Category: The Metamorphosis

Introduction

Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis is a classic in the genre of fiction that arose in the early 20^th century. Following hard upon Karl Marx’s theories of worker alienation, the protagonist of the story, Gregor Samsa, is the personification of the deadening of the soul amidst the rise of the industrial revolution. Gregor is the epitome of management’s conception of the perfect laborer: hardworking and respectful and unyielding in his acceptance of his role in the larger machinery of society. The Metamorphosis is an illustration of how modern society works to alienate people from society by stripping away even the little power they have over their own lives.

Main Character

Unquestionably Gregor Samsa is meant to portray the more dehumanizing aspects of the contemporary struggle against the suppression of human ideals. The mechanism of oppression in Gregor’s case is the bureaucracy in which he is forced to work a meaningless life that contributes nothing to his dreams or aspirations, but instead merely makes of him a human insect playing his role in the greater cycle of nature. The alienation from his work also threatens Gregor’s family life, and the implicit assumption is that all of modern life is constructed to alienate people not only from their work but even from each other. Just as real insects go about their business with no worries about familial ties or love relationships, so is Gregor even before his transformation little more than a bug to begin with. Gregor’s family is dysfunctional yet he manages to find it necessary to work hard and without complaint in order to help them survive. Despite this, it is important to remember that inside Gregor is not the contented worker he appears to be. He holds a deep and abiding hatred for his boss. Clearly, on the inside Gregor Samsa wishes to rebel; his alienation has not reached through to his soul. However, he feels trapped and incapable of breaking free from the constricting rules of society.

Interestingly, Gregor clings stubbornly and one might say almost unthinkingly to those very same constricting rules even after his metamorphosis has taken away any ability to fulfill his role. Despite awaking one morning to find himself transformed into a giant bug, despite realizing that he is no longer human, Gregor persists in thinking like the deprogrammed entity he was before. “Instead of reacting with open anxiety, Gregor thinks, at length, about his job and family; he becomes anxious about the passing time and preoccupied with his new bodily sensations and his strange aches and pains” (Bouson 56). He still remains worried about oversleeping and being late for work just as any other person waking up late that morning. He even considers calling in a sick and then just as quickly faces the quite mundane fear that the office would send a doctor to check on him. The point of these trivial concerns is to show that Gregor is now only a bug in physical form, but that he has been little more than a bug in psychic form all along. Such is Gregor’s utter alienation from life around him that becoming a bug comes to be seen as a just another inconvenience. In addition, he has such a deeply felt sense of doing what is right that it overtakes every other consideration.

Important to fully understanding the theme of alienation in the story is comprehending Karl Marx’s theories on how capitalism is devised to undermine the humanity of the species. Rules and systems dominate his life–and he is profoundly unhappy and isolated. According to Marx, the laborer’s “work is external to the worker, i.e., it does not form part of his essential being so that instead of feeling well in his work, he feels unhappy, instead of developing his free physical and mental energy, he abuses his body and ruins his mind” (Bloom 107). Gregor is a perfect example of what Marx is complaining about; he is alienated from the product he works to create because he doesn’t own it. In addition, he really isn’t even working for a wage for himself; his wages are directed toward taking care of his father’s debts. Gregor is therefore doubly exploited. He is exploited by his bosses and then exploited by his own father. Gregor clearly desires to have a better life and part of that better life would be in no longer having to put up with the drudgery that it is current job. More importantly that getting a better job, however, is what that better job would bring him, which is control over his life. Or at least more control than he has as a result of his unfulfilling job. If he were his own boss or at least owned that which he produced, he would have more self-worth. As it is, Gregor’s worth can be measured only by how much he produces.

In essence, Gregor’s worth is measured in terms of how his production relates to caring for him family; if he doesn’t work, the family will suffer. The family has exploited him into a just as dark a place as his work; it is a place where he has no control and everything is subservient to his family’s acceptance. That acceptance is dependent upon his ability to produce and provide. He is a cog in the machine; an ant dragging sand back to the mound. As a result of the exploitation at work and at home, Gregor never feels comfortably in questioning authority. Making matters worse is that Gregor unfortunately recognizes this, but is either incapable or unwilling to take action to gain control and authority over himself. Both Gregor’s boss and his father are authority figures that server to fully control Gregor’s life from the time he wakes up in the morning to the time he goes to bed at night.

