Category: The Metamorphosis

Introduction

Although the story takes up less than 100 pages, Franz Kafka’s story Metamorphosis lends itself to a wide variety of interpretations in terms of theme and meaning, there doesn’t seem to be all that much to the story itself upon first glance. The story follows the experiences of Gregor Samsa after he wakes up one morning to find himself turned into a giant bug in his own bed. As he reveals himself to his family and his employer, it becomes obvious that this change is not meant to be a figurative change on the part of the author, but is also a physical change. Although the family continues to care for him, providing him with food and water and cleaning his room once a day, Gregor becomes more and more detached from them, eventually finding it difficult to keep track of what has been happening around him.

His room becomes dirtier, his family becomes less attentive and he becomes less concerned with their welfare in connection with his own. As his sister and mother move his personal furniture out of his room, he leaves the room with a mind toward helping his sister, but is instead attacked by his father, becoming wounded in the process when an apple thrown at him becomes lodged in his back. Rather than tending to his wounds, the family locks him back in his room again where the apple is able to fester for months. The room becomes the general receptacle of household debris before Gregor’s final attempt to reconnect with his family results in such harsh and complete rejection that he simply crawls back in his room and dies. Through this general summary of events, then, it can be seen that one of the major themes of Kafka’s Metamorphosis is that of isolation and the devastating effects it can have on the individual.

Discussion

It can be argued that Gregor’s transformation is a literal indication of his feelings of separation from humanity, including the members of his own family, as can be seen in from the very beginning of the story. Despite waking up to find himself in the form of a bug, Gregor’s primary concern remains to get to work in order to continue supporting the family who has been dependent upon him for the past five years. As he reflects upon his position, he reveals the level of disconnectedness that has already occurred between himself and his family, indeed the rest of humanity, since he took a job as a traveling salesman: “And apart from business itself, this plague of traveling: the anxieties of changing trains, the irregular, inferior meals, the ever changing faces, never to be seen again, people with whom one has no chance to be friendly” (13).

Even in his own home, he has taken up the habit of locking his bedroom doors “as if in a hotel” (16) and he continues to follow the rules and regulations set forth by his father even though he is the sole breadwinner of the family. As the family pleads with his manager to believe Gregor is sick, the picture of his life before the transformation becomes complete. “The boy thinks of nothing but his work! It makes me upset to see how he never goes out after supper; do you know he’s just spent a whole week here and been at home every evening! He sits down with us at the table and stays there, quietly reading the paper or studying his timetables” (21). Not only does Gregor not have any friends with whom to spend his evenings, but he apparently also spends little time actually interacting with his family even when he is home, choosing instead to engage himself in solitary activities.

In keeping with this theme of isolation, much of the story takes place within the confines of Gregor’s room, which itself symbolizes the state of his relationships with other people. Only his sister is brave enough to enter the room, and then only when he is hiding beneath the couch or under a sheet. Even his one activity of escape from his room, staring out the window, becomes meaningless as the world outside fades into a featureless expanse of grey before his dimming eyesight. Despite his terror at having someone enter his room as well as his feelings of fear regarding its emptiness, “his great room, in which he was obliged to remain flat on his stomach on the floor, frightened him in a way that he could not understand” (42), the room nevertheless seems to be confining, as he finds himself constantly running about the walls and ceiling as a means of filling the void. This activity leads to the removal of his personal furniture from the room, removing yet more of his individual identity and distancing him more from his former life and the relationships he once shared. As he listens to his mother explaining to his sister the need to keep the room as it was to remind Gregor of himself, he thinks, “Did he really wish to allow this warm, comfortable room with its genial furniture to be transformed into a cavern in which, in rapid and complete forgetfulness of his human past, he might exercise his right to crawl all over the walls? It seemed he was already so near to forgetting” (59). Coming to this thought, he makes a valiant attempt to preserve the portrait he had so carefully framed on his wall just before his transformation, just barely able to cover it with his body, but then ends up destroying it himself.

While much of the story is told from the point of view of Gregor himself, who retains the cognitive ability of a human, Gregor is unable to communicate in any meaningful way with his family. His sister brings him the food he likes to eat not because she understands what he likes, but instead because she clears away what he does not eat. When he stops eating, she does not seem to take notice of this, instead merely sweeping away the old stuff and bringing in new each day. When he tries to protect his picture as a sign that he does not want his room emptied of signs of human habitation, she instead becomes angry with him for frightening their mother. His few attempts to leave the room to become involved with the family are met with violence and physical harm. “Gregor had to find some way of pacifying his father, so he quickly crawled to the door of his room and pressed himself against it for his father to see, as he came in, how he had every intention of returning to his own room immediately and that it was not necessary to drive him back with violence; one had only to open the door and he would quickly withdraw. But his father was in no mood to notice these fine points” (64). Even at the end, when he creeps out of his room in response to his sister’s open heart as she plays her music, he is misunderstood and completely rejected.

Writing against the view that Gregor Samsa’s experiences, whether they are considered to be isolation or something else, can be related to the modern public as a rule, Robbie Batson asserts that the brilliance of Kafka’s writing lies instead in his ability to write about the man as symbolic of only himself. “He uses a writing method that voids all aspects and elements of the story that defy interpretation … Kafka focuses the readers’ attention on a single character that symbolizes himself and his life” (Batson, 2004).

In his analysis of the book, Batson indicates that Metamorphosis is little more than a loosely disguised autobiography for Kafka, pointing out such similarities as professions (both were traveling salesmen of some sort) and names (Kafka and Samsa have strikingly similar consonant/vowel constructions and similar sounds). In making his argument, Batson indicates that Gregor’s transformation into a vermin, becoming dependent upon the family he had previously supported and finally finding the best solution to the problem is simply and only death marks a direct parallel with Kafka’s own battle with tuberculosis. “With his illness and isolation, Kafka felt like vermin, unwanted, reviled. Kafka demonstrates this in his unpublished ‘Letter to His Father,’ where he refers to himself as ‘Ungeziefer,’ that is translated specifically as vermin” (Batson, 2004). Other similarities Batson notes between the story and the real man include the family makeup, including an almost abusive father, a weak mother and a devoted sister and the dependency of the family upon the oldest son for their sustenance.

Looking at the story from a feminist perspective, Nina Straus (1989) indicates the story is mostly about invalidations. “Metamorphosis is about invalidation, our self-invalidations and our invalidations of others; and it does nothing – offers us nothing morally – but this vision of how we do it. The narration focuses on how Gregor invalidates his family, how his family invalidates and destroys Gregor, how his sister, Grete, learns to invalidate her brother” (Straus, 1989: 652). In her analysis of the story, Straus indicates the metamorphosis of Grete is typically overshadowed completely by the metamorphosis of Gregor. Since Grete does not fade into the woodwork, leaving behind a shell that is not even accounted for completely, instead maturing into a confident young woman, Straus indicates the story could not be about isolation, at least not entirely. While she goes into detail regarding some of the other interpretations of the story, Straus indicates it is the exchange of son for daughter, the transposing of male and female gender roles, that lies at the heart of the story.

Despite these alternative viewpoints, other writers have seen the same sense of isolation within Kafka’s story discussed above. F.D. Luke (1983) points out that the difference between Kafka’s interpretation of isolation and that of other writers is not so much the theme, but the way in which is told. Instead of writing about how an individual finds himself in unusual circumstances and begins to question how he fits into this situation, Janis Kenderdine says “Metamorphosis is about the individual’s plight from within a prison imposed upon him within society” (2006).

When Gregor finds himself transformed, it is not because of decisions he himself has made regarding his life. He works as a traveling salesman because he must support his family and he must repay the debts owed by his father to the company he works for. He becomes isolated not because he decided to become an insect, but because he woke up one day to find himself drastically altered. “At first his family (neighbors, fellow citizens) comes to his aid, but as time goes on, they are less sympathetic, and Gregor finds he is dependent on the help of the very people who would be revolted by his very existence. The family feels only a mild tinge of guilt at the fact that they treat this family member in such a way, but they secretly wish the ‘vermin’ to die and leave them be, so they can live their life free of him” (Kenderdine, 2006). Of course, in the end, it is Grete who actually gives voice to these thoughts within Gregor’s hearing, leaving him with the only option left to him. He crawls in his room and dies, leaving them to find a new and happy life without him.

