ipl-logo

The Metamorphosis Literary Analysis

418 Words2 Pages

The Metamorphosis, a fantasy novel by Franz Kafka, begins with a seemingly senseless sentence preparing you for the illogical story of Gregor Samsa. “When Gregor Samsa awoke from troubled dreams one morning, he found that he had been transformed in his bed into an enormous bug.” (Kafka 1.) Even in the event of turning into a large insect, Gregor finds himself stressing over work. To the reader this is very insignificant to the fact he has undergone and huge physical change and work seems very trivial. He even includes the vast understatement, “...and he himself definitely didn’t feel particularly fresh and lively.” (Kafka 2) The whole situation is rather comical, but the reader comes to realize the situation is much more serious. Gregor’s only purpose in life is his work and appealing to his family. …show more content…

Before the transformation he was the sole provider, now his family must all work and sell their belongings, causing them to blame the bug inhabiting their home. As Gregor continues they become colder and colder, causing him to lose his purpose. Without his family he is nothing, he is left only to wish that he could help By providing for his family and working, he earns validation, and now he feels his life is meaningless and is a burden to those he loves. Gregor has no greater purpose and the longer he goes without this the deeper he slips into his depression. As the family struggles to pay bills and work blue-collar jobs they form a sense of denial over their lost kin. They begin to believe that Gregor is not Gregor, but a mere bug. Gregor hits his lowest and is completely without meaning, his family has disowned him. Unable to bare this shame he slips into a sleep that leads into his death. “’And now?’ Gregor asked himself, and looked around n the darkness. He soon made the discovery that he could no longer move around at all.” (Kafka

Show More
Related
520 Words | 3 Pages

The sight of Gregor moving and talking frightens his mother causing her to spill coffee on the rug. His father tries to shove the insect into his bedroom with the manager’s cane that he left behind and a newspaper. The door is not open all the way and Gregor is slammed into the door, letting bug guts ooze all over the door. His father gives him one last push and slams the door behind

Read More
233 Words | 1 Pages

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

Read More
507 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1552 Words | 7 Pages

Overarching Message: In the book, Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregor’s alienation from the outside world creates a depressing cycle of dehumanization and isolation. “The door was slammed shut with the stick, and then it was finally quiet” (Kafka 955). This encounter of Gregor’s father locking his bug-transformed son in his room guarantees Gregor’s alienation from society. Throughout the book, Gregor is cooped up in his room all day, delighted to see even just one person come his way. When Gregor is about to receive help from two people that aren’t family, “He felt drawn once again into the circle of humanity and expected great things from both the doctor and the locksmith” (952).

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
804 Words | 4 Pages

This is the reason he isolated himself from his family. Gregor is forced to work in an environment he hates but his transformation overlooks that. He doesn’t have to suffer from his occupation and allows him to spend more time with his family. However, this change only had a positive affect temporarily.

Read More
777 Words | 4 Pages

Gregor’s isolation and loneliness begins to toy with his composure, he becomes unpredictable and frightening to his family. Although, Gregor’s slow transformation from man to bug eventually becomes beneficial to Gregor. For instance, Gregor’s bug-like appearance allows him to be released from his family's high expectations. As for his developing bug-like qualities helps him to register his inner anger he feels towards his father. Gregor now realizes his father shows no sympathy towards Gregor and instead punishes him for something he has no control over.

Read More
747 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1058 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
687 Words | 3 Pages

In Franz Kafka's classic drama novella The Metamorphosis, Gregor is a hard working traveling salesman with little to none social life when he wakes up one morning to find that he has been transformed into a cockroach. Gregor is vary calm at his unfortunate predicament unlike his family who freaks out and nearly kills him the first morning of his transformation. Throughout the story Gregor is always vary calm while everyone around him loses composure. Towards the end Grete says “We have to get rid of it”(47 Kafka) after gregor hears this he is left will no will to live and starves himself to death. Kafka creatively uses several different symbols to create a “more than meets the eye” feel with his story.

Read More
1266 Words | 6 Pages

English essay Symbolism of objects in "The Metamorphosis" The metamorphosis is a novel written by Franz Kafka and published in 1915. In this novel the author tells the story of Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman who lived with his family, and sustained it financially till the day he woke up to realize he had transformed into a "monstrous vermin". Gregor ends up dying due to starvation and he is thrown to the garbage. The cause of death of Franz Kafka and the main character in this novella is particularly the same.

Read More
290 Words | 2 Pages

Gregor is taken into a deep state of depression, and he misses the s freedom Heidegger would call superficial he used to have. Kafka describes Gregor’s vison ,of the Charlotte street as a gray sky and gray earth being almost indistinguishably fused, implying that Gregor can no longer see the difference between his happiness and sadness. Gregor is no longer able to relate to the outside world due to his isolation for the past month, causing him severe loneness. The window he looks out of represents all Gregor has left of his fading connection with the outside world. The life he had before his transformation and the life he cannot go back to.

Read More
705 Words | 3 Pages

He tries to keep himself separated from his family and others, but that fails after a while. His family cannot take the sight of what he has become, except for his sister who becomes the one to look after him. In the story, Gregor’s family feels that he cannot communicate with them, but he still can understand everything they are saying. So, they lock him inside of his room away from the world. Gregor’s mother and father feel that Gregor will eventually get better, and turn back normal.

Read More
1504 Words | 7 Pages

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

Read More
1436 Words | 6 Pages

“Gregor kept reassuring himself”( 86, Kafka) that he was normal and fine, however, his negative energy had not subsided yet. Because he emanates negativity his family also views him as a small worthless insect, “He must go,” cried Gregor’s sister, (101 Kafka). His family eventually disowned him and left him to die. In the novel, Gregor’s pronoun was changed from Him to It as the book progressed to section three.

Read More

More about The Metamorphosis Literary Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document