In addition, Gregor’s alienation extends to the world that exists when he is neither working nor at home. Such is his isolation that Gregor has no meaningful contact with anybody, and this even extends to his own family. The limits of his social interactions are determined by the fact he is fully committed to the rut of going daily to a job that provides no inspiration. Gregor’s humanity is repressed to the point where he really has one left. He truly is like a bug, detached from the very things that make one human. Just as an insect is only a small player in the grander scheme of nature, not subject to deep interpersonal relations, so is Gregor a victim of an economic ideology designed to reduce him to a number. Gregor cannot even connect with his own family when he is at home: at night he locks his door as if to lock himself away from the world. Gregor chooses to isolated himself from his family and in doing so it is his only act of rebellion. Locking the door to escape from his family is not just a simple act of separation, it is a bold act of facing off against their oppression and exploitation of him.

Unsurprisingly, once Gregor physically transforms into the bug he was philosophically all along, his isolation and alienation become complete. “Gregor Samsa’s transformation into vermin presents self-alienation in a literal way, not merely a customary metaphor become fictional fact…No manner more drastic could illustrate the alienation of a consciousness from its own being than Gregor Samsa’s startled and startling awakening” (Bloom 105). Finally, Gregor’s alienation from his humanity is totally physicalized and realized: “That is to say, Samsa, having been a successful salesman, was once the pillar of his family, but now, being helpless, his sister assumes in the eyes of his parents the role of leadership and reassuring strength that he had once occupied.”(Scott 37). More importantly, Gregor’s inhumanity is finally realized by his family and co-workers and their abuse becomes more open. Gregor is relegated to the dingiest room in the house in exactly the way that those who are deemed to have the least value in society are hidden away in mental institutions or prisons. Despite the fact that he was little more than a bug before his metamorphosis and changed only in appearance following the transformation, it is only when Gregor is turned physically into a bug that the family views treats him with outright distaste. Gregor must even scamper under the couch to avoid detection when his sister arrives with food lest she experience profound disgust. At long last the family openly treats Gregor like the piece of repulsive creature that he has been all along; a creature lacking in any autonomous control over his own destiny. The final nail in the coffin of Gregor’s humanity comes when his beloved sister resorts to referring to him with the impersonal pronoun “it.” By the end of the story Gregor is well on his way toward becoming a distant memory in the minds of his own parents.

Conclusion

Gregor Samsa’s literal transformation into a bug in Franza Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is merely an extension of the bug that he has always been up to that point. An insect is not expected to have relationships or ambitions; it exists only to carry out its role in the cycle of life that is its lowly species. Long before he turns into a gigantic, disgusting bug, Gregor is already that insect. Though Gregor fervently desires to rebel against the social constraints that have left him an empty vessel, the overriding theme of the novella is that society is constructed in such a way as the dehumanize everyone in an attempt to keep the machinery spinning. What the story of the man who turns into a bug is really saying is that all of us are threatened with the same potential for alienation from each other because social cohesiveness demands that individual ambitions be subordinated to the greater good.

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold, ed. Franz Kafka”s the Metamorphosis. New York: Chelsea House, 1988.

Bouson, J. Brooks. A Study of the Narcissistic Character and the Drama of the Self: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989.

Scott, Nathan A. Rehearsals of Discomposure: Alienation and Reconciliation in Modern Literature: Franz Kafka, Ignazio Silone, D. H. Lawrence [And] T. S. Eliot. New York: King’s Crown Press, 1952.