The idea that Kafka’s story deals to a great extent with the concept of isolation is emphasized strongly in “The Metamorphosis: A Strange, Strange Book” (D, 1999). In this article, the author looks at various aspects of the story to illustrate how it is permeated with the sense of loneliness and isolation. “Kafka ends each chapter with Gregor escaping from his prison-like room into the freedom and love of the living room, but being quickly and immediately driven back by his family. The third time he comes out of his bedroom he concludes that he is not worthy to stay in there, and of his own accord turns around and re-enters his cell” (D, 1999). Even the picture on the wall of the woman in furs is as close as Gregor gets to a relationship with a woman outside the family. Referring to the scene in which his mother and sister begin clearing out his room, this author points out that the one item Gregor seeks to save is the image of the woman, which, to him, symbolizes love. Ironically enough, though, this author points out that it is Gregor’s metamorphosis into an insect that allows him the time necessary to become a true man. “As the story progresses, Gregor apparently becomes more human, and less of a machine built for society” (D, 1999). The author supports this by pointing to the attraction music held for him in his final scene as well as his conscious realization that he does not belong with his family anymore and, of his own volition, returns to his room to die.

Conclusion

Throughout Kafka’s Metamorphosis, it can be seen in tone, point of view, plot, setting and symbolism how isolation permeates the book and drives the course of events that eventually lead to Gregor’s death. Before his transformation, he is isolated by the burdens placed upon him by his family and is given no room in which to discover his own wings. After the change occurs, he is kept locked up within his own room, slowly losing pieces of his identity to the whims and desires of the same family who now no longer have time or taste for him. As a result of his inability to connect with others, especially the sister he so dearly loved, Gregor is unable to resume his human state or to survive in his insect form.

Works Cited

Batson, Robbie. “Kafka-Samsa: Reality Through Symbolism.” The Kafka Project. Mauro Nervi (Ed.). 2004.

D, Matthew. “The Metamorphosis: A Strange, Strange Book.” The Kafka Project. Mauro Nervi (Ed.). November 1999.

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. New York: Vanguard Press, 1946.

Kenderdine, Janice. “Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis.” Fifer’s Web Site. 2008. Web.

Luke, F.D. “Explain to Me Some Stories of Kafka.” New York: Gordian Press, 1983.

Straus, Nina Pelikan. “Transforming Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis.” Signs. Vol. 14, N. 3, (Spring 1989), pp. 651-667.

Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” is a well knit literary piece in the fiction genre that puts together the shifting events of Gregor; a good man who turned into an insect and his world completely changed. The author takes the reader through Gregor’s black comical escapades that are more satirical than their surface depiction.

This context embarks on an analysis of the key aspects of this book in a bid to unravel the author’s message, while at the same time noting the literary worth of Kafka’s masterpiece. A thorough scrutiny into Gregor experiences casts real scenes in Franz Kafka’s past life which was miserable and pathetic just like the symbolic cockroach Grogor metamorphosized into.

Told from the third person perspective, Kafka uses an intelligent approach by narrating the story from the protagonist’s viewpoint, and all the readers use Gregor’s eyes as the lens to view the events in the story. Significant emphasis is attached to his feelings and thoughts in an effort to bring out his current understanding of the world prior to his mutation and after his metamorphosis.

It is important to note that, irony is used to disapprove Gregor’s thoughts which were exactly the opposite in reality. The target audience in this story is the people who spend their entire life working to please others and forget about their own needs.

Kafka’s choice of diction is sufficient and well calculated. The opening of the story clearly introduces the main story to the reader with the creation of a pathetic image in the mind of the readers. The words that Kafka uses to describe the insect Gregor changed into. ……“domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top” creates an image of a cockroach in the readers mind though Kafka does not directly mention the actual name of the insect.

In addition, Kafka’s use of simple words and sentence structures that are easy to understand, makes reading this book an interesting experience. However, the author’s tone from the surface may be termed comic but a deeper analysis portrays a lot of satire and sarcasm. In the midst of comedy, the protagonist fights for his salvation from his guilt and alienation; all resulting from his working conditions.

Among the major themes portrayed is alienation, which is facilitated by the irrational nature of the universe. Gregor was a good person who sacrificed his own life to work and take care of his family yet when the worst happened to him, they left him all alone. Disconnection of the mind from the body poses as another major theme. Though Gregor’s body has changed into an insect, his humanity remains.

This further shows the unending conflict in the story as Gregor tries to make sense of his insect life on one side, and his family takes him for the pathetic cockroach he has become on the other side. Sympathy and its limits emerges as a theme when all his family members find jobs and finally give up on him and leave him all alone.

A look into the stylistic devices adopted, metaphor is widely used throughout the story. Gregor’s transformation into an insect is metaphorical as it incapacitates him; he cannot talk, when he talks he cannot be heard, his family cannot see his need to live a free life even in his transformed shape and he is a disgrace.

The insect clearly explains Gregor’s state and he has to bear it all alone because no one understands him. The setting is also used as style: It is suffocating and mentally disturbing as well psychologically distressing. This can be evidenced by the four walls of Gregor’s room and their dining room. Through the setting, Kafka uses character development to take the reader through the stages of transformation of Gregor till his death.

This text is important as it shows the predicament of the modern man. The world relationships have become more parasitic and people value others based on what they can give. With reference to “Metamorphosis” by Kafka, the bad always get away with their actions and the good suffers in the hands of the bad. Though this story can trace back into the 20^th century, it perfectly fit in the real arena of the 21^st century survival.

Introduction

Literature is an avenue through which an author can pass across their message about certain happenings in the society to the reader. It is a reflection of what is going on in a given community. By using different writing techniques, authors are able to appeal to the psyche and emotions of their audience. In this essay, a number of writing techniques are illustrated based on how they affect the reader. In addition, the author points out why writers make use of specific styles. To achieve these objectives, the author of this essay will use two primary texts. The narratives are ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker and Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’. A critical analysis of the writing styles adopted by the two authors makes it clear that the texts have an effect on the reader. To this end, it is apparent that both ‘Dracula’ and ‘The Metamorphosis’ explore horrifying fantasies through the use of different styles. The varying techniques used by the authors have various implications on the reader. Consequently, the experience of the reader interacting with the two texts is determined by how well the style used appeals to their emotions.

The Writing Styles used in “Dracula” and “The Metamorphosis”

Kafka uses a sophisticated yet simple style of writing. The technique is clearly illustrated in the use of humor in chapter 1 (Kafka 3). On their part, Bram makes use of an immediate and straightforward writing style. He achieves this through the use of imagery as seen by the note at the beginning of the text (Bram 2). Bram allows the audience to have an emotional experience. The effect is illustrated by the various journal entries used in the text (Bram 2). The same applies to Kafka, who brings entertainment to the audience through the use of humor (3).

As already mentioned, ‘Dracula’ is based on a straightforward and immediate writing style. The reality aspect of such a technique ensures that the audience has an emotional experience when interacting with the text. The following is an excerpt from Bram’s text, which transforms the audience from just a reader to a judge or juror;

“3 May. Bistritz.—Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived late and would start as near the correct time as possible” (Bram 2).

From the entry, it is apparent that Jonathan is indecisive. Jonathan has the option of departing early. However, he opts to wait for a train that departs late (Bram 2). Further, his actions and words give the impression that Buda-Pesh is an amazing destination. In spite of this, he is hesitant to leave the train station upon his arrival. At this stage, a reader becomes both a judge and a jury with regards to Jonathan’s character. On the basis of the journal entry, the audience may conclude that Jonathan is an indecisive character.

