Examples Of Existentialism In The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

Jean-Paul Satre once said, “Everything has been figured out except for how to live”. Existentialism id a belief that individuals have the responsibility to put meaning in their life and is in charge of their actions without knowing right from wrong. German language novelist and short story writer, Franz Kafka, is an existential believer and incorporated these beliefs in his novel The Metamorphosis. Franz Kafka portrays existentialism and helplessness through main character Gregor Samsa from when he first notices his circumstance, his choices and interactions with his family, and his choice to die.

In the beginning of The Metamorphosis, Gregor wakes up as a large insect and has no idea how he is going to get things done because he’s been a

In most cases, bugs work and devote their life to their colony like Gregor did for his family. Then, he continued to work a job he hated and had no social life to support his family’s needs. He now spends his time alone in his room which gets dirtier by the day and holds an awful stench. Regardless of that, Gregor is happy, he is living for himself. “If I didn’t hold back for my parents’ sake, I’d have quit ages ago…Once I have collected the money to pay off my parents’ debt to him…I’ll cut all ties and move on” (Kafka 4) Although Gregor despises his job he feels obligated to work in order to relieve his parent's debt to the employer. This determination is what forces him to stay faithful to his occupation. “The picture showed a lady done up in a fur hat and a fur boa, sitting upright and raising up against the viewer a heavy fur muff in which her whole forearm had disappeared (Kafka 23)”, due to his devotion to work, Gregor never had a chance at love and this is symbolized by his admiration of the woman in fur in the painting in his

Kafka uses food as a symbol throughout the book to show the way that the family truly feels about him. Once Grete got tired of feeding him, Gregor could either eat the food he hated as a bug or starve. Neither one of those choices weren’t good to him because he is choosing between two things he hated. Once his family is forced to support themselves, they realize that Gregor is no longer a necessary component to their survival. They become angry by Gregor’s “selfish” behavior, reasoning that if it were really Gregor trapped in a body of a bug, he would have “realized that communal life among human beings is not possible with such a creature and would have gone away long ago (Kafka 25)”. His sister exhibits existentialism by her making it her responsibility to care for the vermin without instruction from anyone. Kafka expresses through Grete, "I won't pronounce the name of my brother in front of this monster, and so all I say is: we have to try to get rid of it. We've done everything humanly possible to take care of it and to put up with it...It will be the death of you two, I can see it coming (Kafka 22)”, everything happening around him made him feel hopeless and helpless because now he couldn’t enjoy eating or the presence of others and others couldn’t stand the presence of him, so he figured there was no point of him being around. Kafka shows how one’s life could change