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Gregor's Alienation

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Kafka portrayed Gregor to be a symbol of all mankind for those who felt alienated. Alienation means “the state or experience of being isolated from a group”. Gregor felt alone and isolated even before becoming a bug. He had to go to a job he hated and not be able to enjoy his life because he had to work hard and pay off his parent’s debt. His parents ignored him and didn’t show any love towards him, they used him. Throughout reading the first chapter we learn that all Gregor wants to do is quit his job and be free from his family obligations. When working he had so much devotion to work and support his family that it caused him to become alienated in society. Gregor because of this has lost all his social ability and longs for a lasting relationship. …show more content…

When he went through a metamorphosis transformation and turned into a beetle it was not only physically dehumanizing but also mentally. Gregor is not unique in his human alienation because there are many cases like Gregor’s. In Gregor’s bug alienation he is unique because people in the real world do not turn into bugs. In his case Gregor is mentally and physically alienated. Gregor can’t have any friends because he never has enough time to make any. He is physically abused by always having to work constantly not for his benefit but for his family’s benefit. Through his alienation in the book there is mostly mental confinement. The physical abuse in the book has produced a lot of mental alienation for Gregor. At the beginning of the book when he was turned into a beetle he used it as an excuse to just lay out of work and stay in bed all day. Gregor was tired of always going to a job he hated and being used by his family. In his locked room it was kind of a symbol of isolation from the outside world and his family. He confined himself within his room as it is the only place he felt safe. When they removed his furniture it was a dehumanizing act, as the last link to his humanity and human past is removed. The filth of his room represents his family’s lost hope in Gregor, since they let it accumulate in filth as if nobody lived

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