In their text, Kafka uses a style which is both complex and simple (4). Irony, humor, and anacoluthon are some of the techniques used to achieve the sophisticated writing style. It is noted that anacoluthon is a literary technique where sentences end abruptly. The writer brings the sentences to an end in an unexpected manner. The following excerpt illustrates this element clearly; “One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug” (Kafka 3). The reader is expecting Kafka to provide more information about the bug in this sentence. However, this is not the case.

Anacoluthon is evident in several sections of ‘The Metamorphosis’. In the excerpt above, the reader is informed that it is morning and the young man is just waking up. However, Kafka ends the waking-up experience by informing that Gregor is now a hideous insect (3). Such a scenario creates some form of comic relief on the part of the reader. The reason is that transfiguration is not an ordinary morning experience. The effect of this style is entertainment, which is illustrated by the humorous effect of the verse.

At this juncture, it is evident that writing styles have an effect on the reader. As such, it is important to analyze the objectives of the writer as far as the use of a specific style is given. It is noted that ‘Dracula’ is a tale of horror. What this means is that the writing technique used by Bram may be intended to bring out this horrifying experience. The following excerpt outlines a portion of the horror in the text;

“The Count’s mysterious warning frightened me at the time. It frightens me more not when I think of it, (but because) in the future he has a fearful hold upon me. I shall fear to doubt what he may say!” (Bram 53).

Fear is a common response to horror. The use of journal entries legitimizes the experiences of the character in the text. Bram makes it clear that Jonathan made this entry, which shows that he (Jonathan) is afraid of the Count (53). A reader would associate themselves more with real time experiences in a journal entry than with the creations of an author. In this regard, Bram uses the straightforward style to amplify the feelings depicted in the text.

In ‘The Metamorphosis’, Kafka also displays some elements of horror. However, unlike in ‘Dracula’, Kafka prefers to use humor to ensure the audience is receptive to the core message. In an excerpt, Kafka suggests that, “…he first noticed what had really lured him there: it was the smell of something to eat. He almost laughed with joy, for he now had a much greater hunger than in the morning” (33). The horror of many days of hunger is replaced by the humor of a character who becomes more hungry at the sight of food. The author uses the technique to ensure that the reader is eager for more details.

Conclusion

The two texts are meant to appeal to the mental faculties of the reader. Kafka and Bram achieve this objective with some measure of success. For example, Bram provokes judgment from the reader. On their part, Kafka elicits bouts of humor from the audience. In light of this, it is clear that readers of both texts get unique experiences based on the writing styles adopted. However, it is important to note that writing style is not the only way to appeal to the psyche of an audience. As such, further research on this subject is necessary.

Works Cited

Bram, Stoker. Dracula, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1986. Print.

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis, New York: Bantam, 1972. Print.

Introduction

In Kafka’s short story, a traveling salesman awakens one morning to discover that he has been changed into an insect. In the tale, the author highlights various aspects of his life, including his father, his family, and his plans for the future. He expressed his affection for the people in his life using analogies. Many claim that Kafka’s life and the Metamorphosis story are remarkably similar. Therefore, his story may be regarded as autobiographical. The story covers that time’s social, cultural, and historical aspects. These aspects are related to the Marxism of the 20^th century, the sense of alienation and women’s rights development, and societal change accordingly.

Social aspects

Materialization and the Marxist movement defined the 20th century. Following the Marxist theory, Gregor’s inability to work makes him useless to his family, who wants to achieve a higher social class (Mir 131). Samsa’s economic condition is the primary example of class conflict in the Metamorphosis, representing Marxism. Samsa’s family is not well off; Gregor has to pay his father’s debt, and after his inability to work, his family pays off their debt (Kafka 10). This makes the novella an example of a capitalist society (Mir 131). After Gregor’s transformation, and due to his incapacity to work, he passed away. As Mir argued, the main purpose of a Marxist society was to provide for one’s family and be useful.

He argues that after being transformed, Gregor was unable to feed himself. Hence, his future depended on the family’s charity, which eventually became so little food that he starved to death. Housekeeper found his dead body one morning and informed the household. After hearing the news, they opted not to grieve with sadness but relief. Mr. Samsa’s comment was, “Well… now we can thank God!” (Kafka 45). According to Mir, he was relieved of the financial responsibility of sustaining his son, which again indicates the Marxist approach (131). The family chose to visit the memorial service instead of grieving. Remembering their dead son, they talked about the financial gains after his passing, underlying his worth to the family (Mir 133). Thus, Kafka demonstrated one of the key aspects of his time in the story.

Cultural Aspects

Alienation was another topic discussed when analyzing Metamorphosis by Kafka. Prakash argued that Marxism and Existentialism are credited with developing the idea of alienation (Prakash 183). In other words, alienation is essentially the dissimilated relationship between man and society and between people, involving the inner relationships between self and others (Prakash 183). Gregor was alienated in his room as soon as he ceased contributing to his family financially and by working. This demonstrates that his family utterly disregarded Gregor as anything other than a means of obtaining material gain. Prakash also finds a correlation between the character’s alienation and the writer. Kafka struggled with alienation being a German speaker in the Czech Republic, making him a minority. Moreover, he was a Jew, which made him a minority within a minority.

Many researchers focused on the notion of alienation in Kafka’s work. Furthermore, questions of alienation and culture were also raised by Saperstein (12). Ovid repeatedly emphasizes the value of art in the Metamorphosis and that the story covers a difficult relationship between a father and a son, which was inspired by Kafka’s work. Although, in this case, the dilemma between the characters revolved around art. Rather than have Phaeton admire the art, Ovid has the narrator describe it. This underlined the main issue when Phaeton, much like Gregor, did not feel any support from Ovid, feeling lost and alienated, much like Kafka himself.

Historical Aspects

Joshi studied Kafka’s work with a gender-based concern that has been central to the study of the author’s text ever since the evolution of gender studies. Mr. Samsa, who employs physical force, represents Kafka’s father and serves as an example of his manliness every time he drives Gregor back to his room in all three parts of the Metamorphosis (Joshi 65). After transformation, Gregor is treated like a non-masculine identity; he is faced with discrimination, marginalization, and degradation, as he is put away from his previous state further and further (Joshi 71). His masculinity, in a way, is being neutered and even infantilized.

Kafka began writing at a time of significant and rapid cultural changes, amongst which one of the most pivotal ones was women’s liberation movements (Joshi 72). The right to vote, working rights, and inclusion in universities for women started changing the world for them and, consequently, for men. Grete becomes his caretaker, a reversal of what is shown in Gregor’s memories, where he takes care of Grete’s needs (Joshi 72). This reflected the actual events at that time, where women became more empowered.

Conclusion

Kafka did a wonderful job underlying all the important aspects of his time in the Metamorphosis. As it has been stated numerous times, this work is almost autobiographical. Kafka discussed his family issues and troubles, focusing on his relationships with his father and sisters and on key moments of that time. He implied a Marxist approach to the characters’ relationships and talked about a familiar sense of alienation and the rise of women’s liberation movements. The story is a reflection of Kafka’s life and the society of that time.

Works Cited

Joshi, Shubham. “A Gender Study of Franz Kafka and His Work The Metamorphosis.” Contemporary Literary Review India 8.2, 2021, pp. 57–90. Web.

Kafka, Frank. “The Metamorphosis.” Sirius, 2018. Web.

Mir, Shabir Ahmad. “Explicating Kafka’s Metamorphosis within the ambit of Marxism.” International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences 4, 2019, pp. 128–133. Web.

Prakash, Divyam. “The Comparative Study on the Theme of Alienation and Self Deception in “The Metamorphosis” and “I – Not I.” Assonance, 2018, pp. 182-192. Web.

