Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka Research Paper

Waking up one morning as an insect is not a common occurrence. Although there are many different ways to interpret and describe 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, Franz Kafka’s 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.

After Gregor mysteriously transforms into a bug overnight, his father does not want to deal with him. When Gregor first comes out of his room, Mr. Samsa’s only thoughts are to “return [Gregor] to his room as quickly as possible” (Kafka 18). Mr. Samsa could not bear to look at Gregor in his new form. During a squabble, Mr. Samsa “was determined to bombard [Gregor]. He had filled his pockets from the fruit bowls on the buffet and was now pitching one apple after another” (Kafka 37). From the very beginning, Gregor’s condition does not concern Mr. Samsa. He does not try to find a way to help him. Once Gregor’s physical form has drastically changed, Mr. Samsa abandons his own son by giving up on him, no longer trusting his son to maintain the household’s income. Mr. Samsa immediately disowns his son and becomes an antagonist by viewing Gregor as an intruder in his own home. The betrayal that Gregor suffers negatively affects him, which can be seen through his lack of appetite. Therefore, when Mr. Samsa makes it obvious that he does not care for his son, Gregor loses self-esteem, and begins to look at himself negatively. Thus, Gregor goes into a depression that eventually leads to his suicide. Though Mr. Samsa’s disapproval is consistent throughout the novel, Gregor gradually betrays himself.

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,

Kafka reveals very little about Gregor's life prior to this incident: all we know of him is that he had been a traveling salesman who was constantly "busying himself with his fretsaw" and who "never (went) out in the evenings," instead spending his time "sitting . . . at the table quietly reading the paper or studying" (Kafka 12-13). This imagery of Samsa as a studious carpenter characterizes him as humble and, in this, somewhat unlikable to the toughest audiences. Even imagery as simplistic as this conjures the image of Gregor as a bookish, studious milquetoast. At the same time, the carpenter characterization connotes Christ, and thus immediately hints at Samsa's eventual heroism, even before anything significant has happened. So when the book's first "metamorphosis" occurs in the first sentence, Gregor's prior circumstances make him fertile ground in which a change in spirit can occur. Samsa even acknowledges the metaphysical change enacted in himself: when he tries to explain to his family and the head clerk why he cannot leave his room, his audience can "no longer (understand) his words, even though they (are) clear enough to him, clearer than before even" (15). It is as if he is in another dimension from them completely and therefore a sort of "immortal" at heart, before the knowledge is even imparted upon him in the form

     Gregor Samsa is a traveling salesman who brings in most of the income for his entire family. Waking up before dusk, he spends all of his day out working. On page four this is evident when Gregor says,” What a grueling job I’ve picked!” He has no time for his own pleasures. Even after he is transformed, all he

In Franz Kafka’s novel, The Metamorphosis Gregor explains his feeling on his family and how his family is affected. Gregor’s feelings in the story do not change at all due to loyalty to his family. In the beginning he feels affection and love towards his family and feels this throughout the novel.

The metamorphosis advances the existentialism view that choice is the opportune of the individual. It is the responsibility of the individual to maintain a balance between work and leisure. The story gives a sense, that if one chooses to devote their life to work will just make them droning incest, and if they devote their life to only leisure they will still not maintain a stable life. A balance in life needs to be maintained. Gregor doesn’t seem to know that his choice of working was making him very unhappy. Even though, Gregor was not maintaining his job very well and failing it, whereas he ignores the basic needs for social interaction by working hard and long hours. For a long time of reaping in the unwanted started to effect him. In spite of, one day Gregor awakens to find himself with the body of monstrous vermin. However, it is never explained in the book how he was morphed into a vermin. “When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams "What's happened to me?" he thought. It was no dream”. (Kafka) Kafka never mentioned the reason of Gregor weird transformation, but he gives reader a sense that Gregor’s life was always a misery and when he woke up in the morning he didn’t doubted the miserable things happening to him, In fact he

