ipl-logo

Public Shaming In Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

862 Words4 Pages

In the "Metamorphosis" Kafka uses metaphors to show several ways that public shaming can lead to the harm of one’s self-esteem; eventually leading to complete isolation. Throughout the story Gregor was isolated from his social life, his family life, and his professional life. The amount of shame that Gregor encountered also led to the lack of communication between him and the members of his family. Although Gregor experienced extreme isolation and self-hate due to public shame, he is one of many people who deal with the pressure of society on a daily basis. The amount of shame and doubt is experienced by people in our society every day and has become somewhat of a norm. Three of the most recognized and publicly shamed people of our time are: Caitlyn Jenner, Kim Kardashian, and Monica Lewinski. Notice the three individuals named are women. Within society it is most common to see public shaming and scapegoating towards women. In the text “Metamorphosis”, the author Kafka was able to portray the unseen public shaming of a male. Kafka was efficient in relating the relevance of public shaming by objectifying the person Gregor was and the person he became. The objectiveness has played an important role in the text, as it serves as a barrier between Gregor and his family.
As you analyze the text further, you are able to recognize how Kafka …show more content…

Caitlyn Jenner encountered the isolation that Gregor experienced throughout most of the text. Kim Kardashian experienced the social perspective and pressure that Gregor experienced from his family and professional life. Monica Lewinski underwent the ultimate scapegoating like Gregor they were blamed for the actions and decisions of others. The amount of blame that both Gregor and Monica encountered led to their punishing isolation which ultimately lead to the abundance of

Show More
Related
507 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1044 Words | 5 Pages

“Next to me lay a Hungarian Jew suffering from dysentery. He was skin and bones, his eyes were dead… These words, coming from the grave, as it were, from a faceless shape, filled me with terror” (Wiesel 78). Gregor faces the same problem—the reduction of self-awareness. “Streaks of dirt ran along the walls; here and there lay tangles of dust and garbage” (Kafka 33).

Read More
616 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1610 Words | 7 Pages

They can either choose to ignore or deny it. Gregor out rightly bears no illusion about the metaphysical chasm that encircles him and the isolation it brings from those around him who are his equals but do not know it. This gulf is not alienation from his family and the hypocrisy of his relations to them both prior and after the metamorphosis, but is the isolation where a disillusioned man who awakens to a radical awareness of his own mortality suffers the awful experience of separation from others. The separation is actually against the culture. The culture does not allow one ton separate from others irrespective of the situation, however, this takes place because of what he feels in his innermost heart.

Read More
484 Words | 2 Pages

The narrator said, “During the first fortnight, Gregor’s parents could not bring themselves to enter his room…” He has been disconnected from his family to the point where they’re emotionally unstable and unable to treat him as he deserves with affection and comfort to help him cope with his metamorphosis. The narrator shows this disconnection before the mutation,”Gregor later earned so much money that he was in a position to cover the expenses for the entire family…” He later described the exchange not “particularly warm”. Gregor feels alienated by his parents because of the lack of affection for him providing for them.

Read More
1095 Words | 5 Pages

This hurricane of emotion was solely based on how Gregor had not gone to work that morning. Additionally, the only reason why Gregor did not go to work that morning was because he had gone through a metamorphosis into a vermin and had trouble going through his normal routine. He could hardly manage to get out of bed, much less go out to work. This causes the rest of the Samsa family to begin developing negative emotions towards Gregor. The family 's rejection of Gregor continues throughout, and an example of this is after the first time Gregor got out of his room.

Read More
777 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More
1047 Words | 5 Pages

While Gregor begins are the all mighty, male provider, he regresses into an effeminate state as he no longer can perform his tasks for work. As his transformation into a vermin worsens, he no longer can perform any action and further conforms to the true identity of a bug. Grete, on the other hand, picks up the male provider role that Gregor could no longer perform, but then, as she becomes tired with the work and as Gregor identifies with an “it”, goes back to her female role. Gregor's physical change forces him to degenerate to death, but allows Grete to thrive, growing into a

Read More
997 Words | 4 Pages

Referring back to Gregor in The Metamorphosis, he was once very social and even had a job requiring talking and visiting people and places. However, this all changed when he could no longer communicate with anyone. All of the sudden, Gregor was unable to be the social being he was. “‘I’ll get dressed right away, pack up the samples, and set off. You’ll allow me to set out on my way, will you not?

Read More
1058 Words | 5 Pages

Both Kafka and Gregor were tormented characters facing the absurdity of their complicated situations, which brought both of them to their ruin, one by death, and the other by escaping into literary fantasies. Throughout the story I deduced the resemblance between the author, Kafka, and the main character, Gregor. There are many similarities that can be seen between both as shown above, it is as if Kafka projected his problems onto Gregor and discarded them into a fictional

Read More
1573 Words | 7 Pages

The social environment helps humans recognize their distinctive attributes, however, the monster is different. However, when he finally reveals himself to people, they recoil in terror and reject him outright. This mirrors the monstrosity of Gregor in Kafka's “The Metamorphosis”, who is also ostracized and ridiculed by those around

Read More
753 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More
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

Read More
1092 Words | 5 Pages

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

Read More
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

Read More

More about Public Shaming In Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

Related Topics

Open Document