Saperstein, David. “Metamorphosis: Book II: The Cocoon Story Continues.” Talos, 2018

Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, first published in 1915, has become one of the most well-known and powerful works of the 20^th century. Through the story of Gregor Samsa, a sales clerk transformed into a giant insect, Kafka presents a bleak and unsettling vision of the world and individuals becoming trapped by their own circumstances and relationships. The writing is beautifully crafted and evocative, with vivid imagery and a dreamlike quality that adds to the sense of unease and confusion. At the same time, the novel is thought-provoking and intellectually challenging, as it invites readers to consider the nature of identity and the human experience. Overall, The Metamorphosis is a masterful work of literature that is both disturbing and deeply moving.

There can be different opinions to whether it should or should not be considered as a horror story. On the one hand, it does share certain obvious elements with the popular horror films and fiction, one of which is the presence of a supernatural, paranormal, or monstrous creature. In Kafka’s story, it is represented by Gregor’s large insect-like form. However, it is not a horror story in the traditional sense; the story is unsettling because it addresses fears such as isolation and alienation, which are quite naturally experienced by all people.

These natural fears and emotions are the aspects in which the story differs from the horror genre. While most of the horror films and fiction works rely on supernatural elements to frighten and unsettle the audience, Kafka does it by exploring the themes of uncertainty and loneliness of human condition. In addition to its themes and literary merits, The Metamorphosis is also notable for its unique narrative structure. The story is told from the perspective of Gregor, the main character, who is unable to communicate his thoughts and feelings directly to the reader. This creates a sense of distance and disconnection that mirrors Gregor’s own isolation and alienation. It also forces readers to rely on their own interpretations and inferences to understand what is happening in the story, adding to the overall sense of uncertainty and ambiguity.

Finally, the fact that Gregor’s transformation is never explained or fully understood adds to the story’s unsettling nature. It suggests that there may be forces at work in the world that are beyond our understanding, and that we are ultimately powerless to control our own lives. This lack of control can be deeply unsettling, as the readers may find themselves feeling frustrated and helpless, trying to make sense of Gregor’s situation. The way that Gregor is treated by his family and others around him can also be deeply disturbing. Despite the fact that he is essentially the same person he was before his transformation, the people in his life are quick to reject and mistreat him, seeing him only as a monstrous creature rather than a human being. This rejection and mistreatment can be difficult for readers to witness, and can make them question their own capacity for empathy and compassion.

Work Cited

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Lightning Source, 2010.

Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis is one of the most outstanding literature pieces written in the twentieth century. It has attracted significant attention among readers and researchers due to its unprecedented imagery, emotionally-charged story, and relevance to challenging existential experiences resonating with readers. There is no doubt that Kafka’s novella can be analyzed from various critical perspectives, adding to the interpretation of a heart-breaking plot about a human’s transformation into an insect. Considering the idea of change explicitly present in the plot, it appears interesting to analyze how implicit psychological changes in characters are displayed. The analysis of Kafka’s Metamorphosis based on Psychoanalysis highlights the main themes of the Superego-Id changes in the main character’s psyche, the repressed desires mirrored in the character’s behaviors, and the Oedipal complex present in Gregor’s father.

Psychoanalysis theory is based on the research of Sigmund Freud, who was one of the first psychologists whose view on the human psyche’s structure remains topical in modern science. Psychoanalytic theory suggests that there are three fundamental aspects of the psyche, including the Id, Ego, and Superego (Yadav 47). It is responsible for the gratification of human desires connected to instincts, such as the need for food and sex. Superego appears as opposed to Id, relies on social norms and rules, and can even provoke a sense of guilt in a person when they act according to Id violating Superego at the same time (Yadav 47). Hence, Ego serves as a balancing aspect between Id and Superego responsible for delayed forms of gratification, and it prioritizes the reality in which a personality exists (Yadav 47). Therefore, the human psyche experiences a constant confrontation between three structures, and psychological tension depends on one’s ability to satisfy specific desires in the given circumstances with the consideration of morality norms.

In the beginning, Gregor Samsa, the main character of Metamorphosis, appears as a personality whose behavior is impacted mainly by Superego. After realizing that his body has changed to a vermin’s, he reflects on his life, predominantly mentioning his work as a “commercial traveler” exhausted with overwhelming obligations and an inhumane schedule (Kafka Chapter 1). The reader learns that Gregor is the primary breadwinner for his family, including his parents and sister, Grete. Thus, Gregor displays his belonging to the system and his complete obedience to it, which is evidence of Superego dominance in his psyche (Yadav 48). After Gregor receives the vermin’s body, his Superego continues to display itself on various occasions, for instance, when he hides from the eyesight of his family. He assumes that his look may make his mother “ill,” and he hides behind the sofa when Grete enters his room (Kafka Chapter 2). Gregor loves his mother and sister, and one might assume he would like to see them, which would refer to Id’s desires. However, the idea of showing them his “ugly” appearance is unbearable for Gregor and is accompanied by a sense of guilt, which is peculiar to the Superego.

Interestingly, unlike the main character, Gregor’s family appears to be driven mainly by the Id and Ego aspects of their psyches. It seems that Gregor’s family had some sense of respect toward him since he earned money and provided for them. They aligned their desires for decent living with the reality of not having jobs themselves and, therefore, the need to rely on Gregor. The main character outlines he was responsible “to pay off [his] parents’ debt,” which would take five to six years (Kafka Chapter 1). As a result, he is displayed as bonded to the system (because he cannot tell his boss what he truly thinks) and to his family (he cannot reject paying off their debt). Things start to change since his physical transformation, and a reader may witness the change in the family’s behaviors. In the beginning, Gregor is worried about the idea that his parents and sister are thinking of finding jobs because his father is “elderly,” his mother has asthma, and Grete is “just a child of seventeen” (Kafka Chapter 2). Eventually, they decide to rent some of their rooms to lodgers, and after that, their attitude towards Gregor changes significantly. They are to be “structured to function on their superego” and neglect their family feelings (Yadav 49). It is noticeable when Grete, who was kind and loving to Gregor, starts naming him “it” and suggests that the family should “get rid of it” (Kafka Chapter 3). Unlike Gregor, who was exhausted by the system and his Superego dominance but managed to take care of his family, they neglect their family emotions and are under Ego and Id rule.

The opposite change occurs in Gregor’s psyche, leading him from Superego-driven behavior to Id dominance, followed by the exploration of his unconscious desires. According to psychoanalysis, desires that are born in Id are filtered by Superego and Ego (Gould 150). If Superego finds a desire socially acceptable, it travels to the Ego part so that a person becomes conscious of their need and can use adequate instruments to achieve it. In case that Superego finds a desire violating social norms and Ego thinks that social consequences could be “dangerous” to a person, the desire is moved to the unconscious (Gould 150). In such a way, a person’s needs are repressed, and one is commonly unaware of it. However, the energy produced by desire remains in one’s psyche and creates inner tension, which sometimes leads to over-reactive and compulsive behaviors.

In Gregor, repressed desires and emotions come to the surface when he becomes a vermin. At first, he thinks of his work and boss negatively, living this way through emotions that he does not allow himself in everyday life (Kafka Chapter 1). Since he does not go to work, he spends much time on his own, which actualizes his inner self. At the same time, he tries to control his desires; for instance, despite his love for his family and the longing for interaction with them, he hides from them. Such behavior demonstrates the idea of alienation – a psychological response to traumatic experiences that one cannot cope with (Amir 155). It appears that Gregor alienates himself from others because he deeply fears non-acceptance. Alienation occurs in the case of a “conflict between [individual’s] social role or setting,” which corresponds to Gregor’s situation as he is no longer aligned with the role he used to have (Asriningtyas and Mustofa 261). The distance he creates adds to the distance between him as an insect and his family as humans, increasing the repression of his true desires, eventually leading to their display of hardly-controlled Gregor’s behavior.

