Magical Realism In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosi

“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.

Magic Realism is a literary genre that combines two seemingly contrasting elements and fantasy reality by introducing supernatural or unreal elements into depictions of real life. “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar is a good example of Magic Realism because it has supernatural feelings and events throughout the story in real life events and situation. An example from the story is paragraph twenty five it explains the sister dropped her knitting because her ball of yarn was on the other side of the house,Irene had never been on the other side and for the yarn to be over has a supernatural or unreal feeling to it. This is an example of Magic Realism because it has a supernatural feel to the event that has happened to Irene, this also feels

Magical realism combines two seemingly contrasting elements reality and fantasy. Julio cortazar’s “House taken over” is a good example of magical realism because the house is being taken over by supernatural activity or Natzis. For instance, Cortazar describes the house being old and spacious, “ it kept the memories of great grandparents, our parents and the whole of childhood.”(pg. 37). This is a good example of magical realism because the family seems normal, they’re living in a home where past ancestors also used to live and the house is full of childhood memories. Although he also describes some sort of supernatural activity, “it was eight at night”- “I heard something in the library or the dining room.The sound

Magical realism is a genre that incorporates magical and mystical elements into lives of ordinary people going about the monotonous activities of daily life. Everything would appear to be normal, except for a few elements that go beyond what would most likely be called ordinary. It’s a combination or merge of realist tradition in literature with the world of fantasy, as if fantasy were the most normal thing in the world. In this genre, the world that is created has a very thin line between what is real and what isn’t. It compels you too view the world through the eyes of the characters present in the story line, what’s real to them becomes real to us as viewers/readers. Realism and magic is woven together in such a way that the audience

Magic Realism appears when a character in the story carry forward to be alive ahead of the normal length of life. Also where magical or unreal aspect of a natural part in a different realistic environment and character fracture the rules of our real world. Characters that are portrayed as magical or surreal has a statement that is behind it. An example is Gregor in the Metamorphoses and not only did he turn into a bug but he sent a larger message about human experience. The two stories, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings and the Metamorphosis, both have a symbolic mean to humanity and realism.

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

Magical realism is the unique mixture of fantasy, yet the factor of reality in the story harmonizes with it rather than clashes with it. Magical elements have the ability to blend and still create a realistic, and ordinary reality in a society.

Magical realism is when events, have a magical aspect to them, are entered or set into the mundane world and is naturally accepted into reality. It can include cultural and historical realities placed into ordinary worlds, supernatural people or creatures are otherwise viewed as normal, and even metamorphosis is considered a normal day to day event rather than a miracle. Magical realism may seem like other genres of fiction, however it has its own unique characteristics to characterize it as its own.

Some of the most bizarre, intriguing stories and films out there may seem as though the events are merely a figment of one’s imagination. They might create an image in your head that could only exist in a dream or fantasy. Magical realism is a type of fiction that uses different types of magical elements relevant to that specific setting, however would be viewed as unordinary in our world today.

Magical realism is a genre that portrays both reality and fantasy. As defined by Faris (2004) in Ordinary enchantments, magical realism is a genre of writing that includes an irreducible element of magic and details that suggest phenomenon (Faris, 2004, p. 7). He describes the irreducible element as: “…something we cannot explain according to the laws of the universe as they have been formulated in Western empirically based discourse…” (Faris, 2004, p. 7). In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, The handsomest drowned man in the world, the facets of magical realism are rife. He uses magical realism to enchant the reader. The story is of a small cliff-side and coastal community

The “Metamorphosis,” by Franz Kafka, can be classified as magical realism when compared to “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World,” by Gabriel García Márquez, using aspects of magical realism including realistic elements, magical elements, dark humor, and distortion of time.

Imagine being able to fly with angels and travel great distances with a giant. Not a very tall person but an actual giant! While this may sound like something that would only happen in a disney film or some fantasy based movie, this is how some writers depict what is magical realism, a story of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. There are many elements that these writers use to differentiate their magical reALIST STORIES from a fictional story.

Does “The Metamorphosis” belong under the magical realism genre? “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka is a short story describing the transformation of a lonely traveling salesman, Gregor, to a gigantic insect. Besides describing Gregor’s physical metamorphosis, the story also depicts Gregor’s mental metamorphosis from a human to an insect. In addition to Gregor’s personal metamorphosis, Kafka illustrates Gregor’s family’s transformation from tolerating Gregor to treating him with hatred, disrespect, and disgust. In Bruce Holland Rogers’s article “What Is Magical Realism, Really?”, he defined magical realism as having repetitions in time and combining magical and ordinary elements. Throughout Kafka’s description of these events, it is clear that “The Metamorphosis” should be categorized under magical realism because it combines magical and realistic elements and uses repetition of time and distortion of identity, similar to many other magical realism works such as “Axolotl” by Julio Cortázar and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis which brings unconscious feelings and desires to the conscious level, also mastered the principles of plain and pleasure. Freud acquired three categories of where suffering comes from. One is suffering that comes from our own body, the pain and anxiety we feel knowing our death is inevitable. The second one is suffering that comes from the external world. Everything in our surroundings whose sole purpose is to destroy us.

Magical realism is a genre of writing that uses the aspects transformation of the common, and distortion of time or identity to exemplify reality as defined in the article “What is Magical Realism, Really?” Stories often combine magical realism with other literary genres such as absurdist fiction, which focuses on the individual dealing with a purposeless life represented by meaningless actions. “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka cannot be categorized only as magical realism, but as a combination of both absurdist fiction and magical realism, which is different from stories that are purely categorized as magical realism such as “Axolotl.”