The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

“His mother was not used to the sight of Gregor, he might have made her ill, so Gregor hurried backwards to the far end of the couch”(Kafka 28). Even though they know he is an insect, they feel so repulsed by Gregor’s new form that their disgust completely outweighs the love they felt for Gregor. Kafka’s writing about the family’s reaction to Gregor’s new appearance can be compared to how people are often isolated in the real world for reasons beyond their control like social caste, physical unattractiveness, race, gender, and other factors that may be seen as unappealing to some people, but are all traits that are really only on the outside. These traits do not define a person, similarly to how Gregor is still human inside, but is a disgusting insect on the outside.

The novella The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka was first published in 1915. This novella shows the degree of loyalty a family has to even their own family members; this case being Gregor Samsa, his mother, his father, and his sister Grete Samsa. Upon reading the novella, it becomes evident that Gregor’s care for his family is pure and genuine, which, throughout the short story, leaves a small feeling of melancholy due to the fact that the family never really returned that same gesture. Gregor works solely to support the Samsa family through their debts and his sister’s future through a job that he keeps due to his obligation as the money-maker of the family. Support, in both factors of the word, should be a

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

At the sight of Gregor, Grete succums to her fear and shuts the door after seeing him, but immediately regrets the decision and feels guilty for seeing her brother hideous creature, if only for an instant. Insect or not, Gregor is still Grete’s brother and she believes that the right thing to do is to keep on loving him and taking care of him, emphasizing her role as the superego.

On the surface, “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka is an evocative story of a man transformed into a “monstrous vermin”. It seems to focus on the dark transformation of the story’s protagonist, Gregor, but there is an equal and opposing transformation that happens within Gregor’s family. Although Gregor has physically changed at the beginning of the story, he remains relatively unchanged as the novella progresses. The family, on the other hand, is forced to drastically change how they support themselves. Although the change was unexpected, Gregor’s transformation into a vermin sets into motion a change in the Samsa family that leaves them better off in almost every facet of their lives. Thus, Kafka’s story is not one of descent into darkness, but one of a family’s ascent towards self-actualization. The metamorphosis the title speaks of does not take place in Gregor, but rather in the Samsa Family; consequently, Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” is not a tale of darkness, disconnection and despair, but rather a story of hope, new beginnings and perseverance.

Introduction: Kafka depicts the working class as having to make personal sacrifices in order to survive in a capitalist society. Kafka does this through the characterization of Gregor as depressed, the symbolism of food and the diction surrounding Gregor’s father employment status.

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.

The story initially involves Gregor’s physical appearance and his conscious awareness that he has become an insect. “When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself changed into a monstrous cockroach in his bed” (505). Quite in denial, he does not appear to be very bothered by his transformation, and sees it as any other disturbance to his sleep, “what if I went back to sleep for a while, and forgot about all this nonsense?” (505). As the story progresses, Gregor seems focused on ordinary concerns like missing the early morning train, losing his meaningless and unfulfilling job as a traveling salesman, or his family’s unstable financial situation. His life is completely consumed with work and his family’s needs. Undergoing more physical changes, Gregor’s normal human voice turns into that of a bug, which makes it difficult for him to communicate with his family or his manager, who says, “that was the voice of an animal” (511). His words were no longer comprehensible. Once he was able to open his bedroom door, revealing himself as an insect to the others did not ensue ideally. Gregor’s mother, father, sister, and manager all stood shocked, and ran away in horror at the sight. Ironically, one of the first things that Gregor sees outside the bedroom is a photograph of himself from his period in the army as a lieutenant, “his hand on his sabre, smiling confidently, the posture and uniform

A picture on Gregor’s wall causes him to remember the days before he had to drop everything he enjoyed in order to take care of his family. The picture is a picture of him as a “lieutenant ……smiling and worry free….demand[ing] respect for his bearing and uniform” (Kafka 24). Through the use of imagery Franz Kafka illustrates a time where Gregor had a job that he actually enjoyed. Gregor was able to find happiness in the days where he was living for his own individual needs and not for the needs of his family.