The novel The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka entails a man who entirely transforms into an enormous insect at the story’s beginning. The foremost outstanding thing is that Gregor, as an insect and human being, accepted the difficulties he encountered without complaining (Kazemian 1). At the collapse of his father’s business, he accepted his new role as a money-maker in the family without question, even if it involved working as a salesman, which he despised. Upon realizing his condition had changed, he did not regret it nor attempt to correct it or wonder about its cause. Instead, in his new form, Gregor acknowledges it and strives to live his life to the fullest possible. Every book or piece of art has a central topic, and the real message of the story is developed with a theme connecting the entire plot. The Metamorphosis by Frank Kafka has one absurdity as one of its central themes. This paper provides a detailed discussion of the absurdity as Kafka presents in his works The Metamorphosis and A Hunger Artist.

As can be seen, the story’s opening paragraphs go right into its central theme that the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, has been converted into a gigantic insect. It makes it possible for author Frank Kafka to highlight the absurdity of Gregor’s agonizing transformation. This opening ceremony conjures images of the agonizing process of changing into a bug and the utter absurdity of the transformation (Saouli 3). When Gregor wakes up to find that he has transformed into a gigantic bug, it is an outrageous event that transcends the realm of natural occurrence. It becomes supernaturally significant because it is unlikely to occur and physically impossible.

It is evident from the book how expertly Kafka used Samsa’s transformation into a giant insect to create moments of utter absurdity after Samsa tries to get out of bed and keeps analyzing his mental state. He attempts to lock himself out of his position while still in bed, which leads to the following ridiculous situation. His greatest fears have come true, and, as a result of his absence, his supervisor has visited him to see how he is doing (Kazemian 4). The ridiculousness of this circumstance stems from the fact that Samsa is not late for work but that his supervisor has gone to check on him because even the slightest delay generated suspicion in his mind.

In this strange turn of events, it is evident that Gregor Samsa takes pleasure because he cannot successfully communicate with his management or his parents. While Gregor tried to conceal the fact that he had shrunk to the size of an insect, his voice had also altered, giving the appearance of a temporal fever, allowing him to remain hidden in his room for longer. As a result, Kafka demonstrates how some aspects of Samsa’s metamorphosis were beneficial to his current circumstances. Kafka’s ability to focus on peculiar circumstances and address them intricately is his authentic charm as a storyteller. As he painstakingly reveals Samsa’s transformation through several stages of metamorphosis, we witness his capacity to delve deeply into the absurd.

Kafka makes a great unexpected turn by concealing the change process of one of the significant characters of his work. It is noteworthy that the novel never explains Gregor’s change. According to Kazemian (3), it never suggests, for instance, that Gregor’s transformation is the consequence of a specific reason, like being punished for misconduct. Contrarily, it appears like Gregor has been a lovely brother and son, accepting a job he dislikes to support his family and prepare to pay for his sister’s conservatory tuition. No proof exists that Gregor merits his fate. Instead, the narrative and every member of the Samsa family portray the incident as a chance occurrence, similar to contracting a disease. These components work together to give the narrative a distinct tone of absurdity and imply a cosmos without any central authority.

In A Hunger Artist, Kafka presents an exciting story of absurdity, telling of an ability of a man who voluntarily offered himself to fast indefinitely, and he did it with so much ease. This drive for indefinite fasting was also motivated by the man’s insatiable appetite to become famous and hold the record as a person who fasted for the longest period (Kafka 5). However, his physically starved situation contradicts his passions. Thus, in this work, Kafka demonstrates the paradox that accompanies the need to ascribe meaning to one’s life, which the hunger artist perfectly represents.

Kafka shapes the hunger artist as a man who has made up his mind to paradoxically attach meaning to his life. The man on a mission seeks to gain fame and enter the books of records as having gone for the longest time possible without having the basic human necessity, food. In so doing, he also sought to make fasting his profession. As a result, he embarked on his journey to fast immeasurably, a mission that sounds contradictory to basic life sustenance. This life story could only culminate in the death of the hunger artist, even though he strongly believed that he could go for an indefinite period without food (Kafka 7). Regardless, the hunger artist could not abandon his mission even when the end is so well defined, and he knows that the odds are against him. He was motivated by the masses of people who could come to watch him. It gave him happiness to spend sleepless nights as long as there were people who could come to witness him seeking the meaning of his life. It was an interesting story of a man seeking to fulfill his desires.

