The Themes Of Alienation In The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

In the Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka bring out the character of a hardworking man, Gregor, who faces an incident where he soon is driven into complications to remain his once isolated life. Gregor’s alienation causes no gain for help from anyone even after the tragedy of transforming into a roach. Isolation removes all social interactions affecting the character of the persona by which can no longer seek help or gain itself being. Isolation in life, results in the expulsion of humankind partying from all social interactions, preventing contact with the world.

Kafka was critical in bringing the new outlook on modern culture and particularly on modern man. Franz Kafka studied the modern man in the face of contemporary culture, and how he was steadfast in retaining his spirituality and identity, and gravitate towards authenticity and happiness. However, Kafka saw how the dehumanizing forces of industrialization and capitalism in the post- the WWI Europe posed a challenge to the modern man. Modern culture can be viewed tolerating and open to all. To Franz Kafka, modern culture coupled with technology is fast changing, and man has to maintain his self-consciousness in order not lose his spirituality and identity amidst these changes (Wintle pp. 708-710). Hence, as modern culture changes with the changing technology, religions are poised to change too, which presents fears to a man about losing his spirituality and identity upon embracing the modern culture. Interestingly, Kafka was mystical in his writings, with a keen interest in themes such as metamorphosis, existential and identity. If we look at “The Metamorphosis,” we can view the idea of how the dehumanizing effects of capitalism and industrialism are indicated within the writings. Kafka contends we become dehumanized with buying power and working too much. The transformation of Gregor seems to indicate a denial of responsibility to the changing forms of society’s conventions and values.

It is a natural thing for people to want be surround by others but at the same time want to be by themselves. Going out with friends is fun but everyone needs time to themselves to just relax. However, being alone for too long is not always the best thing. Isolation is one of the worst things a person can experience. In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, the theme that isolation has negative effects on people can be shown through symbols, setting, and character development.

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.

One of the most prominent themes present in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is isolation. Gregor, transformed into a vermin, becomes extremely isolated by both his family and society. Gregor’s family, job, and apartment contribute to this sense of isolation significantly, both in a literal and figurative sense. The sense of isolation that Gregor feels as a result of his metamorphosis, however, is not unique; in fact, isolation is common in every aspect of society as a whole. Gregor’s transformation, therefore, is an allegory for the inherently isolating and alienating nature of the human condition.

Everyone has people they depend on. People that he or she knows will always be there when they’re needed. But what happens when those people just don’t show up or just all of a sudden stop caring? The feeling of loneliness can break down a person’s character and reduce him to a shell, or in this case and exoskeleton, of who he once was. We can see this in The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. When Gregor Samsa finds himself transformed into a giant beetle-like creature, what he needs more than anything is the love and support of his family, but he disgusts them. They shut him up in his room so that no one can see him. They are ashamed of him, and quickly forget that he was part of their own flesh and blood. All that they can see is the monster that appears on the on the outside. Gregor’s sister and parents betray his love for them and leave him feeling lonely in the most terrifying and desperate time of his life.

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

Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1915) is a novella about protagonist Gregor, a hard-working traveling salesman transforms into some a vermin overnight and struggles to adjust to his startling change. Kafka characterizes Gregor as a selfless individual whose profound love for his family misleads him about their genuine disposition. As he adjusts to his new change, he undergoes great difficulty to determine his identity and humanity. Gregor has deceived himself into believing that his family will love him despite his repulsive appearance. In The Metamorphosis, Kafka uses characterization and third-person narrative to demonstrate Gregor’s self-deception and self-awareness regarding his family and circumstances to establish the theme of identity.

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.

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

In The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka conveys the series of emotional and psychological repercussions of a physical transformation that befalls the protagonist, a young salesman called Gregor Samsa. As the story progresses, Gregor finds himself unfairly stigmatized, cruelly rejected because of his clear inability to financially support his family, and consequently increasingly isolated. Through extensive use of symbolism, Kafka is able to relate the surreal and absurd, seemingly arbitrary events of this short story to a general critique of society-particularly on the alienating effects that conformity generates. On a broader level, the combined themes-which include the themes of conformity, freedom, and alienation--found throughout 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.

It appears that the people who care the most end up getting hurt by the ones they love. The more time, energy, love, and money that a person sometimes invests get thrown back in their face once something drastic happens. In turn, this causes feelings of worthlessness and isolation and can eventually lead to death. Franz Kafka understands this better than anyone else and can portray this in his novella, the Metamorphosis. In his novella, The Metamorphosis, the protagonist, Gregor Samsa is one who undergoes a physical and mental transformation due to the unrelenting pressures that his father placed upon him which eventually cause him to die. At the heart of the father-son relationship lies Gregor and his father whose relationship is explored

Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is a masterfully written novella about Gregor Samsa, a man who devotes his life to his family and work, for nothing in return. Only when he is transformed into a helpless beetle does he begin to develop a self-identity and understand the relationships around him. The underlying theme of The Metamorphosis is an existential one that says that any given choice will govern the later course of a person’s life and that a person has ultimate will over making choices. In this case, Gregor’s choices of his part in society cause him to have a lack of identity that has made him to be numb to everything around him.

Franz Kafka, in his novel The Metamorphosis, explores two conflicting ideas through his protagonist Gregor: unity and isolation. Gregor’s transformation created a whole life of distress for him, but on the other hand also formed a deeper and better relationship for the rest of the family.