Comparing Bartleby And The Metamorphosis

The short stories, “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” by Herman Melville and “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, exemplifies the ideology that a man’s importance is directly equal to their usefulness in society. In “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street,” Bartleby is described through the perspective of his employer who becomes exasperated by the overtly mysterious scrivener. In “The Metamorphosis,” Gregor Samsa finds himself transformed into a cockroach and cannot attend work which in turn ceases his role as the provider of the family. The surrounding characters’ faulty ideologies of Bartleby and Gregor creates conflict seen through the contrasting styles of narrative and characterization; representing the loss of

Due to this, it would be easy to interpret every detail of the story as the literal truth without looking at further scopes; however, the narration of the story consists of an ironic tone of voice, seen through the actions of Gregor’s family, making readers question the true intentions of the surrounding characters. For example, at the beginning of the story, Gregor’s mother inquires for the reason why he is still in bed, “the brief exchange [alerting] other members of the family to the surprising fact that Gregor was still at home” (Kafka, 507). Their concern is evident as each family member questions his sudden and uncharacteristic tardiness. In truth, what truly worries the family is that Gregor might be reprimanded from work. This is seen when his mother speaks to the chief clerk for Gregor’s behalf saying, “he’s not feeling well, believe me, Chief Clerk. How otherwise could Gregor miss his train!”(509). She seems more worried that Gregor will get fired from work than the fact that her son might be seriously ill. The possible consequences Gregor might have faced at work is the primal reason for his family’s anxiety rather than his, prior, unknown condition. Nevertheless, when they do see what the problem with Gregor is, instead growing even more concerned, their reaction towards Gregor

As seen in the story of Bartleby, his character becomes unclear as his employer, who is the narrator of the story, incriminates the scrivener. Moreover, the fact that his employer deducts his opinion on Bartleby by his ability as a scrivener disregards his other qualities and degrades his human identity. This idea is seen in a different light in “The Metamorphoses” as the story is told in third person narrative, making it difficult to resolve one’s own ideas. In addition, the irony between what is said and what is done shows the true intentions of the characters. This subsequently reveals Gregor’s character, and due to the fact that he does not change in order to survive, he becomes yet another examples of the marginalization of the working people. In these stories we see the influence of the polluted ideas of capitalism as it directs a person’s identity to their use in society. The deterioration of the importance of human identity is seen in modern day, as large corporations treat employees as numbers. Now deeply ingrained in the western mind, one unconsciously correlates a person’s character with their career. The room for the natural world is diminishing, and as this continues, the day will come when humans would no longer know what it is to be