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Literary analysis of the metamorphosis
Portrayal of women in literature
Literary analysis of the metamorphosis
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In The Metamorphosis by Frank Kafka cruelty is what stemmed Gregor’s change into a large bug and subconsciously motivated him to end his life. Gregor’s new form was a depiction of how he already felt in his household, trapped, voiceless, and small. As Gregor’s metamorphosis developed so did the characters cruelty which affected both the perpetrators and the victims. The Samasa family’s cruelty was demonstrated both physically and mentally by Gregor’s father driving him back into his room, throwing apples at him and by Grete’s use of the word “it”.
The tone shifts throughout novel, but maintains a common theme. In the beginning of the chapter, “Gregor [awoke] out of a deep sleep, more like a swoon than a sleep”. This change in diction from deep sleep to swoon gives the text a more serious and mysterious tone as Gregor state of unconsciousness is described as a more intense state. Kafka establishes a vulnerable tone as he describes that Gregor’s “One little leg...trailed uselessly behind him”.
In the tale of The Metamorphosis, a man named Gregor Samsa lives the life of a giant bug unexpectedly as it rained one evening, Gregor awoke to his body being a giant bug with a white spot on his belly. This posed as no threat to Gregor because he was marked for greatness. He began evaluating his surroundings and realized the time. It seemed as if a season had passed. Gregor quickly realized he will be late for work.
Transforming and Romanticizing a Storyline The Metamorphosis, a novella written by Franz Kafka, attracted the attention of many of its readers due to the writing framework and shocking concepts. The story depicts a man named Gregor Samsa who has befallen the fate of a cockroach- literally. After being transformed into a large bug, Gregor goes through the struggles of misunderstanding, neglect, and loss of his family relationships.
What is deconstruction in literature? According to Merriam Webster, a deconstructionist literary criticism is a “philosophical or critical method which asserts that meanings, metaphysical constructs, and hierarchical are always rendered unstable by their dependence on ultimately arbitrary signifiers” (Merriam). In other words, a deconstructionist literary criticism looks at the book as a whole and deconstructs the pieces of the novel and how they may seem unstable when compared to the whole meaning. This mindset is exhibited in that of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Franz Kafka leaves many aspects of the novel unexplained and he includes details that are unstable to the meaning of the novel as a whole.
Kafka chooses Grete as the one Gregor looks to to solve his problem when the office manager comes to inquire about his absence from work. In his weakness, Gregor cries “If only his sister were here−she was perceptive…” (Kafka 276). Additionally, Kafka considered a woman to be a source of energy and nourishment. He thought he had “…no fat whatsoever for creating a beneficial warmth, for maintaining an inner fire, no fat from which the mind could someday nourish itself beyond its daily need… (Straus 660). He believed that his failings and emptiness would only be resolved by a woman and “the fat and warmth that a woman’s body is imagined to provide”
Having adult responsibilities means that people will start to be dependent on other people and that they have a responsibility to help meet their needs, such as a responsibility towards one's family. Often those responsibilities can be forced upon someone due to certain circumstances and as a result their personality can completely change. That is the situation with Grete in “Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, that due to the ramification of taking care of her brother’s condition Grete’s overall character changes into that of a responsible adult but in the process she becomes a cruel person. Grete character in the story starts out as a quite and naive girl who prefers to stay in the background and is sensitive enough to suddenly start crying when she tries to get her brother out of his bedroom. Before Gregor’s condition Grete couldn't do anything on her own and wasn’t a dependable person.
There are hundreds of works of literature out in the world, many of them are great, and some are not as great. What makes them great is the truth behind them, the true feelings, and what it truly meant to the author. Many great works of literature are influenced by several different things, in the case of “The Metamorphosis”, it was influenced by the life of Franz Kafka, the author, and his real- life experiences. The Freudian concept help explain why “The Metamorphosis” contains symbols and clues that can be used to compare certain relationships throughout Kafka’s life, one being with his father, and the other with woman who entered his life. Franz Kafka was a German man who worked as a lawyer who worked at the workmen’s Accident Insurance
In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, the style enhances the nightmarish quality of the work. In the text it reads, “Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad” (Kafka). The use of these words reveal that Gregor feels not only sad but quite isolated which links to the theme. This was said in the beginning of the passage, this lets one infer that the rest of the passage is going to be depressing or eerie.
Kafka uses diction and symbolism to convey the family’s dissatisfaction and the deterioration in their family ties. Each family member acquires a job to compensate the loss of Gregor’s salary. Kafka writes: “They were fulfilling to the utmost the demands the world makes on the poor: Gregor’s father fetched breakfast for the petty employees at the bank, his mother sacrificed herself for the underclothes of strangers, his sister ran back and forth behind the shop counter at her costumers’ behest... And the wound in Gregor’s back would begin to ache anew when… Gregor’s mother…would say: ‘shut the door now Grete’; and Gregor was left in the dark again” (Kafka
Franz Kafka is a German novelist who wrote “The Metamorphosis.” In the story, he uses a third person point of view narrative. The novel uses absurdum, which exaggerates and dramatize the absurdity of modern life. The protagonist, Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, struggles with an external factor of transforming into an insect like creature. The transformation was not under his control and now struggles with a new identity.
The Metamorphosis by the Austro-Hungarian author Franz Kafka, originally named Die Verwandlung (1915). This story shows the life of Gregor Samsa who was a salesman that traveled almost everyday and was the only one to maintain the family with his job, who all of a sudden became a human-sized bug; however, Kafka doesn’t state why he becomes a bug in the first instance. It is believed that Kafka reflects his life on the work of literature because he usually shows how men have their self-worth taken away by a greater force which in this case was his transformation. Gregor Samsa as stated before, becomes a giant bug, and no one knows why this happened. To understand, you first need to know about Kafka’s life which was highlighted by tragedies;
Kafka’s narration style provides different perspectives of the same situation in order to reveal how one may misinterpret the actions of others if the perspective comes from an external viewpoint. The variety in the narrative is essential to the development of Gregor’s character because through the eyes of the other characters his metamorphosis becomes undeniable and ultimately forces Gregor to conform to his new identity due to the way he is treated by his
He 's become a burden in her life. Her sympathy for him is completely gone. He is no long her brother, just a vermin. In conclusion, Gregor and Grete’s relationship drastically changes in The Metamorphosis.
Franz Kafka had a hard family life, his only glimmer of hope was from his sister who betrayed him. In Metamorphosis, we see that this is represented through Grete, Gregor’s sister. Grete at first tries to understand and help Gregor but later gives up hope. “‘It’s got to go,’ called the sister, ‘that’s the only remedy, Father. All you have to do is try to shake off the idea that that’s Gregor.
