Of Ambiguity In The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

Have you ever felt like an outsider or outcast? Felt like you were never wanted? Everyone once in their life has felt left out or even mistreated. Author Franz Kafka wrote the story “The Metamorphosis”. He was a german speaking writer whose parents didn’t understand his passion for literature. Kafka’s protagonists often feel as if they are misunderstood or even feel frustrated by the social expectations placed open them. Absurdist Literature in Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” helps reveal the effect of being an ‘outsider’ or ‘outcast’.

Many authors use ambiguity in their stories. At the beginning of The Metamorphosis, Gregor wakes up and discovers big changes that are happening in his body without knowing why or how it happened. In the

Gregor experiences lots of conflicts throughout this event happening in his life. After Gregor turns into a bug he really can’t move when trying to get out of bed or even open the door for his family. In the text, it says “ He told himself again that he couldn’t possibly remain in bed and that it might be the most reasonable thing to sacrifice everything if there was even the slightest hope of getting himself out of bed in the process. At the same moment, however, he didn’t forget to remind himself from time to time of the fact calm(indeed the calmest) reflection might be better than the most confused decisions”(140 & 141). Gregor describes his situation as bothersome & amusing. Gregor thinks that staying in bed will fix all his problems. Even when it's hard to do things he did as a human that is not his biggest concern at the moment it's about his work. Gregor will face more and more changes in his body and how his family sees him. It will be difficult for him to adjust to his new life and there will be many challenges along the

Grete his sister takes care of him for a while but Gregor feels as if she is disturbed by the way he looks. For example “From this, he realized that his appearance was still constantly intolerable to her and must remain intolerable in the future and that she really had to exert a lot of self-control not to run away from a glimpse of only the small part of his body which stuck out from under the couch”(158). Gregor realizes he has become a burden to her and isolates himself so he becomes less of a burden. Gregor dies and his family seems not to care but spend the day as if nothing happened. They threw away his body in the trash can like they would do to any other bug. In the story, it says “she became irritated and poked Gregor a little, and only when she had shoved him from his place without any resistance did she become attentive. When she quickly realized the true state of affairs, her eyes grew large, and she whistled to herself but didn’t restrain herself for long. She pulled open the door of the bedroom and yelled in a loud voice into the darkness, “Come and look. It’s kicked the bucket. It’s laying there, totally snuffed”(176). The emotionless reaction to his death, the way his remains are dumped in the trash, and the fact that, instead of mourning his passing, his family spends the day resting and then later “going for a stroll” to enjoy their newfound liberation, indicates that his