What does The Metamorphosis. suggest about caring, patience, communication, love, loyalty, shame, secrecy, duty in the context of family life?
The definition of family dynamics refers to the way members of the family interact with each other in relation to the group as a whole. A lot of influences affect the dynamics between family members such as traditions, communication styles, behavioral patterns and emotional interdependence. In Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis relates to how humans and their offspring are capable of changing and interpreting different life experiences in the family that can transform the dynamic bond.
Metamorphosis is a story about a family who depends on the responsible child, the caretaker of the family. As the
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Now homebound Gregor is now able to be apart of family conversations. Metamorphosis shows Gregor yearning for human contact from his family, but it also shows his family eagerly alienating him from their life. With continuous alienation, Gregor loss interest in his family and no longer desires to have contact with them. Kafka shows families that are experiencing a financial crisis; a loss, unemployment, abuse or an illness can cause a breakdown in communication as a whole. Once Gregor is unable to communicate, he becomes an observer of the world around him. His insect form symbolizes the emptiness, insignificant and an outcast, which he was at work and at home.
Kafka’s Metamorphosis suggests to his readers to take a glimpse inside a dysfunctional atmosphere triggered from a painful childhood, to see how influential each member of the family contributes to the dynamics, but also to learn how to make light of the situation with acceptance. Kafka is reflecting on his own relationship with his family in Metamorphosis. He sees himself in Gregor, or is he him.
The story brings to the forefront on how parents need to anticipate the family needs and take proactive steps to ensure healthy family dynamics during any stressful or critical situation. A family that has functional dynamics has the ability to offer support, concern and love to each other when a chronic conflict or
Throughout the years, the family dynamics has changed; as far as how each family member interacts with one another over preferences or who share common interests with one another. Although each family unit varies, family members must be cohesive this is where the family dynamics come into action. Difficult situations that families may encounter can cause a bit of imbalance within the family dynamics and are often described as dysfunctional, conflict of personal interest with one another can also be a factor or they disagree. Other times, families often argue over a family member who disapproves of what the other family member is doing with their life. Family dynamics is are not always powered by common interest and goals but rather some other
On the surface, “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka is an evocative story of a man transformed into a “monstrous vermin”. It seems to focus on the dark transformation of the story’s protagonist, Gregor, but there is an equal and opposing transformation that happens within Gregor’s family. Although Gregor has physically changed at the beginning of the story, he remains relatively unchanged as the novella progresses. The family, on the other hand, is forced to drastically change how they support themselves. Although the change was unexpected, Gregor’s transformation into a vermin sets into motion a change in the Samsa family that leaves them better off in almost every facet of their lives. Thus, Kafka’s story is not one of descent into darkness, but one of a family’s ascent towards self-actualization. The metamorphosis the title speaks of does not take place in Gregor, but rather in the Samsa Family; consequently, Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” is not a tale of darkness, disconnection and despair, but rather a story of hope, new beginnings and perseverance.
The characters in Aimee Bender's “The Rememberer” and Franz Kafka's “The Metamorphosis” are all adjusting to life after their love ones started to change. On each story the characters behaviors change and the reaction to each citation take a different perspective on life. Bender’s “The Rememberer” the narrator and Ben are lovers presenting a physical and intellectual connection to each other sadness “He was always sad about the word. It was a large reason why I love him. We’d sit together and be sad and think about being sad and sometimes discuss sadness” (Bender 101).
A conscious level can be teaching other family member whereas an unconscious level is emotional behaviors or reactions (Bowen Theory, 2014). Parents actively shape their children while children respond to their parent attitudes, moods and actions. The consequence of parents shaping their children is parents cause their children to have the same level of differentiation as the parents. The children may then seek out mates with the same level of differentiation as mentioned in nuclear family emotional process. The levels of differentiation becomes more distinct over multigenerational as the differentiation is repeated through generations (Bowen Theory, 2014). The different levels of differentiation can affect the whole life functions of a multigenerational family from marital stability, longevity, health, reproduction, educational success or failure, and occupational success (Bowen Theory, 2014). The transmission occurring through multigenerational not only affect an individual’s sense of self but how the interact with other people.
