Isolation In The Metamorphosis

In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregor goes from a man who supports his family, to a giant vermin who ends up alone in his room during his final moments. Gregor’s isolation was set in place by both him and his family as they lose the desire to put in an effort to connect. Through the setting of his room we can see how Kafka symbolizes this change in family dynamics. Isolation is used to create sympathy and conflict as well as move the story line along. Throughout his novella, The Metamorphosis, Kafka utilizes the setting of Gregor’s room in order to show the progression of his isolation between Gregor and his family.
First, Kafka utilizes the doors in Gregor’s bedroom to highlight the separation his family sets in place. In Gregor’s room,

Kafka incorporates the motif of furniture in order to show Gregor’s loss of control, leading to his isolation. Gregor’s family decided that he did not need all of the furniture in his room since he could not use it so his mother and sister began to remove it. “To her the opposite seemed to be the case; the sight of a bare wall was heartbreaking; and why shouldn’t Gregor have the same feeling, since he has been used to his furniture for so line and would feel abandoned in the empty room.” (33) Removing Gregor’s room separates him from his human self; his room gave him hope. The lack of furniture illustrates his isolation: a bare room, blank walls, and one single couch. He cannot go anywhere and he will not have anything to touch, his room is barren so he feels heartbreak as it is stated in the quotation. The feeling of heartbreak is displayed when he lashes out over the attempted removal of the picture of the lady on the wall, he jumps at it to protect the one connection he has left to his old self since his family now sees him a giant bug rather than their son or brother. While tight on money, the Samsa’s rented out on of their rooms and the roomer brought much of their own furniture, leading to Gregor’s room being converted into a storage room. “For this reason many things had become superfluous, and though they certainly weren’t salable, on the other hand they could not just be thrown out. All these things migrated into Gregor’s room.” (46) Gregor’s room went from completely bare to filled with extra furniture, it’s full and cluttered. Gregor couldn’t move the stuff or communicate to have it moved. This isolates him further because he has no control over what gets put into or taken out of his room. Gregor doesn’t have a lot of space to move around anymore; he is trapped and