In “The Metamorphosis,” Kafka uses Gregor’s conditioned and illogical thoughts to convince people to look outside of the systems they often find themselves in, even if the system itself is immoral. For example, the culture of work generally relies on a person’s desire to be accepted and not to be looked down upon. People are brought to believe that the differences between them and animals lie mainly with the fact that human beings have built themselves based on logic, which has given rise to the languages and symbols that are unique to them. To be preoccupied with the external environment as opposed to the skills useful in work is to be in touch with the beastly base that makes up all animals. In a way, Gregor feels ashamed of being so sensitive to music because he views that as a sign that he is not only a beast on the outside, he

In Franz Kafka’s novel, The Metamorphosis, his main character Gregor awakens in his bed on morning only to find himself transformed into a monstrous vermin, knowing that his body has physically changed he still feels the need to provide for his family as he tries to get out of bed and go on with his life to fulfill his obligations. His main concern is for his family to be well, and that never changes from the beginning to the end of the novel.

Once Upon A time, a young boy named Gregor turned into a bug. It all started when Greg got bit by a roach. A few days went by and Gregor started to feel different. On this one particular day, Gregor woke to a face full of tiny hairs. He continually rolled around and spit out a mouthful of vomit. He jumped up and when he got up he noticed he could not balance like before. He landed hard on his back, that then caused a sharp pain to shoot up and down his spine. He rolled to his side and felt the spot with his fingers. As far as he could tell, there was some sort of lump on his back, about the size of a watermelon, but it began to burn intensely. He rubbed at it vigorously, trying to make it feel better, but instead it just oozed and burned even

The beginning of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka starts with a powerful symbolism. A person walking up in a form of a gigantic bug. But what if this whole story is a symbol, symbol of the author’s life. What if Franz Kafka tells his life story in his book covering it under the story of Gregor Samsa. If one decides to look deeper into Kafka’s life after reading the book he will find a lot of similarities between the author and the character he created. By Comparing Franz Kafka’s family, work, and personal life, along with his physical and emotional state it becomes clear that The Metamorphosis is the autobiographical story.

The metamorphosis is an article about the literary work done by Franz Kafka. It is sometimes translated to “the transformation”. It is studied in many universities and colleges across the western world due to the fact that it is one of the formative literal works of fiction in the 20th century. The story starts with Gregor Samsa, a salesman who travels waking up one day to find himself transformed or rather metamorphosed into huge, monstrous creature with similar features to an insect. The cause of the transformation is never revealed in the novel. The rest of the novel as will be seen below deals with Gregor’s attempt to adapt to his new form as he deals with the being a burden to his sister and his parents who hate the horrible creature he has become (Kafka, 2012).

Kafka's short story "Metamorphosis" absurdist novel has a number of absurdities in it for the reader to relate to in their life. There were two that stood out, Gregory, the main charater, turning into an insect and the family carrying on in life trying to not make a big deal out to the situation. In the beginning, Gregory awakes to find himself having difficulties rolling out of bed. Slightly concerned about his troubles with getting out of bed quickly subsided to his worries about missing work. Although some people have experienced this in the past relating this to a bad back or "old age", Gregory knew something was seriously wrong but tried to hide it instead of calling for help. Afterwards, he finds himself having unusual body parts for

“The Metamorphosis”, is a novella by Franz Kafka, tells the story of a man’s literal transformation into a cockroach. Such a drastic change in one’s physical form tempts readers to question the life of the author for symbolic representation. Kafka, born just before the turn of the twentieth century, grew up during the time of Austro-Hungarian rule in what is now the Czech Republic (Snook). He lived a chaotic and almost closed life, spending most of his time writing his stories fairly peacefully, though he was plagued with illnesses and depression recurrently. The Metamorphosis views life in an existentialist way; the main character, Gregor Samsa, almost immediately accepts his new form and throws humanity out the window.

The book Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka was written and published in the year 1915. This book is a very unique and interesting story for the fact that the majority of the book is told in the perspective of a man that transforms into a bug. I like the subject of this book and the interactions that it contains but I do not like the style the book is written in, though this might have been for the fact that it was written in 1915.