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Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka Essay

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The Moral Ramifications of Transforming into an Insect

Evidently, a cockroach represents more than just disgust and poor maintenance of a household – it symbolizes moral justification and ‘ethical correctness’ in society. In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, a man named Gregor Samsa wakes up to find himself transmogrified into a giant bug. This leads to his family cutting him off, restricting his human activities, and ultimately causing his demise. Gregor is the epitome of an average person struggling under the weight society and its expectations, portrayed in the novel as a grotesque beetle. In fact, Franz Kafka conveys moral justification as a shrouded burden and outlandish lifestyle using flashback, symbolism, and irony. Primarily, Kafka …show more content…

In order to inform the audience of what he deems to be the most dangerous intangible of all time – evil morality – Kafka paints a painful picture of the consequences that follow rationales with selfish objectives. While Kafka does not specifically condemn the act of trying to be moral, he attempts to display the effects of self-centered integrity – that is, adhering to one’s own morality to the point of desolation. Therefore, flashback is the prime literary device for him to use to show the depths poor ethical focus can take one to. Kafka writes, “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams…” conveying the sudden and negative connotation of the ‘metamorphosis’ Gregor has experienced (Kafka, 3). In addition, Franz Kafka is making it clear that Gregor’s transformation into an insect coincides with bad dreams. Most certainly, these nightmares are visual representations of choices Gregor has made in response to society, Gregor’s family in particular, and the unfavorable pressure they have placed upon him. As he is constantly worried about proving his obsessive working for his father as necessary, he fails to recognize even from within his own dreams and thoughts the weight of this moral fallacy. Throughout the

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Elie Wiesel’s Metamorphosis “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith for- ever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never” (pg 36).

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Here Gregor is contemplating the impracticality of missing work, while completely ignoring the fact that he turned into a vermin. Gregor’s ignorance to his own personal problems highlights his dedication to pay off his family 's debts (pg 9), at the expense of his wellness. The overcast weather and the mention of his depressed mood creates a pessimistic mood which would feed into Gregor’s already gloomy outlook on life. His want to sleep and forget his problems shows a pressure that Gregor must always be under. His hardworking attitude doesn’t match up to his willingness to ignore his problems.

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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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His corporeity points to his mortality which makes the inhuman world his master. Gregor’s inhuman world is as incomprehensible to human reason and sensibility as is death; it is far more human and humane than the reality of the people surrounding him who have denied their own

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484 Words | 2 Pages

“The Metamorphosis”, written by Franz Kafka, takes place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the city is unspecified. The protagonist, Gregor Samsa, is turned into a giant bug and struggles to regain his harmonious life as a traveling salesman. Gregor goes through both a physical and emotional change throughout the novel, from turning into a bug and then being unable to provide for his family because of his condition. Gregor has been changed into a giant bug where he is a not a pleasant eyesight to his family and isn't accepted by his father and mother but only his sister. As the novella begins,”he found himself transformed right there in his bed into some sort of monstrous insect”.

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777 Words | 4 Pages

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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1047 Words | 5 Pages

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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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.

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1058 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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769 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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259 Words | 2 Pages

Friedrich Nietzsche once said: “Man is the cruelest animal.” In regards to The Metamorphosis, Gregor’s family is less human than Gregor – even if he is in the body of a bug. In chapter 1, it is explained that Gregor worked long and hard in order to support his family while they did not enter the workforce for five years. In return, when Gregor wakes up as a bug, no one in his family throw themselves to find a way to ‘bring Gregor back’. Although he is a bug, he possesses human thoughts and behaves in a respectful manner when his sister enters his room every day.

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2015 Words | 9 Pages

There are hundreds of works of literature out in the world, many of them are great, and some are not as great. What makes them great is the truth behind them, the true feelings, and what it truly meant to the author. Many great works of literature are influenced by several different things, in the case of “The Metamorphosis”, it was influenced by the life of Franz Kafka, the author, and his real- life experiences. The Freudian concept help explain why “The Metamorphosis” contains symbols and clues that can be used to compare certain relationships throughout Kafka’s life, one being with his father, and the other with woman who entered his life. Franz Kafka was a German man who worked as a lawyer who worked at the workmen’s Accident Insurance

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1857 Words | 8 Pages

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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1259 Words | 6 Pages

The Castration Complex According to Freud, “castration anxiety” is fear of losing the penis, the one thing that all men need to have any type of sexuality whatsoever, mother or not. While reading The Metamorphosis, I came across several instances that suggest Gregor is full of this castration anxiety. Some scenes can also be interpreted as a symbolic representation of his father actually going through with Gregor’s castration, in fear of Gregor winning over his mother. For example, when Gregor’s father throws apples and other fruits at Gregor: “Another one however, immediately following it, hit squarely and lodged in his back; Gregor wanted to drag himself away, as if he could remove the surprising, the incredible pain by changing his position; but he felt as if nailed to the spot and spread himself out, all his senses in confusion.

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1454 Words | 6 Pages

There are many circumstances in the book that tie to Franz Kafka’s life. Kafka was abused by his father as a child just as Gregor is abused by his father. “From the fruit bowl on the sideboard his father had filled his pockets, and now, without for the moment taking accurate aim, was throwing apple after apple” (Kafka 49). Gregor’s father is throwing apples at him just as Kafka was also abused by his father who would hurt him. The apple here is seen a weapon that later on leads to Gregor’s

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