The Love Of Life In Frank Kafka's The Metamorphosis

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.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a reflection on how alienation and isolation begin and develop in a society by employing the characters in his novella as a representation of society as a whole. Using Gregor’s manager to demonstrate the initiation of isolation and alienation of a person, Gregor as the person being isolated and the inhabitants of the Samsa household as the other members of society, Kafka creates an effective model to represent the hierarchically structured effect of isolationism and alienation in society on a larger scale.

Is there such thing as “unconditional love” where love will always be apparent despite how difficult the situation gets? In the novella, The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, the protagonist unexpectedly and suddenly transforms into an insect. Through this transformation, Gregor Samsa, the protagonist, experiences a major change and finds himself struggling to make sense of the situation he is in while also trying to fit in with the rest of his family. Discovering Gregor’s new form, each of his family members immediately becomes disgusted. As the story progresses, the idea of family loyalty is tested as Gregor’s family begins to gradually build upon their hatred towards Gregor and accuse him of causing them hardships.With the family failing to recognize Gregor’s past efforts, the idea of how love never lasts is hinted at. Through the use of symbolism, irony, and metaphors, Kafka demonstrates how unconditional love does not exist, even in family relationships.

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.

With this in mind, Gregor, being an allegory for Kafka, portrays his feelings towards his family and his involvement with them. He portrays most of his feelings through his sister, and father, who are mainly static characters

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

Characterization of Gregor: Kafka depicts Gregor’s thoughts as depressed and hopeless in order to show that he does not believe his situation will get better. This is done in order to show that Gregor no longer has any humanity left because he repeats the same tasks every day which has numbed him.

So concerned with ensuring his parents and sister were taken care of, he forgot his own needs. It was apparent to everyone that he was no longer thought of as a son or an extension of the family, but merely as a "support system." The tragic fact is that "everyone had grown accustomed to it, his family as much as himself; they took the money gratefully, he gave it willingly but the act was accompanied by no remarkable effusiveness" (Kafka 48). It appears that in the course of his hectic work schedule, he overlooks that in return for dedication to his family, he remains unloved and unappreciated. Yet Gregor still "believed he had to provide his family with a pleasant, contented, secure life" (Emrich 149), regardless of how they treated him.

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

The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung 1912), Franz Kafka’s best known short story, is a master work of incredible psychological, sociological and existential malaise. Although his points are simple and straightforward, this richly layered and textured story is open to many interpreta-tions, making it complex, yet critical to decipher. There is an incredible amount of theories based off of what this story could possibly symbolize or represent, but it is of the autobiographical in-terpretation that is undeniably the most enlightening. This interpretation allows the reader to gen-uinely understand the tale on an intense level that would not be able to be reached, otherwise. In order to gain true insight on the autobiographical approach to The Metamorphosis, a brief examination of his life is required; his thoughts, his beliefs, the acknowledgment of the cruel circumstances of his life, especially his home life, must be made clear that the anguish of his own world is the model for the themes in his stories.

Gregor allowed his family to harass, bully and degrade him, in the same manner that Kafka had allowed his family to do. The similarity of Kafka’s relationship with his father was also portrayed with Gregor and his relationship with his father. Kafka intended to reflect and highlight the decisions that were made by Gregor being influenced by his family, by making them important protagonists within the novel. Gregor expresses from the beginning of the novel how his father intended on raising him, “from the first day of his new life that his father considered only the strictest treatment called for in dealing with him”38, much like Kafka’s father had. Gregor’s father was rather tough on him and his duties, and would take no clear- minded steps into understanding what Gregor, as a bug, did or tried to communicate through the actions he took. As he jumped to conclusions the second he saw Gregor out of his room, and would beat him with a cane trying to pressure him back to staying in his room as if he wasn’t even his son, or throwing apples at him. This provokes Gregor, allowing him to think more rationally, becoming more introverted, yet inside he was suffering with such sadness and crying desperately for some kind of recognition, much like Kafka did.

It seemed that Kafka wanted Gregor to be in a position where he is shut out from any communication to amplify having to fight to seem normal. Gregor struggled to do regular human tasks fighting to act like a human being. He has to use all his strength just to get out his bed, a simple task. Gregor was never able to develop a sense of individuality because of his devotion to his job in order to support his family. Once he turns and is in the situation he's in, Gregor is forced to focus on himself. His family soon becomes angry with him because they believe that he is being selfish and doesn’t realize that he is a burden to them. Kafka compares Gregor to an insect because he has worked his whole life supporting his family. Existentialism is the

Throughout literary history, certain authors have become so unique and distinct in their approach to the written word that they come to epitomize a literary genre. Franz Kafka is one such author who embodies and addresses the timeless theme of existentialism, particularly in his novella, The Metamorphosis. Existentialism is defined as a philosophical theory that stresses individual existence, freedom, and choice. It emphasizes the individual’s distinctive position as a self-determining agent responsible for the validity of his or her decisions. Kafka illustrates Gregor Samsa as an absurd figure whose transformation into a giant insect portrays the insignificance and pointlessness of his existence in society.

In the metamorphosis, Kafka captures the absurdist side of grief and human tragedy in the rational description of the impossible. By externalizing the psyche into a nondescript and incongruous milieu, Kafka creates a lacuna between the vicarious premise of literature and his own conception of it. In doing so, the idea of fundamental human separation, and the irrationality of emotion (in essence, humanity) are presented as being as alien as the absurdity of the metamorphosis.

With the conclusion of the novel also comes the end of the life of Gregor; Kafka, up to the last page, presents us with new food for thought and amazes continuously. The news of the death of Gregor, given by the servant, does not make the family fall into despair nor does it give birth to a feeling of regret or remorse, but rather creates relief and liberation, so much so that the father thanks God (50).