The most peculiar example of repressed feelings coming to the surface is Gregor’s obsession with the portrait of a lady in furs. This picture is mentioned at the beginning of Metamorphosis and then appears when Gregor fiercely fights for it against Grete, who wants to take it from the wall (Kafka Chapter 2). From the psychoanalytic perspective, it was a desire to have a relationship with a woman because the image serves as a metaphor for a real woman he could not have (Asriningtyas and Mustofa 270). Unfortunately, Gregor does not have any solution to satisfy his repressed desire, and, as a result, he behaves aggressively and is ready to “make a leap for Grete’s face” (Kafka Chapter 2). Such action might be seen as rebellious against the system because Gregor’s family was a part of the system he obeyed. Protecting the picture then demonstrates the dominance of Id in Gregor’s psyche, suggesting that psychological transformation followed the physical change.

Another peculiar highlight from psychoanalysis refers to the Oedipal complex displayed in the character of Gregor’s father. Interestingly, the Oedipal complex usually refers to a psychological conflict in a son who aspires to usurp his mother’s love at a particular stage of development and starts to perceive his father as a competitor (Islam et al. 306). On the one hand, Gregor himself displays some traits of the Oedipal complex because, in their family, he took the leading role that initially belonged to his father. On the other hand, the aggression of Mr. Samsa towards Gregor demonstrates that he had suppressed feelings towards his son in the triangle of Gregor and his parents (Islam et al. 306). When one day, Mr. Samsa returns home from work and learns that Mrs. Samsa fainted, he does not clarify the details but only explodes in anger and wants to kill his son (Kafka Chapter 2). The story continues as the mother appears between them and asks Mr. Samsa not to kill Gregor. However, Mr. Samsa splashes out his emotions by throwing apples at Gregor, which causes severe wounds and eventually leads to the main character’s death (Kafka Chapter 2). At the end of the novella, Mr. Samsa obtains a job and has a manager to report to, similar to Gregor’s situation when he was a traveler. Accordingly, he takes the role of the leader of their family, and it seems that “Gregor’s descent is absolutely balanced by his father’s rise” (Islam et al. 308). In the final scene, Mrs. Samsa and Grete obey Mr. Samsa’s order to finish their writing and follow him, so they have time together in the countryside (Kafka Chapter 3). Kafka portrays the affection parents have for their daughter and their oblivion of Gregor, which appears as if the obstacle (or the competitor, from the father’s point of view) has been removed.

Conclusively, the psychoanalytic lens highlights the collision between Superego and Id dominants in the characters of Metamorphosis, along with the display of repressed feelings and the impact of the Oedipal complex on family relationships. Franz Kafka depicts the physical transformation of a human to an insect, and this event catalyzes the psychological conversion from Superego to Id dominance in the main character and vice versa in his family. Moreover, the story contains scenes that reveal the topic of repressed feelings and emotions, including the consequences of the Oedipal complex for relationships between a father and a son. Eventually, psychoanalysis enables the discovery of implicit motives and feelings behind the behaviors of the novella’s characters and serves for a deeper understanding of Kafka’s work.

Works Cited

Amir, Danah. Bearing Witness to the Witness: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Four Modes of Traumatic Testimony. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2019.

Asriningtyas, Devicha Lidya, and Ali Mustofa. “Gregor Samsa’s Self Alienation in Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis: Lacanian Psychoanalysis.” Humanitatis: Journal of Language and Literature, vol. 8, no. 2, 2022, pp. 261–276.

Gould, Caron Steinberg. “Psychoanalysis, Imagination, and Imaginative Resistance: A Genesis of the Post-Freudian World.” Imagination and Art: Explorations in Contemporary Theory, by Keith A. Moser and Ananta Charana Sukla, Brill Rodopi, 2020, pp. 139–155.

Islam, Saddam, et al. “Gregor’s Father: A Confirmation of the Oedipal Complex.” Global Language Review, VI, no. II, 2021, pp. 304–309.

Kafka, Franz, and Joyce Crick. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Yadav, Parth Chandrakant. “Gregor Samsa’s Psyco-Metamorphosis: franz Kafka’s Critique of Systemic Subjugation of Modern Man ”. Multidisciplinary Research Trends, edited by Mohd Shaikhul Ashraf et al., vol. 3, Red Shine, 2022, pp. 46–51.

Introduction

Gregor, a character in The Metamorphosis, serves as a vehicle for Kafka’s argument that people are existential by nature. Existentialism includes the value of freedom of choice, the value of the individual, and the value of interpersonal connections. The decisions Gregor takes in his personal relationships and throughout his life shape who he is as a character. The culmination of Gregor’s tremendous selflessness, inability to acknowledge his own existence as a vermin, and allowing people to dehumanize him led to his demise.

Discussion

Given that Kafka writes on the state of the human condition, Kafka is an existentialist. His short story The Metamorphosis is a good example of existential writing since the protagonist has the fundamental urge that all people have to feel loved and to have meaningful tasks in life. In The Metamorphosis, Kafka applies absurdist philosophy. Absurdism is a philosophical subfield of existentialism, as was already noted. In reality, French existentialism, which contends that existence has no purpose and that humans are doomed to fail in their quest for meaning, is where the ludicrous first emerged. Existentialism contends that life is fundamentally and completely meaningless, in contrast to the fantastic, which believes that existence has a purpose but that meaning merely lies outside the purview of human conscience.

Conclusion

Furthering its claim that everything in the universe is relative and depends on people’s attempts to make sense of it, existentialism asserts that there is no such thing as absolute good or evil. The absurdist worldview is demonstrated in The Metamorphosis by the way the family’s morally repugnant behaviors seem to have no consequences at all. The Samsas are not held accountable for mistreating Gregor. Even Grete, who initially welcomed Gregor after his transformation, expresses her desperation to have him removed from the family’s life at the end of the story because she is unable to understand how Gregor has transformed into a vermin and lost his humanity.

Introduction

The Metamorphosis is one of the main novels by a famous Austrian writer Franz Kafka. In addition, it is one of the most bright and impressive works of modern literature. The main subject of the novel is the family relations and problem of a person’s worthiness in the society. The main character of the story, Gregor Samsa, wakes up one morning and realizes that he transformed into a terrible bug.

This fantastic change of the main character is just an artistic mean which serves as a basis and background for other actions and other metamorphoses in his family and society that surrounds him.

Thus, the central motif of the story is the “metamorphosis” of a person and society. The Metamorphosis analysis essay shall examine the main topics of the short novel. The author explores and analyses such social problems as a person’s worthiness and the ills of society, making use of a mixture of fantasy and reality, allegories, and analysis of the psychology of the society. The Metamorphosis provides a deep insight into the human soul and family relations in the middle-class Australian family.

Critical Analysis of Metamorphosis

In the novel, the author emphasizes that society is hostile, and it does not need unproductive members. In order to show social-person relations, the author shows the relationships of the protagonist with his family. It is a typical and, at the same time, unique work of the modern period.

As has already been mentioned, the Metamorphosis is a work that contains all traits of modernist literature. It explores the ideas of individualism and contradiction of a person and society. The main subject of modernistic literature is the problems of modern life and the role of the individual who faces these problems.

What does The Metamorphosis have in common with many other works of literature? The works of modernistic literature are marked with pessimism and a response to the emerging city life and its society. The stream of consciousness is the leading literary convention used to transfer the absurdness of life and an individual’s attitude to the world.

Extensive use of comparisons, personifications, intertextuality, and psychoanalysis are the significant signs of modernism. The Metamorphosis, as a typical example of the modernistic literature, contains many symbols and metaphors, “Kafka often used a plainly described world of persecution in which one irrational element would be introduced to complete the narrative down an absurd path” (Childs 125).

This work can be challenging to analyze for the unprepared reader, and different readers can find different themes and meanings in this novel as there are plenty of them. However, the line, which every reader notices, is the line of changes that are discovered at different levels. The first change is a physical change of the protagonist “When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” (Kafka 13).

