Jade Ms Aubrey World Literature A 18 Sept 14 Existentialism and the Human Condition It is important to understand the human condition when reading literature. Human conditions are issues relating to human nature, the society, and how we live our lives. From the literature we have read, the human condition expressed in most of the stories involve greed, lust, pride, and the needs to be accepted by the society. Many of the stories also contain the concepts of existentialism which had become popular during the 1900s, influencing famous works such as “Metamorphosis” and “The Overcoat”. Humans are selfish by nature, and because of this they can easily be misled if morals and wisdom are eliminated. Greediness and its negative impact can be demonstrated …show more content…
This claim can be substantiated by an example from “The Overcoat”, considering how Akaki was bullied by his coworkers, ignored by the officer, and scolded by the chief of police. If Akaki were to be someone more important and worthy, he would’ve been treated better. This demonstrates that our society is naturally hierarchical. It is also clearly seen that human values society’s acceptance, which usually comes with wealth and status. In “The Necklace” Mathilde always imagined herself in a high social position with wealth and Jewels. She borrows her friend’s necklace to wear to a party so she can fit in before realizing that the necklace was not worth the struggle she have to face …show more content…
The fundamental idea is that each individual, not society, is responsible for giving meaning to life. In metamorphosis, Gregor turns into a bug, starts thinking like a bug, and soon becomes a useless bug. One of the important ideas of existentialism is that existence precedes essence. Gregor starts crawling like a bug and eat off rotten food. The conditions he created for himself made him essentially felt like a bug and soon become one because it is what he essentially made of himself. Gregor used to be the head of the family but when he turns into a bug, he can no longer play the role and was soon viewed by his family as a burden. Similar to the Overcoat, Akaki lived a dull and boring life going to work everyday and allowing his coworkers to mistreat him without standing up for himself.The condition he accepted became his identity. Existentialism also deals with despair and the loss of hope. Akaki’s hard effort to buy the overcoat help constitutes its value. With his new overcoat he gets to experience pride, but when it was stolen, he lost hope. Akaki was very desperate to have his coat back. The loss of his overcoat foreshadows him slowly dying and his life taken away from him. Similarly, Gregor must’ve felt the same when his furniture, representing his normal life, was slowly taken away from him. Both character’s identity was somehow taken from them and replaced by a feeling of