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Bartleby The Scrivener Alienation And Existentialism Analysis

1207 Words5 Pages

Christina Bove
Professor
ENG13
Term paper Isolation, alienation and existentialism all go hand in hand. All three combine make up a common theme in the following short stories, “Bartleby the Scrivener”, “The Metamorphosis”, “A Rose for Emily”, and “The Wall”. Isolation is the feeling one gets from being alienated from someone or society. Alienation can be defined as the emotional isolation, existenalism is knowing your fate is not in your own control. In Melville’s short story “Bartleby the Scrivener”, Bartleby is isolated from society. He sleeps, eats and lives in his office. Bartleby refuses to do daily simple tasks. The place in which Bartleby is symbolic. Bartleby’s office is isolated from the rest of society. Bartleby’s boss and coworkers alienate him from the rest of the office. One can say Bartelby knew his fate was beyond his control, thus his isolation and …show more content…

“The Metamorphosis” about Gregor, who dedicates his life to his family and work. He then gets transformed into a helpless insect. When Gregor becomes an insect he begins to discover himself and understand the world around him better. “The Metamorphosis” is an existential view which is a person has complete freedom to determine his or her own fate. For example, Gregor. Gregor not caring for himself is what eventually lead him to being transformed into an insect. After Gregor becomes an insect he is forced to make himself a priority. Gregor struggles being an insect because he has no idea how to take care of himself. Gregor has never made himself a priority and now he is forced to. All Gregor knows is work and to provide for his family. After being transformed Gregor learns how to have fun in being an insect. Gregors isolation lead him to his existentialism. Gregor hated his job and hated working, yet he continued to go to work on a daily basis. Being transformed into an insect was the only way Gregor could escape the working

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Gregor’s initial reaction to his transformation shows his preoccupation with work. His confusion over his radical transformation does not last long, quickly becoming concerned with work and disregarding that he woke up physically transformed into a monstrous vermin. Immediately after realizing he had transformed, Gregor explains, “Well, I haven’t given up hope completely; once I’ve gotten the money together to pay off my parents’ debt to [the boss] that will probably take another five to six years… But for the time being I’d better get up, since my train leaves at five” (4). The quick transition of Gregor’s thoughts from the initial shock to his economic duties reveals his ironic nonchalant attitude towards his nonsensical transformation and

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The novella, The Metamorphosis is about the life of a young man, Gregor, who awakens one day only to find out he is a huge vermin. Gregor is not really a bug. He is infact hiding that he is Jewish. This is a metaphor for unveiling that Gregor is Jewish. This is appeared by how Mr.Samsa, Gregor's dad, treats him, and how he is compelled to be secluded and what the apple wedged up in Gregor's back represents.

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1. Almost from the very beginning of Gregor’s metamorphosis, Mr. Samsa has been unwilling to accept Gregor as his son. Furthermore, Gregor’s transformation into an offensive form of an insect, constantly reminds Mr. Samsa of the grotesque, feeble, and pathetic aberration that he has fathered. Consequently, now that Gregor has genuinely revealed himself in all his audacious behavior, his cruel father is driven to destroy him. In his eyes, Gregor has become everything loathsome to him—scrawny, parasitic, and futile—not the kind of son this once successful and ambitious storekeeper could be proud of.

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484 Words | 2 Pages

“The Metamorphosis”, written by Franz Kafka, takes place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the city is unspecified. The protagonist, Gregor Samsa, is turned into a giant bug and struggles to regain his harmonious life as a traveling salesman. Gregor goes through both a physical and emotional change throughout the novel, from turning into a bug and then being unable to provide for his family because of his condition. Gregor has been changed into a giant bug where he is a not a pleasant eyesight to his family and isn't accepted by his father and mother but only his sister. As the novella begins,”he found himself transformed right there in his bed into some sort of monstrous insect”.

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Most notably, his reaction is extremely calmer than normal people would be. As a human, Gregor accepted the hardships he faces by his family without complaint. He is a naive and decent person. He works in anonymity without uttering words to earn money for the whole family even he did not even like this “exhausting job he’ve picked on”(p89) since his dad’s failure in business. Similarly, when he first realized he had transformed into an insect, he was not disgusted by his looking and condition, he did not wonder how he turned to an insect and how to transform back to a human.