The second change occurs with the mental state of the protagonist when he becomes aloof of the outer world, and “he was showing so little consideration for the others” (Kafka 22). Finally, the third line of changes appears within his family and its attitude to the protagonist. All these changes appear in real and fantastic context and, “Kafka’s ability to successfully join the fantastic and the real is often noted as being at the root of his genius” (Bloom 34).

The piece of writing has strict structure and develops in chronological order. The story opens with the scene when Gregor Samsa, a young man from a middle-class family, wakes up in the morning and discovers that he transformed into a terrible insect. The beginning of the story immediately provokes excitement and suspense. What is interesting is that Gregor does not feel worried about his transformation, but he is concerned about the fact that he will miss a train and will be late for a job. He had never missed even a day and, “in fifteen years of service Gregor had never once yet been ill.” (Kafka 16).

The fact of transformation is a strong literary convention that helps the author to explore the main subjects in his work.

Symbolism in the Novel: Summary

After having transformed into a terrible insect, Gregor preserves his human soul, and he is still worried about his family, and he needs help and support of his family. But he receives them neither from his parents nor from his sister. The only thing that concerns them is that their single “source of income” will not be able to bring money. The only things that Gregor receives from his family are anger, fear, and even aggression.

Even the fact that this insect is their son and brother cannot excite their understanding and compassion. In his turn, Gregor understands his family members and makes everything possible not to bother them. Reading the novel, one realizes that behind the appearance of the bug, there is a king and tender soul of a young man.

Gregor tries to bring fewer concerns to his parents and family, he does not leave his room not to frighten his mother and hides under the bed when his sister cleans the room. A tense atmosphere in the family grows. All family members are starting to hate Gregor, and they behave as if he is not a human anymore.

The breaking point for the story comes when Grete, Gregor’s sister, declares that the insect in the room is not Gregor anymore and just a bug and they have to get rid of him:

“Things cannot go on any longer in this way. Maybe if you don’t understand that, well, I do. I will not utter my brother’s name in front of this monster, and thus I say only that we must try to get rid of it. We have tried what is humanly possible to take care of it and to be patient. I believe that no one can criticize us in the slightest.” (Kafka, 137).

The same night Gregor dies, and nobody misses him.

The problem of the individual and person’s worthiness appears though the text. When Gregor was still a human, he was discontent with his job but did it to pay the debts of his father. Thus, the author explores the conflict of society and human existence in it. Gregor’s transformation in the insect was a logical continuation of his involuntary dependence and his unhappy human life. The allusion to the insect is not accidental.

The bug is unprotected in front of society, as well as Gregor’s life was. After the transformation, the life in the family changed, “the house soon started to fall apart; the household was reduced more and more.” (Kafka 111). However, it was not for a long time.

Soon, a metamorphosis occurred to other members of the family as well. Gregor’s father “turned from a lethargic, failed businessman to a productive, active member of the work force” (Bloom, 44). The family does not need Gregor anymore.

They have got money, and it is the only thing they wanted from Gregor. It may seem that family’s attitude to Gregor changed after his metamorphosis. However, it is evident that this change only discovered the truth. Thus, Gregor was only a “machine” that brought money. It was his primary role in the family.

His family treats him as a working “bug.” However, not only his family but also the society where he lived as well treat him this way. He discovers that he was not worthy of anything, and even if he dies, nobody will notice it.

Gregor lived as a bug, and he transformed into a bug. But, the readers are not horrified with the transformation, but with the terrible attitude to a poor young man. Even the view of the reader suffers changes. We feel compassion towards Gregor, and his family’s behavior fills us with indignation. A terrible everyday life and attitude of parents to their son seem to be unacceptable. However, it is a terrible reality that depicts a real social structure.

What Aspect of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis Can Readers Mostly Relate to Today?

In the character of Gregor Samsa, the author focused not only on the individual problem of one young man but the problem of the whole society. This novel is the brightest expression of the tragic perception of the world that was a characteristic feature of all Kafka’s works.

The situation of transformation can be interpreted in different ways. It may concern a family and social alienation, the loneliness of a person capable of compassion and self-sacrifice, one’s difference from others. Kafka depicts the protagonist’s mental and spiritual isolation as a result of his metamorphosis.

The author shows the essence of society realistic and believable: you are a member of the community while you can perform your job and serve it. However, if you are not capable of doing it, society does not need you anymore and can even get read of you.

Gregor is an unproductive individual, and his family is a symbol of the society which does not want to accept the one who does not bring any profit. In this novel. Kafka emphasizes the fact of human vulnerability in society. A person is just a powerless and helpless “toy” doomed to be lonely, even among the closest people, his/her family.

Metamorphosis Critical Analysis Conclusion

The Metamorphosis is an innovative work in the world of prose. It is full of symbolic and metaphorical images that emphasize the tragedy of a person’s fate, the alienation of the personality, its helplessness in front of society. The novel depicts the hostile world. It is one of the stories that make people think about “questions of life.”

It makes it one of the best modernistic works of literature and the most examined and criticized novels. As The Metamorphosis analysis essay evidences, different people can find different themes in this book. However, the dominant theme is the alienation of the person and its relations with society. Through the description of family relations in the Gregor’s family, the author makes allusions to the relationships in modern society.

The author provides the idea that society is cruel, and it does not need unproductive people. This idea is closely interrelated with the social problem of a person’s worthiness in the world. The author expresses his vision of the person’s role in society, making use of the fantastic transformation of the protagonist in the bug.

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold. Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2006.

Childs, Peter. Modernism. New York, Routledge, 2008.

Kafka, Franz. Metamorphosis. Delaware: Prestwick House Inc, 2005.

Tartuffe is a character presented to readers as a person who does not follow any moral or ethical standards. He is described as outwardly possessing all the attributes of a cultured and decent citizen, honoring the sanctity of intentions and relationships with people. Simultaneously, he ultimately does not correspond to the image of a nice young man prescribed for him since he does not observe any limits of decency. He tries to rob and humiliate the people who opened their doors to him. Such villains make such dramatic characters because the reader, associating himself with Tartuffe, does not accept his negative qualities and speaks sharply about his impious attitude towards people who are kind to him. A strong contrast is created between the image of positive and negative characters. Therefore, negative characters with similar qualities to Tartuffe are prevalent in such works.

Moliere’s work and its characters come to life on the stage of the theater. Each of the presented characters carries a specific character trait, which is demonstrated throughout the performance. Due to the literary direction of this work being classicism, the characters do not develop psychologically. They only show a clear division into positive and negative roles. The characters of Tartuffe are fascinating, although they only demonstrate the ordinary life of people. One of the leading roles that the author of the work himself highlights is the role of the maid Dorine. Dorine’s caustic comments and fearlessness in the face of the truth make her one of the brightest characters in this work. One of her comments, according to Moliere and Steiner (1972), was, “That beggar who arrived barefoot, his clothes in tatters—well, now he forgets who he is, and tells everyone what to do.” (p. 6). Simultaneously, the head of the Orgon family is gullible and stupid, and he is too trusting of Tartuffe, which creates significant problems and misunderstandings between family members. Depending on the performer, some roles give additional color to work and allow the audience in the theater to feel even more deeply the era of classicism.

This play touches on the themes of false piety and religious fanaticism. The egocentrism with which some people approach the issues they face is often the reason why they begin to gravitate towards extremism, while others establish more stable beliefs. For example, when people do not have enough knowledge about a particular subject, or their knowledge is not correct or complete enough, they prefer to argue and prove their case. Simultaneously, when a person is shown different ways of thinking or the absolute truth instead of the lies he has been taught for some time, he seems to mind. People whose minds are filled with rational thoughts, who are more firm in their intentions, are pretty tricky targets for introducing ideas of extremism and fanaticism into their heads. Orgon can be an example for the first case because he could not even imagine that he was deceived. Concurrently, Dorine, a very clever and sharp-tongued girl, did not even think of believing Tartuffe’s stories. Moliere and Steiner (1972) claim that Dorine says, “If we’re to believe what he says, we’re all acting like criminals; that fanatic controls everything.” (p. 5). Moreover, with her speeches, she urged people to listen to the voice of mind and not to follow the lead of Tartuffe.