In conclusion metamorphosis relates to even real life situations and it's a good book to read if you are going through an hard time in your life with dealing with change because it really shows the negativity that someone can show, can really crush a person and it could even lead to worse situations.This book had an huge impact on my life and how i see things differently because not everyone has the same point of view and some things you can't change about yourself so you either learn to accept it or just face the consequences of not accepting
Prior to his transformation, Gregor’s sense of identity relied on his family’s necessities. Once his father lost his sheer unsuccessful business, “Gregor’s only concern had been to devote everything he had in order to allow his family to forget as quickly as possible the business misfortune which had brought them all into a state of complete hopelessness” (Kafka 35). After this tragic monetary loss, Gregor decides to step in and become a traveling salesman in order to provide for his family financially. Gregor’s simple action to seek and accept his new role as the family’s breadwinner reflects his humble personality. Gregor’s humility can also be seen during the realization stage of his transformation into a giant insect when his only worry at the time is how he will manage to catch the five o’clock train to his job (Kafka 5). However, once his family realizes he has transformed into a hideous bug, they no longer want anything to do with him. Instead, they dehumanize Gregor’s identity by referring to him as “[T]his animal plagues us. It drives away the lodgers, will obviously take over the entire apartment, and leave us to spend the night in the alley” (Kafka 69). By doing so, Gregor begins to lose the identity he had prior to his metamorphosis that relied solely to his family. Similarly, this is a theme that many high school students can relate to. As teenage students are metamorphosing into young adults, they agonize the thought of losing their
Gregor's existence before the metamorphosis was much like after it; limited to work and family, he went unnoticed by both. After changing into a cockroach one night, Gregor is forced to live a life of isolation with a family who is appalled by him. He is placed in a "dark bedroom, in the jumble of discarded furniture and filth" a " monstrous vermin, a grotesque, hidden part of the family" (Eggenschwiler 211). Shock and terror, resulting in Gregor being locked away, marked his family's reaction to his metamorphosis. His sister is the only one that, while frightened, would tend to Gregor's room and meals. She even took the responsibility so far as to get angry with anyone who
Franz Kafka, in his novel The Metamorphosis, explores two conflicting ideas through his protagonist Gregor: unity and isolation. Gregor’s transformation created a whole life of distress for him, but on the other hand also formed a deeper and better relationship for the rest of the family.
Each member of a family has certain roles, and when those roles are tested, the ideals of the family shifts, altering the family at its core. Family is normally something you should be able to come back to at the end of the day and be at ease with their company, but what if your family and household is your own personal prison, with the struggles of daily life piling upon you? The roles given to a member of the family could rage from the most menial task, like taking out the garbage, to something as strenuous as earning the entire family’s income. When everything goes as planned, the family seems to run like a well oiled machine, but when a member of a family is indisposed and unable to complete their given role or task, who will take their
Franz Kafka’s use of social commentary in the novella The Metamorphosis illuminates destructive effects of alienation through Gregor’s life before and after his transformation into a monstrous vermin and the reactions of his family members on his new body. When Gregor’s body, once a normal humanly figure, begins to change, he finds no purpose to his being as he is incapable of moving out of bed for work. In addition to his body transformation, Gregor also begins to lose his sense of humanity in result of his weakening relationships between his family members. Even before the metamorphosis occurs, Kafka shows Gregor’s feeling of being distanced from his family when he
change or how to solve it. For example, Gregor’s family doesn’t seek out for any help, and they
As we know families as always changing and so are the dynamics. Communication is a transactional process that is changing over time. Two central scopes of family behavior are adaptability and cohesion. Each is divided into four levels to create 16 combinations. Overtime it has changed to fit into cohesion, adaptability and communication.
Developed by Carter and McGoldrick (1988), the family life cycle views dysfunction in relation to normal functioning, It frames problems within the course of the family as a system moving through time. The individual life cycle takes place within the family life cycle (Carter & McGoldrick, 1988, p. 4). The foundation of the theory assumes that all families go through predictable change precipitated by life events and sometimes-unpredictable events (Azar, 2017b, 6). As these changes are occurring, the family must be able to adapt accordingly in order to avoid dysfunction. This may involve tasks that must be negotiated as they become more complex, and new roles and operations.
demand increasingly independence and less restriction. On the same time, they cultivate new cognitions and expectations as getting more contact to the society. 15 For the alteration mentioned, the former balance is certainly to be broken. Then the whole family members are going to endeavor to learn from their experiences in their patterns of communication , made a decision if they should adopt or change the family models and form an adjustment of the family system in order to achieve new equilibrium. 16 During this deconstruction and reconstruction
The deeper meaning of “The Metamorphosis”, by Frank Kafka, can be interpreted in many ways depending on critical theory is used to examine it. From a feminist criticism, one can observe how Gregor’s dominance as a male diminishes after he becomes a bug as his sister’s strength and role in the family grows stronger. From a biographical criticism, one can compare and contrast the traits of Gregor and the people around him with that of Kafka’s own life and his relationships. However, the focus of this essay will be applying a psychoanalytical criticism to the characters in “The Metamorphosis”, using the studies of Sigmund Freud to approach