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
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.
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.
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.
Gregor Samsa’s transition from human to vermin was not the only shift that happened through the duration of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. The novel is centered around Gregor who wakes up as a vermin, presumably a cockroach, which catalyses a series of emotionally traumatic experiences for him and his family, culminating in Gregor’s death. Yet the most significant change is, in fact, the gender role reversal seen both with Gregor and Grete, his sister, as Gregor becomes more effeminate and Grete becomes more emasculate, directly correlating with their societal and emotional transformation due to Gregor's physical change. From the moment, Gregor wakes up he has transformed. But not just as a vermin.
Scared of the Monsters Inside of Our Heads Up in the northern part of America, the legend of monster still haunts tribal people to this day. This monster was known for coming out during the darker time of the year, to kill and eat any person it could find. It was denoted that it had the face of a deer, but the body of a human. As piles of snow softened the forest floor, its big thumps could be heard resonating through the woods. When the tribe members heard about its whereabouts, people immediately became frantic.
Elizabeth Pace Doctor Jane Hinckley IHUM 202-001 12 August 2023 Denial of Worth Kafka created a compelling short story that delves into family relationships, commenting on the worth that is placed on family members depending upon their accomplishments and the services and benefits that they offer to their family. Kafka’s main character, Gregor, wakes up and discovers he has been transformed into a vermin one morning, testing his relationships with his family as some believe the bug is him and others do not. Throughout Metamorphosis, food is a powerful symbol used as a mirror to reflect the family’s emotion towards Gregor and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding his transformation into a bug. As the story progresses, the emotions of his
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.
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.
Economic Drive in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka was raised in early twentieth century Prague where, for Jewish families, economic status was of utmost importance. Approximately sixteen percent of the members of the German corporate network was Jewish. Yet, Jews composed less than one percent of the population (Windolf 2). The Kafka’s were part of that sixteen percent in German corporate.
In today’s world, there is constant pressure during any type of conflict, no matter the size. With the internet, news is made public very swiftly and people are often attempting to convince you to do one thing or persuade you to do another. Guilt also plays a massive role in conflict, you may know what is best for you but hold back in fear of hurting another. This theme is very apparent in the novella, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.
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.
Compare and contrast the endings of “Death of a Salesman” and “The Metamorphosis”. Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” both use endings as a way to convey pity and criticize capitalist society, however the methods in which these two writers evoke pity and criticisms differs. Although both the protagonists commit suicide in the end of the stories and in a way release their families, in “Death of a Salesman” Willy is not forgotten by his family whereas in “The Metamorphosis” Gregor is forgotten. The ideas of freedom in both of these texts is conveyed similarly as freedom from debt and entrapment.
Franz Kafka displays the concept of characters bringing an insight into ourselves and the real world in The Metamorphosis. He does this by exploring the transformations of each character through the changes in their physical appearance, environment and the ways that the characters adjust to new situations. Kafka has chosen the character Gregor Samsa to show us that his change into a bug is a representation of how society treats us and how we conform to the expectations of society in our capitalist world. The Metamorphosis has further enforced the idea that ‘characters offer a window into ourselves and the world’ is true.
The surrealist movement that started in the early twentieth century revolutionizes the perception of daily lives, yet works under this movement face the problem of seeming ambivalence or arbitrariness resulted from traditional methods of interpretations. Franz Kafka 's "The Metamorphosis," for example, depicts mysterious events in which the protagonist Gregor transforms into an insect with distorted sounds. However, approaching the novella with psychoanalysis by interpreting it as a dream, the latent meanings in events are revealed. It is shown that the Freudian theory of the unconscious, repression, and Oedipus complex can discover Gregor 's multi-layered personality through those events, and the link of his formation of personality to his father is strong and consistent. The psychoanalytic approach to surrealist literature is illustrated to be promising.
