Subconscious Rebellion in the Novel The Metamorphosis Essay

Betrayal is the one thing in which we are accomplishing all too well in this world. “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka is a book related to a boy who wakes up from his bed and realizes he has turned into a nasty vermin. His family does not know what to think of this transformation their son, Gregor, is going through. Betrayal is a vital theme in “The Metamorphosis” and clearly focuses on the downfall of the main character Gregor Samsa. The Samsa family shows treachery, disloyalty and betrayal towards Gregor by showing minimal love, fear into his abilities, and as well as unfair treatment of his cause.

     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

Turning the character into a giant, monstrous insect helps the author demonstrate the situation in which a person becomes absolutely vulnerable, helpless and pathetic. At that very moment of Gregor’s new form the attitude of the family becomes absolutely clear and transparent: everyone feels ashamed and diverted from the personality of Gregor. Betrayal of his mother and his sister is nowhere near what Gregor would have ever imagined. His relationship with his father was rocky. He never expected the mishap to become so realistic and his lift to be so heartbreaking. So the main

Kafka shows Gregor’s passive nature in “The Metamorphosis”. Gregor’s actions are passive before he becomes an insect. This is demonstrated

The Metamorphosis changes Gregor’s personality, as well as the family’s attitude towards Gregor, and alters the family duty each member has before and after the transformation. The theme isolation gives the twists and turns the novella needs to portray the genre of magical realism and helps contribute to the flow and outcome of the

Now homebound Gregor is now able to be apart of family conversations. Metamorphosis shows Gregor yearning for human contact from his family, but it also shows his family eagerly alienating him from their life. With continuous alienation, Gregor loss interest in his family and no longer desires to have contact with them. Kafka shows families that are experiencing a financial crisis; a loss, unemployment, abuse or an illness can cause a breakdown in communication as a whole. Once Gregor is unable to communicate, he becomes an observer of the world around him. His insect form symbolizes the emptiness, insignificant and an outcast, which he was at work and at home.

However the central theme of the masterpiece “The Metamorphosis” is change. The novel illustrates the idea of change and transformation through its main character Gregor Samsa who transforms into a large insect. The real

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

The most obvious metamorphosis is that of Gregor. Throughout his entire life, Gregor has let other people make his decisions for him. The physical metamorphosis that he undergoes is the first occurrence in his life that no one in his family has told him what to do. This change allows Gregor to find his inner self and disconnect himself from the orders and hardships brought out by his family. By means of his transformation into a giant insect, Gregor has been released from his responsibility to support his family without having to assume the guilt of letting them down. He has also changed from the provider to the dependent. Richter brings up the point that the transformation of Gregor was not necessarily a bad one.

Gregor's life as an insect, or vermin, as he described himself, is a metaphor for feelings of alienation and isolation that existed long before his transformation. Gregor’s loss of humanity in the eyes of his family condemns Gregor into what he describes as an “imprisonment” that restricts him from any of the comforts and securities of human interaction.

bug, and the father has no affection for his son Gregor after he fails 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,

Ever since the metamorphosis, Gregor’s perception of himself begins to change as his family sees a bug more than their own son. Gregor does nothing but lock himself in his room.

One morning Gregor awakens to find himself transformed into a beetle. Although the reader is never