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Masculinity In The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

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Franz Kafka’s novella, The Metamorphosis, utilizes language to define the identities and influence of two characters who represent growth in a traditional society. The attempts at rebellion by Gregor and Grete lead to the erosion of their societal influence. The rich language depicts how Gregor manages the stress of being his family’s sole financial provider and also capturing his desire to break away from monotony. The style the short story is written in also reveals Grete’s social inferiority. The language signifies Gregor and Grete’s social identities and the diminishment of their power. The language used by the narrator reveals a contrast in the authority accorded to Gregor. The narrator underlines Gregor’s masculinity using paradoxical …show more content…

Although Gregor's metamorphosis represents his desire for freedom from oppression, the language employed in the novella shows how Gregor constantly faces condemnation and rejection as a result of his transformation. Gregor’s rejection of his metamorphosis is clear when “His father clenched his fist with a hostile expression, as if he wished to push Gregor back into his room” (Kafka 19). Mr. Samsa’s animosity for his son’s transformation is underlined by the vocabulary such as fist and hostile. He does not instantly punish Gregor, but his contempt is evident. Furthermore, as Gregor is attacked by his father, his fruitless effort at rebellion is solidified. The apple that Mr. Samsa has hurled represents the punishment he has imposed on Gregor. This is evident when the narrator states “Gregor wanted to drag himself off…But he felt as if he was nailed in place” (Kafka 52). The words nailed in place alludes to Gregor’s immobilization while also subtly underscoring the character’s internal realization of the futility of his defiance. Gregor is left in a weakened condition as retribution for encouraging development and putting forth an effort to revolt. Therefore, readers are made aware of Gregor's vulnerable position and deteriorating social status through the narrator's vocabulary as he describes Gregor's fruitless attempts at …show more content…

Gregor’s dehumanization is displayed by Grete’s use of language when addressing the situation about what to do with her brother. As Grete says “I will not utter my brother’s name in front of this monster, and thus I say only that we must try to get rid of it.” (Kafka 67-68). The word monster serves to display how Gregor is no longer seen as human in Grete’s eyes. The use of the pronoun it cements his objectification and denies him of his humanity. Grete highlights how dehumanized Gregor has become by acknowledging that her brother is no longer alive and that the bug in their house is not him, but a monster. Additionally, the language draws a comparison between Grete's objectification and Gregor's dehumanization. Grete’s objectification is transparent when the narrator says “it struck Mr. and Mrs. Samsa almost at the same moment how their daughter…had blossomed…into a voluptuous young woman…they thought that the time was now at hand to seek out a good honest man for her” (Kafka 77). Words such as daughter and voluptuous young woman diminish Grete to her functions, notably her procreative abilities. Mr. and Mrs. Samsa only view Grete as a reproductive tool. Grete is objectified to her roles and never seen as a distinct person. Grete's bodily functions and the terminology employed to describe them show how women are designed to fulfill their reproductive needs. Therefore, through deprecative and

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He is willing to take on anyone in order to support his family, which plays into the theme of family duty. Also, Gregor’s determination and military experience (pg 12) is displayed in his plan making and strategizing to capture his manager. The loyalty to his family, displayed by working and trying his best to keep a job he doesn’t want, gives insight into Gregor’s character. The unhealthy relationship Gregor has with his family is very common for a character in Franz Kafka’s book. His own tumultuous relation reflected onto his characters lives.

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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.

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Throughout the story, Gregor reflects upon how his bodily changes have affected

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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.

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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.

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In short, almost all of Franz Kafka’s literary devices had a definite purpose in The Metamorphosis. Euphemisms in society lend a cultural insight to touchy subjects and thought process. They transformed Gregor’s weird and awkward situation into an entertaining and thought provoking one. As a device in the novella, euphemisms helped to develop characters, contribute to the dark comical tone, lessen the harsh edged words and emphasize the dramatic

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1058 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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Listening to the interactive orals regarding The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka truly deepened my understanding of the novela and the underlying themes present in it. Primarily, I found that Arabella’s insight on Prague’s history to reveal multiple motives behind the actions of characters. During Kafka’s time, Prague was not the capital of Czechoslovakia but rather deemed the “Prague Ghetto”, in which anti-semitism reigned despite the large number of Jewish families. I now believe that this culture of hatred greatly impacted Kafka and so it is represented as an extended metaphor through the novella.

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In the Metamorphosis, Kafka convey’s Gregor’s fear of being judged and his internal reflection about how he feels through Gregor's transformation into a bug. Gregor shows not very much courage, well mainly little to none, him turning into a huge bug is foreshadowing how he feels in society. Therefore it leads to Gregore not feeling understood,“I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself”

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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.

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The short stories, “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” by Herman Melville and “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, exemplifies the ideology that a man’s importance is directly equal to their usefulness in society. In “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street,” Bartleby is described through the perspective of his employer who becomes exasperated by the overtly mysterious scrivener. In “The Metamorphosis,” Gregor Samsa finds himself transformed into a cockroach and cannot attend work which in turn ceases his role as the provider of the family. The surrounding characters’ faulty ideologies of Bartleby and Gregor creates conflict seen through the contrasting styles of narrative and characterization; representing the loss of

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Franz Kafka, heavily influenced by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, devises the character Gregor Samsa in order to portray a detailed experience of an individual’s metamorphosis. Kafka’s narration style differs greatly from Ovid’s, in that, the narration begins with a first person perspective and changes to a third person narration, which remains consistent to the end of the novel. Unlike the stories within the Metamorphoses, there is a clear contrast in the portrayal of Gregor’s transformation. Ovid and Kafka’s depiction of a metamorphosis incorporates the concept of identity in the individual’s transition, however Kafka emphasizes the family dynamic and the hostility Gregor feels. Gregor’s family’s inability to look past Gregor’s exterior appearance

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Growing up in a community with an unequal view of women, Grete has been influenced by the idea that her knowledge is of no importance. Grete had been looked down upon by her family for her lack of a stance and her position in society. However, Gregor’s transformation forces Grete to make up for his shortcomings, pushing her out of her comfort zone as well as her ideal gender role. Given the circumstances, Grete gives up her simple, easy lifestyle to make up for the loss of Gregor. In the beginning, Gregor depicts Grete using degrading terms to explain his sister, which suggests that her role as a female falls below his status as a male.

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2ND ARGUMENT. Secondly, Gregor Samsa’s diseased physical state can be referred to as the abject, since Kristeva associates illness with the repulsive bodily condition. To begin with, May argues that “human–animal transitions often act as a metaphor for disease and disability” (74). Similarly, Gregor’s parents perceive his transformation as a temporary plight: each time after Grete comes out of her brother’s room, they enquire about the state of things, namely “whether he [Gregor] had perhaps shown a little improvement” (Kafka “Metamorphosis” 84). Moreover, the(?) mother protests against removing furniture from his son’s room, because by doing this, family members demonstrate that they abandon hope “of his getting better” (86), thus implying that

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1168 Words | 5 Pages

Yet, she is actually exercising her authority over both her mother and Gregor. As Gregor’s mother reasons as to why not to remove Gregor’s furniture, Grete “did not let herself be swerved from her decision by her mother” (Kafka 34). Her conviction to deprive Gregor of the pieces that represent his life as a human reveals the process of her own transformation into a figure of power. Finally, Grete’s most significant show of power is her convincing of the family that the insect is not Gregor. She announces to her family that they “have to try to get rid of it” (Kafka 51), and upon hearing this Gregor retreats to his room and dies.

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