The expressionism movement shows the author’s opinion about the issues and events of paramount importance. For example, in Metamorphosis, Kafka illustrates his idea that human existence is devoid of spiritual connections. Kafka and Corngold (1972) write that Grete said, “If it were Gregor, he would have realized that a communal life among human beings is not possible with him and would have gone away.” (p. 69). This phrase demonstrates that even a warmer relationship with his sister is gradually fading. Gregor’s transformation completely separated him from his family since now he could not earn the maintenance of his loved ones.

One of Kafka’s main themes was loneliness, which was demonstrated throughout the work. Even the family’s father is afraid to be left alone after everything that has happened to his son; Kafka and Corngold (1972) reported that he was worried about being abandoned as well as Gregor: “And have a little consideration for me.” (p. 76). The image of the insect Gregor represents the misfortune that happened to him, which completely separated him from people. His hope for his family does not come true; his relatives reject him, and his suffering continues. He even ceased to be a person for them; he was called ” it”. Despite such blatant irritation and rejection in his address, Gregor continues to love them and tries to ease their suffering associated with his transformation. Even through addresses to each other such as “Mrs.,” and “Mr.,” the author emphasizes the disintegration of family and spiritual relationships.

Kafka’s work does not show the moment of metamorphosis because the main idea was to show people’s attitudes to a sharp change in a person close to them. Because this process occurred suddenly, people did not have the opportunity to get used to the changes and show their best side. Gregor could not tell them what he was feeling or how he was suffering. At the same time, if the changes were gradual, perhaps the people around him would be able to get used to them and take more care of his misfortune. The loved ones would get used to a particular pattern of behavior and continue to support it.

References

Molière, & Steiner, P. L. (2009). Tartuffe and the misanthrope. Hackett Pub.

Franz Kafka, & Corngold, S. (1972). The metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Bantam Books, Cop.

Both Leo Tolstoy and Franz Kafka presented short stories that reflect very similar themes regarding the role of man in his society. This sociological viewpoint held that man had a tendency to lose himself in his responsibilities of work and monetary support for his family at the tremendous cost of losing his personal connections to this family and to friends. In their depictions, both Tolstoy and Kafka illustrate men who are caught by the social web of expectations and responsibilities to become individuals who don’t truly experience living until they are in the process of dying. This occurs as they first come to understand their isolation, begin to relate this to the shallowness of their perceived connections and relationships and yet fail to convey the lessons they’ve learned to those who will survive.

Leo Tolstoy’s novella The Death of Ivan Illyich is often considered to be a tragedy because of the way in which the main character suffers an unexplained but lengthy and drawn out death. There is no hope for him as he first begins to experience a sharp pain in his side that becomes increasingly irritating to him, causing him to take his irritation out on his family. The doctors provide no hope for him as they remain incapable of determining what exactly is causing this pain and therefore have no means by which to cure it. As he continues to suffer, he becomes ever more drawn to the company of his servant boy, Gerasim, who is not afraid to face the death that is immediately before his master. As he comes to understand the difference between his servant’s and his family’s views on life, Ivan begins to realize that he has lived a life of moral death, a life empty of everything save the material goods he struggles to acquire and keep. As a result, his connections with his family are based on the comforts each can provide the others rather than based upon something more real, deeper and abiding that might transcend death into something greater, something associated with the ‘great light’ that hits him in the end. Through this ‘awakening death’, the story has also been interpreted to be a story of hope as Ivan is redeemed in the end. However, it is my contention that the story remains a tragedy because the epiphany experienced by Ivan comes too late for him to share it with his son, who is now doomed to repeat his father’s mistakes.

Although the story takes up less than 100 pages, Franz Kafka’s story Metamorphosis lends itself to a wide variety of interpretations in terms of theme and meaning, including mirroring much of what Tolstoy discovered in his tale. The story follows the experiences of Gregor Samsa after he wakes up one morning to find himself turned into a giant bug in his own bed. As he reveals himself to his family and his employer, it becomes obvious that this change is not meant to be a figurative change on the part of the author, but is also a physical change. Although the family continues to care for him, providing him with food and water and cleaning his room once a day, Gregor becomes more and more detached from them, eventually finding it difficult to keep track of what has been happening around him. His room becomes dirtier, his family becomes less attentive and he becomes less concerned with their welfare in connection with his own. As his sister and mother move his personal furniture out of his room, he leaves the room with a mind toward helping his sister, but is instead attacked by his father, becoming wounded in the process when an apple thrown at him becomes lodged in his back. Rather than tending to his wounds, the family locks him back in his room again where the apple is able to fester for months. The room becomes the general receptacle of household debris before Gregor’s final attempt to reconnect with his family results in such harsh and complete rejection that he simply crawls back in his room and dies. Through the story, Kafka uses the concept of work to highlight some of the problems of the human condition.

Throughout his suffering, Ivan’s story is seen as a tragedy because he is left with no one to actually care for him except his poor servant boy. The family that is supposed to love him to distraction draws away from him and hides their face from the fact that he is dying. His connections to the world are described in equally shallow terms as the men he worked with, all of whom are claimed to have liked the dead man, discuss his death as they might a passing fad and consider the irksome chore ahead of them. “The more intimate of Ivan Ilych’s acquaintances, his so-called friends, could not help thinking also that they would now have to fulfill the very tiresome demands of propriety by attending the funeral service and paying a visit of condolence to the widow” (Ch. 1). As is noted by Danaher (2007), “The subtexts tell the story of a nineteenth-century man with all the traits of the modern, twenty-first-century self: one with no spiritual life, one alienated from others, and one compelled by his illness to seek and find true meaning.” It is only as he lies dying that Ivan is finally made aware of his true isolation in the world.

It can be argued that Gregor’s transformation is a literal indication of his feelings of separation from humanity, including from the members of his own family, as can be seen in from the very beginning of the story. Despite waking up to find himself in the form of a bug, Gregor’s primary concern remains to get to work in order to continue supporting the family who has been dependent upon him for the past five years. As he reflects upon his position, he reveals the level of disconnectedness that has already occurred between himself and his family, indeed the rest of humanity, since he took a job as a traveling salesman: “And apart from business itself, this plague of traveling: the anxieties of changing trains, the irregular, inferior meals, the ever changing faces, never to be seen again, people with whom one has no chance to be friendly” (13). Even in his own home, he has taken up the habit of locking his bedroom doors “as if in a hotel” (16) and he continues to follow the rules and regulations set forth by his father even though he is the sole breadwinner of the family. As the family pleads with his manager to believe Gregor is sick, the picture of his life before the transformation becomes complete. “The boy thinks of nothing but his work! It makes me upset to see how he never goes out after supper; do you know he’s just spent a whole week here and been at home every evening! He sits down with us at the table and stays there, quietly reading the paper or studying his timetables” (21). Not only does Gregor not have any friends with whom to spend his evenings, but he apparently also spends little time actually interacting with his family even when he is home, choosing instead to engage himself in solitary activities.

In both stories, the emptiness of the family’s affections is brought forward throughout the book. Within Ivan’s story, both friends and family are seen to go through the appropriate motions of life without any of the true sentiment that originally gave rise to these expressions. For example, rather than considering the tremendous suffering that would cause a man to scream in agony for three days straight to such magnitude that he could be heard throughout the house, Ivan’s wife tells Peter, “For the last three days, he screamed incessantly. It was unendurable. I cannot understand how I bore it; you could hear him three rooms off. Oh, what I have suffered!” (Ch. 1). There is no indication in this statement, before or after, that this woman has any inclination of her husband’s suffering during this time, nor any indication that she was willing to do anything, if anything could have been done, to alleviate his pain. His friends begin thinking of the potential promotions they may be up for at work while his family looks forward to their death benefits. This approach fits in with a functionalist perspective of sociological order as the family performs important specific, unchanging responsibilities that contribute to society’s basic needs and help perpetuate a strict social order with little or no consideration for individual needs or considerations. A Marxist society is always in a process of being created, and this occurs through communication and negotiation (Giddens et al, 2003). When one no longer has anything with which to negotiate, one is no longer valuable, important or worthy of attention.

