from a brighter future.

Franz Kafka’s twentieth-century classic, The Metamorphosis, shows the changes of the Samsa family after their son, Gregor, turns into a vile insect. Even though Gregor has turned into the most disgusting of creatures, this “metamorphosis” is ironic compared to the transformation that his family endures. While Gregor still sustains his humanity, the lack of any compassion and mercy from his family, is what makes them the disgusting creatures rather than Gregor. The changes of Gregor’s father, mother, and sister prove that the theme of metamorphosis is not exclusively present within Gregor.

Growing up, Franz Kafka questioned his father’s use of power not only at home but also in the workplace. Kafka’s father referred to his employees as “paid enemies.” Upon noticing “the submissiveness expected of [workers] toward their superiors” in his own asbestos factory, Kafka found this true for not only his father but also most of the upper class (Speirs and Sandberg 7). Disappointed by this class hierarchy, Kafka attended anarchist meetings and referenced communist writers in his diaries (Cohn). These meetings led him to develop a similar ideology to Karl Marx, who attributed “all… [of] history [to] class struggles.” In The Metamorphosis, Kafka channels a Marxist viewpoint through Gregor Samsa’s life before his metamorphosis and his family’s life after the metamorphosis.

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.

Everyone knows that one person from school who does not fit in. These people are known to us as strange, weird, and different from the standards set by the majorities of society. In the article, “Isn’t Everyone a Little Bit Weird?” at the beginning of Unit 2 in the My Perspectives textbook, the reading describes how even the most remarkable individuals how some hidden unexpected traits. “The Metamorphosis” is a short story by Frank Kafka. Gregor, the main character, wakes up to realize that he has turned into a bug. Throughout the story, we see how his life is slowly falling apart as his family suffers from his transformation. Overall, outsiders are not those who are misjudged or misunderstood because everyone is weird in some way, even as they attempt to fit in, people never take time and are quick to create judgements of others, and society wants all identities to be equal in order to avoid the fear of change.

Franz Kafka's novella Metamorphosis directly correlates to Marx’s criticism of human society. Marxism views literary works as a social institution bases on where they originate. The novella opens with the transformation of Gregor into a vermin. Although the transformation may seem absurd, it directly parallels to his actually representation in society. Marxism emphasized that society separates the rich and poor, rendering the working class constantly trying to meet the standards of a capitalist society. The novella delinates the ideas of Marxism through his relationship with the bourgeoisie, his responsibility to his family, and his isolation from society.

Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1914) is about the transformation of Gregor Samsa into a giant insect. His life has been miserable due to the fact that he works to meet the standard necessities of the family after his father has lost his business. Kafka implies that Gregor’s transformation is simply a manifestation of what he was already experiencing. It is a punishment for Gregor not having attempted to engage with others. Kafka’s main theme is alienation and he explores it passionately through Gregor’s introverted life before his transformation, the metamorphosis of the family’s treatment towards Gregor after he turned into an insect, and Gregor’s behaviour after his drastic change.

So I read the book Metamorphosis and I did not like it very much. To me it was very boring. The book is about a man named Gregor. He is a traveling salesmen who makes all the money for his family. Gregor does not like his job working as a traveling salesmen. If his family did not depend on the income so much, then he would’ve quit his job. One day he wakes up in his bed and finds that he has turned into a large insect. Gregor is a bit upset and confused about why he turned into an insect. He struggles to get his new large body out of bed as he realizes that he is late for his job. Gregor's mother, father, and sister knock on his locked bedroom door to try to get him out of bed for his job. While Gregor gets out of bed, he hears his office manager

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.

Metamorphoses are a concept commonly used in literature to show a character's profound change. The concept was used in The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, which is about a man named Gregor, who woke up one day to find out he had turned into a vermin. Following his discovery, he tried to go to work to support his family, which ended up revealing his new form. Gregor was locked in his room and slowly lost his humanity and connection to his family. Gregor eventually died alone in his room, and his family took it as a chance to restart after they realized they could support themselves without him (Kafka, The Metamorphosis). Within The Metamorphosis there is a prevalent Jewish folklore presence because of Kafka’s interest in the history of

And it was like a confirmation of their new dreams and good intentions when at the end of their ride, their daughter stood up first and stretched her young body.

“The metamorphosis” is novella by Franz Kafka (German economist). It was published in 1916. This novella shows dehumanizing effect of capitalistic society according to economic point of view. Humans can only have their value just like a meager object in capitalism. This