This correlates to the idea that Gregor’s dad represents youth. An important moment in the book is when Gregor attends a music camp over the summer and begins a relationship with a girl he meets there. The very next day, his dad passed. The fact that he died after Gregor passed a major milestone in
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
“Earlier, when the door had been barred, they had all wanted to come in to him; now, when he had opened one door and when the others had obviously been opened during the day, no one came any more, and the keys were stuck in the locks on the outside” (Kafka 18). After Gregor’s death, they don’t feel very sad for him. Conversely, they find hopes for their future without Gregor. “Then all three left the apartment together, something they had not done for months now, and took the electric tram into the open air outside the city. The car in which they were sitting by themselves was
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.
Gregor began to resent his father for throwing household items at him, squashing him like a bug. Even his beloved sister Grete began irritating Gregor by removing all of his belonging from his room, leaving him with nothing. The cruelty performed on Gregor by his own family sends him into a dark pit of despair. With nothing to live for he began to slowly end his life, making one final sacrifice for the ones he loves
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.
Neither Kafka nor Gregor followed the existentialist idea of freedom of choice in a person’s life. They both had a life they didn’t ask for and responsibilities they were forced to assume. This principle of lack of freedom is clearly shown by the unexpected transformation of Gregor, waking up as an insect and obtaining the freedom he lacked, emancipating himself of obligations, injustice and final duties. He is freed from the obligation to work to maintain his family and liberated himself from his tyrannical father. Although he turned into a horrible insect, the metamorphosis did not change the beauty of his soul.
Change. It is a microscopic aspect of life that everything on earth experiences at one point during their existence. Change is inevitable; it is everywhere, even when one does not take the time to notice it. To some, change is a normal part of life, and when it occurs, they learn how to adapt to that new change and they continue on with their lives. For others, change can be very drastic.
Kafka originally wrote the family as being morally disconnected and disengaged with normal family feelings. They were so disengaged they did not even see anything wrong with the way they are treating Greor. His family, the people that he loved unconditionally, were the ones abused him. His father would hit him hard with newspapers and a walking stick, even causing injuries. Any type of bullies, whether an adult or child can dehumanize others through abusive measures.
Kafka states that “ he recalled his family with affection and love, his opinion about the necessity for him to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister’s.” (Kafka 49) This is Gregor's death scene. He dies after being rejected by his sister, alienated from his family, indeed from any human being after his usefulness to everyone runs out. Kafka is saying that Gregor still loves his family after how they horribly treat him and he shows them affection and love even in his last breaths.
The real tragedy of Metamorphosis isn’t Gregor’s death, but the way he decide to lead his life. He worked a job he hated to repay the debts of a man who never appreciated him. Gregor’s family showed almost no compassion for Gregor. When he ultimately dies, the family wasn’t sad at all. They were relieved to finally be rid of Gregor after his usefulness came to an end.
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
“He had to leap, and by his death the others would live.” In the compelling fantasy story Gregor The Overlander, by Suzanne Collins, Gregor the main character’s courageous acts to save his father from the Underland will not only heavily inspire you, but also chill you to the bone. At first I thought Gregor was weak and depressed, not wanting to go on another day. It was a horrible judgement. When he learned his dad was still alive somewhere in the Underland he was filled with so much courage to go and save him, that he would lay his own life on the line.
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
In Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Other Stories the author utilizes the relationships within a family to demonstrate characterization through stream of consciousness, metaphors,and allusions with the intention of the audience discovering that many people are not how they seem, even if they have been close to each other. Kafka achieves this through his perspective on his family and the ways the characters’ actions reflect those who they are substituting along with his personal thoughts of acceptance as everyone wants to be accepted and as Kafka many physiological and physical disorders. In the text Metamorphosis, Kafka develops relationships between the characters in order to create the possibility that not everything is as it might appear. Kafka
