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Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka Transformation Essay

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In "The Metamorphosis," the main character, Gregor, unavoidably metamorphosizes into a “gigantic insect,” (Kafka, 1915, p. 89) and undergoes several psychological transformations that demonstrate his growing disassociation from the contemporary world. He is moreover so negatively impacted by his isolation from his family that he ends up putting his own wellness below his intense need to support the family. Throughout the transformation, Gregor begins to prioritize his own personal needs and desires as opposed to other people's needs. Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" furthermore signifies the emotional shift that Gregor experiences; the central protagonist of the novella suddenly stops behaving normally, and his surroundings continue to shift. (Kafka, 1915) Gregor had already been living an automated life under subjugation, sacrificing his personal and social life to support his family while they all remained home. This is evident when he said, “Oh god...what an exhausting job I’ve picked on! Traveling about day in, day out..." (Kafka, 1915, p. 89) The presumption that Gregor's life was indeed a never-ending loop of labor is formed by the assertion that "since during his five …show more content…

(Kafka, 1915, slide 60) Shortly after, this phase of Gregor's detachment from his family coincides with Gregor succumbing to his frailty. He concedes that he will never be human again; that he will never be free as he once was. Subsequently, he prioritized discovering a carefully planned alternative, tackling the worries that had always forced him to prioritize his family. Gregor was inexorably alienated by enslavement and abandonment, but that also gave him the opportunity to regain his identity, find solace, and die quietly, as he reflected on his

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Isolation The theme of isolation is central to The Metamorphosis. After his transformation, the main character, Gregor, feels completely cut off from the rest of the world. This is still a relevant experience today, as many people feel isolated and lonely. The narrator writes, "Gregor settled himself under the couch with a sigh, assuming that he would be able to stay hidden there" (Kafka 15).

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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

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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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“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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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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The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka focuses on the twisted hidden identity of people and how it affects the society when it is reveled. Kafka depicts this ugly truth through an exaggerated extended metaphor of Gregor Samsa’s random transformation to a bug. Gregor is a travel salesman who found himself “transformed…into a horrible vermin” (1) one morning, and this transformation is what causes Gregor and everything around him to change: the ones he loved, the ones loved him, and the rest of the society. Kafka’s usage of extended metaphor crates an understated tone, which argues the restricted social norms and social rejections when one revels his or her true self. Kafka compares the idea of your true self to a bug to unravel how everyone—including

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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 reading Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” the character Gregor is the one that he uses to describe a man who has an acute loss of spirituality. For example, Gregor had a dream he was a bug and this dream became so realistic that it turned into his reality. In Gregor’s perspective, he can’t control himself and has lost his self with this dream that his voice even changes making his family worry about him. Throughout Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” Gregor’s happiness or what he thought was happiness slowly starts to deteriorate. Gregor had a job to help his parent’s pay off debt that they were in and since he can’t function as a normal human being he lost his job.

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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

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The narrator describes a recently hung picture, “The picture was of a woman clad in a fur stole; she sat upright and held out to the viewer a thick fur muff into which her entire forearm disappeared” (Kafka, 2013, p. 112). The protagonist displayed, this picture in his room to symbolize his search in finding love and a true meaning in life. Therefore, depriving Gregor from having a social life affected his mental

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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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With such a title, one might expect that this story will express the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly, but with Kafka’s troubled upbringing, abuse and feelings of being devalued for most of his life, it’s easy to see how Kafka felt the need to symbolically dehumanize himself. Kafka’s choice of human-to-insect transformation exudes self-loathing because there’s nothing lower than a cockroach. While Gregor is the one who took on the grotesque transformation, it’s actually his family’s behavior towards his change which conveys complete hostility. Grete, for one, had enough near the end when she said, “If it were Gregor, he would have realized long ago that it isn't possible for human beings to live with such a creature, and he would have gone away of his own free will” (Kafka). It’s very disheartening knowing that his own family couldn’t handle his transformation when his first thought in the morning was getting to work on time for their

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Gregor is the main provider within the family for the amount of income he brings, and is idolized for his role. Being raised in the 20th century, Gregor 's view on women had been the same as any other male during this time period and looked down upon women as inadequate, and, in most societies, the man provides and the woman maintains; however, this viewpoint alternates once the unexpected change in their life occurs resulting in a switch of leadership within their household. "Gregor felt very proud that he had been able to provide such a life in so nice an apartment for his parents and his sister. (21)" After his mysterious modification within his physical form, his mentality also weakened.

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Even Gregor himself is aware that his work dominates his life (‘‘ "Oh, God", he thought, "what a strenuous career it is that I 've chosen! Travelling day in and day out. ….It can all go to Hell!" ’’ –p.3).

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