Freedom Of Choice In Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

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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. The clearest correlation between both is the idea of the transformation into an insect such as Gregor experienced, the novella starts, “…When Gregor Samsa awoke one …show more content…

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. 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