The story also receives a twist regarding the relationship between the hunger artist and his audience. Kafka’s storyline hinges on the artist’s validation of the reaction that the crowd accords him. The artist bases his life on the crown watching him while he embraces the qualities of degradation, self-denial, and deprivation. Consequently, the crowd’s eagerness to witness a once-in-a-lifetime experience attracted them to the artist. However, they started growing impatient and bored after the 40^th day (Kafka 15). Thus, they required time to refresh their enthusiasm. However, this decision could mean the hunger artist would no longer be happy. Thus, basing his life’s meaning on such flimsy grounds speaks of the absurdity of his mission.

In conclusion, in his works The Metamorphosis and A Hunger Artist, Kafka presents interesting stories that are a reflection of the extent that people go in an attempt to attach meaning to their lives, including engaging in self-destruction behaviors. The perspective of The Metamorphosis on the world suggests that it is silly and unconcerned with how people behave. Both virtue and evil are not rewarded or punished in the world. Kafka also shapes A Hunger Artist as a desperate man who seeks other people’s validation at the expense of his well-being. However, the people he sought to entertain turned against him when their enthusiasm needed something new. Consequently, the artist was no longer happy since he could not attract huge crowds anymore.

Works Cited

Balaban, Maria-Zoica. “Franz Kafka and the absurd universe.” Lingua. Language and Culture vol. 20, no. 2, 2021, p. 235-246. Web.

Kazemian, Saba. “The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka; a metaphor of a social reality.” Critical Language and Literary Studies, vol. 18, no. 27, 2022, p. 145–162. Web.

Prithivirajan, S. “Absurd transformation in Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis.” Electronic Research Journal of Literature, vol. 2, no. 2020.

Kafka, Franz. A Hhunger Artist. Twisted Spoon Press. 1996

Studying the literature of previous times can provide valuable insight into how society was organized and what people had views on social, political, and other problems. This work explores the literary work of Franz Kafka, “Metamorphoses.” Therefore, this paper is a piece of literature that is still relevant and could be applied to society today in several ways. The main problem of this response highlights the problem of loneliness of people in the world, despite the simple idea of a good life.

Before discussing the relevance of the work under study, it is necessary to have an understanding of its plot. Therefore, “Metamorphosis” will tell about Gregor Zamsa, an ordinary seller who one day a man realizes that he has turned into an insect of enormous size. The rest of the story focuses on his attempts to adapt to the new conditions of life. Family members lock him in a separate room and feed him; later, Gregor dies of poisoning.

Therefore, “The Metamorphoses” can be easily attributed to current society. Research shows that “it no longer follows the methodical analysis of souls, but seeks the inner disorder, the secret of the character’s existence” (Balaban 235). One of the most striking is the problem of loneliness of people. Despite the fact that the main protagonist had a family he took care of and supported, he was left alone in the end. Even at the end of the work, the author shows a picture of a happy walking family, according to which it is impossible to understand that they only lost one of their members. In the modern world, people are also suffering from loneliness, which is especially provoked by the development of new technologies. Individuals are increasingly locked into their separate worlds and cease to interact even with the close people themselves.

In conclusion, it must be underlined that Franz Kafka created his works during such a period as modernism. It is characterized by the destruction and confrontation of established social norms. Therefore, the author of “The Metamorphosis” focuses on the problem of lack of love and loneliness of people, which can be related to the modern world. Despite the fact that this problem cannot be immediately identified, many experiences internal suffering from having such feelings.

Work Cited

Balaban, Maria-Zoica. “Franz Kafka and the Absurd Universe.” Language and Culture, vol. 20, no. 2, 2021, pp. 235-246.

Being an individual means making decisions independently from social opinion. At the same time, a strong commitment to society deprives people of individuality and identity.

In the movie called One Flew over the Cuckoo Nest, society takes control over people and, using modern technologies, it suppresses any displays of individuality, as well as natural impulses.