In keeping with this theme of isolation when one loses one’s value, much of Kafka’s story takes place within the confines of Gregor’s room, which itself symbolizes the state of his relationships with other people. Only his sister is brave enough to enter the room, and then only when he is hiding beneath the couch or under a sheet. Even his one activity of escape from his room, staring out the window, becomes meaningless as the world outside fades into a featureless expanse of grey before his dimming eyesight. Despite his terror at having someone enter his room as well as his feelings of fear regarding its emptiness, “his great room, in which he was obliged to remain flat on his stomach on the floor, frightened him in a way that he could not understand” (42), the room nevertheless seems to be confining, as he finds himself constantly running about the walls and ceiling as a means of filling the void. Although he no longer has a job, Gregor finds it necessary to remain active throughout his waking life. This activity leads to the removal of his personal furniture from the room, removing yet more of his individual identity and distancing him more from his former life and the relationships he once shared. As he listens to his mother explaining to his sister the need to keep the room as it was to remind Gregor of himself, he thinks, “Did he really wish to allow this warm, comfortable room with its genial furniture to be transformed into a cavern in which, in rapid and complete forgetfulness of his human past, he might exercise his right to crawl all over the walls? It seemed he was already so near to forgetting” (59). Coming to this thought, he makes a valiant attempt to preserve the portrait he had so carefully framed on his wall just before his transformation, just barely able to cover it with his body, but then ends up destroying it himself.

In both stories, the tragedy is that the important lesson learned by these characters remains unlearned by the rest of their society. The fact that the lesson discovered by Ivan has been lost upon the living he has left behind is first captured in the first chapter of the story as his dead body is visited by Peter Ivanovich. Looking down into the composed face of his former friend, Peter notices a certain expression: “There was in that expression a reproach and a warning to the living. This warning seemed to Peter Ivanovich out of place, or at least not applicable to him” (Ch. 1). This disconnection between the realities of life and death fits in with the common Marxist perspective in which individuals dissociate themselves from the realities of life. Marxism proposes that the alienation from our family is a direct result of the capitalist mode of production. “The separation of workers from what they produce in turn produces workers who are separated from other workers and the world in which they live” (Burleigh, 2005). Peter, as did Ivan before him, is unable to fathom that the human conditions that struck Ivan down are also inherent in his own life and well-being, meaning he, too, could be struck by sudden illness and death as quickly as his friend. While Ivan learned this lesson from his servant, no one else is willing to learn this lesson until they, too, are facing imminent death.

While much of the Gregor’s story is told from the point of view of Gregor himself, who retains the cognitive ability of a human, Gregor is unable to communicate in any meaningful way with his family who are unwilling to work either to support themselves or to discover some means of supporting Gregor in his time of distress. His sister brings him the food he likes to eat not because she understands what he likes, but instead because she clears away what he does not eat. When he stops eating, she does not seem to take notice of this, instead merely sweeps away the old stuff and brings in new each day. When he tries to protect his picture as a sign that he does not want his room emptied of signs of human habitation, she instead becomes angry with him for frightening their mother. His few attempts to leave the room to become involved with the family are met with violence and physical harm. “Gregor had to find some way of pacifying his father, so he quickly crawled to the door of his room and pressed himself against it for his father to see, as he came in, how he had every intention of returning to his own room immediately and that it was not necessary to drive him back with violence; one had only to open the door and he would quickly withdraw. But his father was in no mood to notice these fine points” (64). Even at the end, when he creeps out of his room in response to his sister’s open heart as she plays her music, he is misunderstood and completely rejected.

Several writers have seen the same sense of isolation brought out through the unsatisfactory yet compulsory nature of work within the capitalist system. F.D. Luke (1983) points out that the difference between Kafka’s interpretation of isolation and that of other writers is not so much the theme, but the way in which is told. Instead of writing about how an individual finds himself in unusual circumstances and begins to question how he fits into this situation, Janis Kenderdine says “Metamorphosis is about the individual’s plight from within a prison imposed upon him within society” (2006). When Gregor finds himself transformed, it is not because of decisions he himself has made regarding his life. He becomes isolated not because he decided to become an insect, but because he woke up one day to find himself drastically altered. “At first his family (neighbors, fellow citizens) comes to his aid, but as time goes on, they are less sympathetic, and Gregor finds he is dependent on the help of the very people who would be revolted by his very existence. The family feels only a mild tinge of guilt at the fact that they treat this family member in such a way, but they secretly wish the ‘vermin’ to die and leave them be, so they can live their life free of him” (Kenderdine, 2006). Of course, in the end, it is Grete who actually gives voice to these thoughts within Gregor’s hearing, leaving him with the only option left to him. He crawls in his room and dies, leaving them to find a new and happy life without him.

These concepts are also depicted in Tolstoy’s novel as Ivan Ilych is also a victim of a prison imposed on him by society. He has worked his entire life, always with an eye toward bringing his family that little bit of extra income that will mark them as among the upper portions of their own society. When he becomes ill, it is not because of anything he himself has done or not done to care for himself, but is instead the result of him attempting to provide for his family using every means he knows how. Although they seem willing enough to help him when he first falls ill, sending for the doctor and attempting to nurse him in bed, when he begin to deteriorate and starts screaming, they all withdraw from his impending death with the exception of his servant. As in Metamorphosis, the family feels only a hint of guilt at wishing he would die and get it over with as was expressed in his wife’s comment regarding the agonies she suffered as he screamed for three days straight.

The idea that Kafka’s story deals to a great extent with the concept of isolation is emphasized strongly in “The Metamorphosis: A Strange, Strange Book” (D, 1999). In this article, the author looks at various aspects of the story to illustrate how it is permeated with the sense of loneliness and isolation. “Kafka ends each chapter with Gregor escaping from his prison-like room into the freedom and love of the living room, but being quickly and immediately driven back by his family. The third time he comes out of his bedroom he concludes that he is not worthy to stay in there, and of his own accord turns around and re-enters his cell” (D, 1999). Even the picture on the wall of the woman in furs is as close as Gregor gets to a relationship with a woman outside the family. Referring to the scene in which his mother and sister begin clearing out his room, this author points out that the one item Gregor seeks to save is the image of the woman, which, to him, symbolizes love. Ironically enough, though, this author points out that it is Gregor’s metamorphosis into an insect that allows him the time necessary to become a true man. “As the story progresses, Gregor apparently becomes more human, and less of a machine built for society” (D, 1999). The author supports this by pointing to the attraction music held for him in his final scene as well as his conscious realization that he does not belong with his family anymore and, of his own volition, returns to his room to die. These ideas are again also found within Ivan Ilych as Ivan finally learns what love is through the attentions of his servant Gerasim but is unable to pass the lesson along to others.

Works Cited

1. Burleigh, G. “Alienation in American Life: A Marxist View.” People’s Weekly World Newspaper. (2005).
2. D, Matthew. “The Metamorphosis: A Strange, Strange Book.” The Kafka Project. Mauro Nervi (Ed.). 1999.
3. Danaher, David S. “Ivan Ilych.” Death Reference. (2007). Web.
4. Giddens, A.; Duneier, M.; & Appelbaum, R. “Chapter 15: The Family and Intimate Relationships.” Introduction to Sociology. Ed. 4. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2003.
5. Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. New York: Vanguard Press, 1946.
6. Kenderdine, Janice. “Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis.” Fifer’s Web Site. 2009.
7. Luke, F.D. “Explain to Me Some Stories of Kafka.” New York: Gordian Press, 1983.
8. Tolstoy, Leo. The Death of Ivan Ilych. New York: Kessinger Publishings, 2004.