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804 Words | 4 Pages

This is the reason he isolated himself from his family. Gregor is forced to work in an environment he hates but his transformation overlooks that. He doesn’t have to suffer from his occupation and allows him to spend more time with his family. However, this change only had a positive affect temporarily.

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777 Words | 4 Pages

The Repercussions of Cruelty Cruel actions lead to cruel endings. Gregor Samsa, the protagonist in Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis, is turned into a bug from the mental and emotional abuse by the hands of his own family. The cruelty in the Samsa household is apparent from the beginning of the storyline. Their neglect and lack of compassion for Gregor's condition immediately sets the dark and miserable mood of the novella. Gregor’s whole existence has been about caring for his family and making sacrifices for their well being.

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While Gregor begins are the all mighty, male provider, he regresses into an effeminate state as he no longer can perform his tasks for work. As his transformation into a vermin worsens, he no longer can perform any action and further conforms to the true identity of a bug. Grete, on the other hand, picks up the male provider role that Gregor could no longer perform, but then, as she becomes tired with the work and as Gregor identifies with an “it”, goes back to her female role. Gregor's physical change forces him to degenerate to death, but allows Grete to thrive, growing into a

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1058 Words | 5 Pages

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka was written in 1915, it was based on a man named Gregor, a travelling salesman who wakes up to find himself transformed into an insect. Disgusted by his appearance he tries to deal with his new condition, but he is forced to endure the rejection of his family, which is what eventually drove him to his death. Despite having two different characters, one in real life and the other fictional, there is still a correlation between both; showing the author´s feelings, ideas and even problems, that are thrown into the story in a way to express his anguish.

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769 Words | 4 Pages

As the main character, Gregor Samsa, transforms from human state to that of a beetle, there are many aspects that are left unexplained and seemingly unstable. For example, in the novel, Gregor’s transformation into a beetle is left unexplained by Kafka. Kafka opens up the novel by stating, “When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin” (Kafka 1). There is no scientific or physical evidence as to why this transformation occurred, but it can be ascertained that it is a psychological transformation.

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1438 Words | 6 Pages

Through this, we can see the dangers of being disconnected from others and its adverse effects on one's well-being. Both works show how being isolated from society can lead to monstrous behavior and undesirable transformations in the characters. Isolation is a feeling that people get whenever they are alone or cut off. It makes you, in a way, go crazy. After all, people are made to be together.

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1092 Words | 5 Pages

With such a title, one might expect that this story will express the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly, but with Kafka’s troubled upbringing, abuse and feelings of being devalued for most of his life, it’s easy to see how Kafka felt the need to symbolically dehumanize himself. Kafka’s choice of human-to-insect transformation exudes self-loathing because there’s nothing lower than a cockroach. While Gregor is the one who took on the grotesque transformation, it’s actually his family’s behavior towards his change which conveys complete hostility. Grete, for one, had enough near the end when she said, “If it were Gregor, he would have realized long ago that it isn't possible for human beings to live with such a creature, and he would have gone away of his own free will” (Kafka). It’s very disheartening knowing that his own family couldn’t handle his transformation when his first thought in the morning was getting to work on time for their

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1259 Words | 6 Pages

Published in 1915, Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is a tale of a salesman named Gregor Samsa who one day wakes up to discover that he has quite literally transformed into an insect. Unable to support his family as an insect, he is only able to stay in his room and eat the rotting scraps of food that his sister brings him. Over time, Gregor’s transformation into a large bug begins to affect the lifestyle of his family, and they slowly become resentful of him. His family secretly wishes Gregor would leave, and knowing this, Gregor willfully dies in his room.

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966 Words | 4 Pages

Gregor’s turning into a cockroach was the very start of it all. However, if Gregor had behaved differently in his life before, could he have changed that fact? There are many possible reasons for Gregor turning into a cockroach. The most likely of these is due to his lowly, shameful lifestyle. To the reader, Gregor’s life is visibly pathetic and pitiful.

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797 Words | 4 Pages

However, people have failed to find the ultimate solution in a constant cycle. On the other hand, some people find life meaningless. These people do not seek any element in life, nor do they search for the true meaning of life. . Kafka, the author of the story “The Metamorphosis”, illustrates the concept of meaningless of life through the usage of the character Gregor Samsa, who faces a crisis where he is transformed into a bug-life figure and gradually doubts his own existence.

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