In this respect, the film expands on the theme of authenticity and being an individual, which also brightly represented in Kafka’s Metamorphosis.

Specifically, the author sheds light on the consequences of full obsession with the social environment, leading to a loss of connection to the self.

In the movie, the story also takes the readers into deeper deliberation on personal identity, as well as the threats of neglecting individuality and authenticity.

Thus, loss of individuality has been pressures imposed on the community, inability to communicate with the outer world, as well as the loss of personal identity.

The main protagonist in the film, Randle Patrick McMurphy is transferred to a mental hospital institution to monitor his behavior and evaluate his psychological state.

At the hospital, the hero establishes his dominance over another mentally impaired patient to persuade them they could be independent of the pressure imposed by medical assistants, particularly by Nurse Mildred Ratched.

The protagonist’s reluctance to communicate with the external world is similar to the changes that occurred to the hero of Kafka’s Metamorphoses.

Gregor Samsa is detached from the external environment both through evident physical transformations and through the loss of communication.

When the hero tries to respond to his family’s questions, his voice breaks and changes, which makes others believe that the protagonist turns into an animal.

Misunderstanding with the external world creates the gap between inner life, which is genuinely human and the outside community in which physical appearance matters.

Indeed, physical appearance changes Gregor’s perception, as well as his individuality because now he is considered an insect, not a human, despite the presence of features of human behavior.

In the movie, McMurphy realizes that society dictates the rules for existence, which discourages individuals to express their identity.

The film underscores the importance of languages as one of the components of human identity and individuality. Hence, if a person is deprived of the possibility to speak, he/she loses everything that makes him/her human.

Language crisis, therefore, becomes the cornerstone of understanding between the members of the hospital.

The failure of communication between nurse professionals and patients closely correlates with the confrontation between Gregor who is placed in the room and the family members that represent the outside world and impose certain pressure on the hero.

Losing his identity makes him frustrated because McMurphy’s genuine nature does not coincide with the norms and values accepted in society. In this passage, Kafka pays attention to Gregor’s fight for reconciling his human past and adjusting to the new life of an insect.

Therefore, as soon as the hero turns into an animal, his thoughts and behavior begin accommodating to the demands of his new physical appearance.

As it turns out later, the main hero of the movie realizes that he feels much more comfortable when communicating with mentally ill people because the outside community is less concerned with those whose mindset differs from the generally accepted one.

These transformations also signify that the hero’s mind is ready to accept the new changes and adjust to a new environment.

While depicting gradual alienation from the community, Kafka forwards the message about human degradation to the alienation that makes individuals avoid external truth and neglect social duties.

At this point, the movie also justifies Kafka’s existential views on McMurphy’s separation from the community, living him face-to-face to his identity and lost individuality. At the same time, the hero strives to create a new identity which would reveal his authentic nature.

His naturalistic impulses can help him reconcile his inner world beyond the socially accepted standards.

According to Kafka, failure of authenticity is considered the greatest sin from an existential viewpoint. Inability to define the identity of the main character makes him suffer from uncertainty of his physical and psychological state (Kafka n. p.).

Therefore, McMurphy believes that the hospital could be a perfect match for shaping his individuality both at the intellectual and sexual level.

Thus, the hero’s maturity is identified with the natural state whereas the civilized society requires to restrict his freedom for the sake of the created social norms and values. Once again, the theme of authenticity and search for self-discovery is brightly represented in the film.

Although the hero becomes the leader in the hospital and communicates with new people, he does not see the opportunity of practicing normal communication outside the hospital.

Additionally, McMurphy also recognizes that his identity and individuality can also be fulfilled while being within the medical establishment.

Similar to McMurphy, Kafka also believes that community often shapes norms that are not congruent with the genuine psychological and emotional state of an individual. In Kafka, novel, the protagonist recognizes his identity and individuality only when he chooses a solitary life.

His family and clerk have always put pressure on him, leaving no space for personal growth and self-development. At this point, the metamorphosis that occurs to him is the only way to get rid of the undesired influence.