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 the attitude of the family becomes absolutely clear and transparent: everyone feels ashamed and diverted from the personality of Gregor. Betrayal from his mother and his sister is nowhere near what Gregor would have ever imagined. His relationship with his father was rocky. He never expected this to become so realistic and heartbreaking. So the main question arising in the mind of the reader is: what if sometimes like

It is not until Gregor’s mother faints at the sight of him that Gregor feels like a monster, and she further dehumanizes Gregor by removing furniture from his room (Kafka, 1915). A person is not a person if they have no purpose. The pressure from Gregor’s job, and the provision from his family consume his conscience and nothing is left for him other than what his family has intended him to be. This can be related to Lacan’s theory of the Imaginary; this idea is associated with the ego (Freud’s notion of an individual which serves as a mediator) (Falasiri 2016). The imaginary related to Kafka’s story is the image of the insect, between what is real what is unreal, Gregor defines himself as a subject rather than a human being based on other’s interpretations of his actions. Therefore, the pressure to be productive as a human, actually dehumanizes Gregor physically and mentally, as his identity has morphed him into something worthless than a human. And overall, although Gregor is an insect, he is not anxious by his appearance, but how others view

Gregor’s role in his family characterizes him as an altruistic individual whose nature made him ignorant to his family’s manipulation. Gregor endures most of his hardships without complaint and puts the needs of his family firmly above his own. Upon realizing his transformation at the beginning of the novella, his first thoughts were not of alarm but of great concern about being late to work because it is his only means of taking care of his family (Kafka 6). After his father’s business failed, Gregor “work[ed] with special ardor” (27) doing laborious work as a traveling salesman, not only to “pay off [his] parents’ debt”(4), but to also spend what little money he has to give Grete the opportunity to perform violin professionally (26). With all these responsibilities, it’s inevitable for Gregor to be under great stress, which can infer that Gregor’s transformation is a result of his willful desire to escape the pressures his overburdened life. Gregor struggled between remaining a steadfast provider or following his desire for independence, however, his metamorphosis freed him from a job he detests. Now that it is impossible for Gregor to work, Mr.Samsa reveals that “he possessed more money than Gregor knew about” (#). This is a significant event where Kafka uses the motif of betrayal to emphasize the corruption in familial infrastructure represented through Gregor’s sacrifice and interaction with his family, as well as to socially comment about how people in society use

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,

According to Kafka and existentialism, people have both an individual side and a side with the commitment of society. It is our choices that must be in moderation of the two, to maintain balance. If a person chooses himself over society, he will lose the support of society; however, if a person chooses society, he will lose his individuality. Gregor initially chooses society over himself, which in turn transformed him into the working drone he was. After his physical transformation, he is forced reassert his focus to himself, and society abandons him. Through Gregor’s plight, his family became cohesive and productive in society, each contributing through work and leisure. Gregor learned to live for himself too late to become a whole person. Gregor begins to look for entertainment and fun in the form of a bug, a form that knows nothing but work, by crawling up to the ceiling and hanging from there, or from wall to wall over the various objects, this gave him a feeling of “almost happy absent-mindedness” (32). Haven given up any hope of returning to his human form or being a civilized working part of society ever again, this was one of the only joys Gregor had left in his life. By ignoring the purpose of being an

However, as the story progresses this compassion seems to become, or may have always been, obligation. His mother had a waning rather reminiscent sympathy for her son, but she never seemed to reconcile that the creature in the bedroom was the son she had loved. She certainly could not deal with his appearance having fainted at the sight of him (p. 876). As for Gregor’s father, he had begun to re-assume responsibility for the family’s welfare, which as it turned out, had never been as poor as Gregor had been lead to believe. For Gregor himself, the adjustment was a mix of discovery and disquiet. Adjusting to his body, “He especially enjoyed hanging suspended from the ceiling” (p. 873). However, the reader also learns that Gregor’s health is on the decline as “he was fast losing any interest he had ever taken in food” (p. 873). It seemed for a while that the family had established a bit of a détente, but it was not to would last. The end of the second chapter saw Gregor’s father gravely wound the insect with an apple thrown into and embedded into the creature’s back. It was this wound that eventually became infected and was likely the death of the creature.