Theme Of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

“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.

On the outside, Franz Kafka’s novella, The Metamorphosis, seems to be just a story of a man who woke up one morning to discover that he transformed into a giant insect. However, with a closer look, it exposes a central metaphor that provides the very unlikely story a great deal of relevance to the structure of society and the alienation of humans in the modern world. Gregor Samsa, the protagonist, is alienated, oppressed, and persecuted after his metamorphosis. By holding these feelings of isolation and alienation, from modern society and family, they have caused him to lose touch with reality. Gregor’s physical isolation from the outside world, by staying in his room when at home shows his general alienation from modern society. As the story goes on, Gregor feels more and more out of

“The Metamorphosis” is a surreal story by Franz Kafka surrounding the transformation and betrayal of Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one day, reborn into a large insect. Along with the bizarre and nightmarish appearance of his new hard back, brown segmented belly, and many legs, Gregor only desire is to live a normal life, unfortunately, this is impossible because he struggles to even get out of bed. Gregor transformation into an insect is a vivid metaphor for the alienation of humans from around the world. After losing human form, Gregor is automatically deprived of the right to be a part of society. Franz Kafka could relate to Gregor because he too was mistreated/neglected by his father and worked a job that he was unhappy doing. Franz and Gregor both were providers for their families. Alienation, isolation, and loneliness were not hard to recognize during the Modernity and Modernism time period.

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.

Kafka’s Metamorphosis suggests to his readers to take a glimpse inside a dysfunctional atmosphere triggered from a painful childhood, to see how influential each member of the family contributes to the dynamics, but also to learn how to make light of the situation with acceptance. Kafka is reflecting on his own relationship with his family in Metamorphosis. He sees himself in Gregor, or is he him.

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.

society. Kafka shows his fear of rejection. He tries to meet others but fails constantly because of his own perceptions of society and thier thoughts of him. He displays that he is, “struggling, “if possible more fiercely,”” (Kafka, 7) to get out of bed and get out into the world where society is, as he perceives, treating him so poorly. Gregor exhibits these emotions by being stuck in bed or staying in his room, by choice, until his death. The motif comes through for the reader in this quote when Gregor is stuck in bed because he is a bug and Kafka thinks he himself is a bug. This is how Kafka sees himself vs. society. He does not realize that their is always someone to bring him in and accept him. All he knows is family and so he thinks that is what society is. He shows the irony of the situation, in the novella, is the fact that he could easily leave and find new accepting people but his view of society is narrow. Gregor wants his family to accept and praise him while Kafka wants society to praise and accept him. He wants to show the damages society has done to him in the same way that Gregor reminds, “his father that “Gregor was part of the family”” (Kafka 38). Kafka wanted to remind even society that he is a person and needed acceptance like everyone else. This explains to the reader that family has a large influence on the people that are a part of it. It also shows them to accept others for who they are and help them instead of ridiculing or ignoring them. He becomes antisocial and turns away at the sight of others or the thought of having to see others all because of his appearance. appearance becomes another factor in why he does not want society to see him as he is. He might not want society to see him because he believes things will only get worse after he saw the reaction his family had toward him. Even his sister, who he still paints in a

In Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, Gregor’s life dramatically changes with the event of his transformation to a bug. His family is not in full acceptance of what has become of him and Gregor begins to lose himself. He had once been the provider for his family and now it is as if his family reproaches him for his inability to take care of them. Gregor wants to again have a role in his family yet recognizes that his family would be better off without him and dies. There are several situations that Gregor experiences that makes him lose all hope. From Maslow’s hierarchy of needs it can be be seen that Gregor loses his humanity including the essential needs to humans such as his safety, his desire to be successful, and his desire for affection from others. The desire to feel love from his family and their rejection is the final event that leads to his depression and at the end to his death.

The situation and background in which Kafka was brought up holds particular significance throughout his career, as it led to his insecurity, evidenced through examination of his life

Franz Kafka’s clear isolation of Gregor underlines the families’ separation from society. In The Metamorphosis, Kafka emphasizes Gregor’s seclusion from his family. However, Gregor’s separation is involuntary unlike the family who isolates themselves by the choices they make. Each family member has characteristics separating them from society. These characteristics become more unraveling than Gregor, displaying the true isolation contained in The Metamorphosis.

Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1914) is about the transformation of Gregor Samsa into a giant insect. His life has been miserable due to the fact that he works to meet the standard necessities of the family after his father has lost his business. Kafka implies that Gregor’s transformation is simply a manifestation of what he was already experiencing. It is a punishment for Gregor not having attempted to engage with others. Kafka’s main theme is alienation and he explores it passionately through Gregor’s introverted life before his transformation, the metamorphosis of the family’s treatment towards Gregor after he turned into an insect, and Gregor’s behaviour after his drastic change.

He was just a pest, a nuisance, a cockroach. The analogy that he was not intimidating, such as a spider or snake, but just really an insect that people tried to rid themselves of, like a cockroach, drove deeper into his self-condemnation. Kafka chose Gregor to be the cockroach as he was the only one working in the family, yet he still felt unappreciated and miserable. The moral is that self-loathing can make you an outcast, even if you started out far from it. You will become what you think of yourself, if you do not take necessary steps to improve your reality. Gregor felt like he had no freedom and was trapped in his life caring for and doing everything for everyone else except 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,

In “The Metamorphosis,” Kafka utilizes the idea of alienation in a few different contexts: there is the alienation Gregor is experiencing between himself and his identity/well-being, the alienation spawning between himself and his humanity, and the isolation between him and his family. In the text, Gregor has alienated himself from any semblance of a personal identity mostly due to the emphasis he has placed on his work. Gregor’s life revolves around work, as it takes precedence over all else. This is evidenced by the lack of a reaction he had towards the discovery of his transformation, instead focusing on how “strenuous” his career is and the repercussions of possibly missing work that day. The man has just turned into a big cockroach with no explanation as to why or how this has happened, and all he wonders about is what would happen if he told off his boss. This is a testament to how much he defines himself through his work,

Franz Kafka is an icon of dark existentialist and absurdist literature that frequently wrote about themes of isolation, alienation, and authoritarian oppression. His well-known work includes the short stories "The Metamorphosis", and “ The Judgment.” as well as his prominent "Letter to His Father", in which he attempted to clarify the tense relationship and his emotional oddness. Franz Kafka was born in Prague on July 3rd, 1883. Prague was a perplexed city, a great deal like Kafka himself. With several languages and ethnic groups struggling for a position in Prague, it was apparent in the late 19th