Gregor, thus, is mentally satisfied with these changes because they provide him with freedom from the obligations imposed by society (Kafka n. p.). At this point, Kafka emphasizes that losing individuality would mean Gregor’s conscious alienation from society.

In the film, although McMurphy does not undergo tangible physical changes, his emotional and psychological states change significantly as soon as he is transferred to the hospital.

Indeed, this only places when he fined the sense of life because all his choices in life were made by other people so far. What is often seen as unacceptable and inappropriate by society does not imply that this phenomenon does not have the right to existence.

Within the context of Kafka’s existential model, the movie also focuses on the false sanity of the main hero, as it is recognized at the hospital.

Throughout the film, reasonable actions of the main characters contrast with the insane reactions of the medical institution. So, when McMurphy and other patients organize a protest against Mrs. Ratched, the latter becomes outraged and start behaving similarly to emotionally unstable patients.

Such a condition proves the existence of alternative patterns of perception, which are often accepted in society as deviations from norms. Therefore, the insane reaction of some of the patient could be considered insight into society’s deceitful power over people with mental disabilities.

All these representations are congruent with Kafka’s ideas about the societal influence on individuality and authenticity. In the novel, the chief clerk embodies all vices of society, although he does not experience any transformation because the community needs these vices to rely on.

Therefore, the hero also insists on the importance of the job in human life because it contributes to his self-determination.

The matter of social status is emphasized because an individual is deprived of respect and a sense of belonging as soon as he/she is disregarded by other members of the community.

Becoming alienated does not mean becoming inhumane. Rather, it renders the existential message of the film that describes insane people as mindless creatures searching for nothingness.

There is always a slight psychological gap between normal, accepted behavior and the one that is denied in society.

MrMurphy and other patients from the institution are regarded as hopeless individuals who do not deserve to be full-fledged members of the normal and psychologically adequate community.

However, imposing frames and limitation on individuality present the heroes from expressing their self. Such a position is also accepted in Kafka’s deliberation on the importance of conformity.

According to his existential assumptions, physical appearance matters for society because it influences their attitude and perception of the person’s self.

Once the individual does not meet the accepted norms, he is considered an outcast of the society whose deviated principles and behavior should suppress. At the same time, McMurphy realizes what it is like to behave normally and by socially accepted rules.

Society is not able to recognize the unique attitudes and responses of patients toward the surrounding world and, as a result, they feel rejected.

Braben’s hallucinations about the powerful machines controlling people imply the evidence of overwhelming power of technological progress of natural impulses, as well as on the effort that people make to suppress individuality.

Gradually, the protagonist world becomes more restricted. At the very beginning, McMurphy’s further transformations discourage him from joining the external world.

Similar to Kafka’s her whose attempts become closer to the community fails, McMurphy also rebels over the existing system that is reluctant to recognize alternative perceptions and lifestyles. Collective power hinders the hero’s attempt to self-determine and define his place in society.

Therefore, the hospital becomes a little world in which his goals could be accomplished. In the film, McMurphy dies, which proves the impossibility to confront the majority and introduce changes to the firmly established social system.

In conclusion, the film One Flew over Cuckoo’s Nest focuses on the quest of individuality and authenticity through the hero’s alienation from society.

On the one hand, social environment imposes curtails rules and restrictions on individual freedom, as well as dictates people how to behave and what decisions they should make.

On the other hand, humans are incapable of living outside the social medium because they lose all their qualities due to the lack of communication and interaction. More importantly, his loss of identity and belonging is due to the impossibility to adjust to the social norms.

At the same time, McMurphy is ready to accept the changes because they provide him with freedom from the outside world. Most of the changes he undertakes make him feel more comfortable because he does not need to communicate and justify his social status.

The absurdity and hopelessness of the situation approve the existential perspectives and highlight the necessity to introduce change to social structure.

Works Cited

Kafka, F. “Metamorphoses”. Gutenberg Ebook. 2005. Web.

One Flew over Cuckoo’s Nest. Ex. Prod. Saul Zaentz and Michael Douglas. US: United Artists. DVD. 1975.