Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis Essay

Gregor’s major transformation occurred not when he turned into a bug, but through the changes in his life. Gregor’s life before the changed into some sort of bug was like a bumble bee. He would go through life doing as others told him. In

“The Metamorphosis” is a surreal story by Franz Kafka surrounding the transformation and betrayal of Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one day, reborn into a large insect. Along with the bizarre and nightmarish appearance of his new hard back, brown segmented belly, and many legs, Gregor only desire is to live a normal life, unfortunately, this is impossible because he struggles to even get out of bed. Gregor transformation into an insect is a vivid metaphor for the alienation of humans from around the world. After losing human form, Gregor is automatically deprived of the right to be a part of society. Franz Kafka could relate to Gregor because he too was mistreated/neglected by his father and worked a job that he was unhappy doing. Franz and Gregor both were providers for their families. Alienation, isolation, and loneliness were not hard to recognize during the Modernity and Modernism time period.

Gregor maintains submissive personality and does not defend himself. Gregor’s physical change into a bug is the only aspect of him that changes. Gregor continuously allows himself to be abused. Upon Gregor’s transformation, he is unable to go to work. Therefore, the chief clerk visits Gregor to force him to come to work. Gregor remained locked in his room and would not leave for work. So, the clerk became extremely impatient. The frustrated clerk divulges into a cruel and demoralizing speech. He maliciously accuses Gregor of hiding because of unethical involvement in cash receipts. Later, Gregor’s family and the clerk become restless and want to see Gregor. The door to Gregor’s room is unlocked to open and reveal Gregor in his insect form. Gregor’s family and the clerk react with horror. The clerk and Gregor’s mother run away from him in fear. Gregor’s father grabs a stick and a newspaper and dashes toward Gregor, herding Gregor back into his bedroom with prods and fierce language. Gregor injures himself badly while trying to fit back through the doorway. Gregor’s door is slammed shut behind him and he his left alone, frightened and injured, in his room. The events subsequent to Gregor’s transformation exhibit his passive nature. Clearly such passivity was not useful to Gregor.

However the central theme of the masterpiece “The Metamorphosis” is change. The novel illustrates the idea of change and transformation through its main character Gregor Samsa who transforms into a large insect. The real

In Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” the character Gregor Samsa is transformed into a giant bug while he is sleeping. Although it is never said why he turns into an oversized insect, the characters never seem to wonder why or how this has happened. It is ironic that even after undergoing something dramatic and life changing as becoming a vermin, Gregor does not question his transformation; his reaction undermines the situation entirely. Irony in “The Metamorphosis” is a reoccurring theme that affects each of the characters in the story. Gregor, who was once a genuine hard working, family orientated man, is now a beetle who feels guilty about not being able to help his family anymore. Gregor’s family sees him as a burden. Their bitterness towards him instead of sympathy through his ordeal is greatly satirical.

When Gregor inexplicably becomes an insect his family is primarily worried about how this will affect them, and their financial security. The morning Gregor awakes as a ‘monstrous vermin' is the first day he has missed work in five years; his family's immediate concern is for Gregor's job. His father begins to admonish him before he can even drag himself out of bed. When Gregor hears his sister crying at his door he thinks, "Why was she crying?? Because he was in danger of losing his job and then his boss would dun their parents for his old claims?" This is very significant to their relationship; he considers himself close to his sister, but feels her emotion spent on him is related to money. Gregor has been the sole breadwinner for years; working at a job he abhors only to pay his fathers debts. The family leads an extremely comfortable life of leisure; the father sits at the kitchen table and reads all day, the sister wears the best clothes and amuses herself by playing the violin, and all even take a mid-day nap. Gregor is extremely pleased and proud to provide them with this lifestyle; however, his generosity is met with resentment by his father and indifference by his sister and mother. Once the family grew accustomed to this lifestyle they no longer felt the need to be grateful, "they had grown used to it, they accepted the money, but no particularly warm feelings were generated any longer." At one point Gregor is deeply

Magical realism stories combine realistic and magical details to illustrate a real world with imaginary elements. For example, in “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings”, the old angel has “huge buzzard wings, dirty and half-plucked, forever entangled in the mud” (“A Very Old” 1). The wings are clearly magical elements, but they are “forever entangled in the mud”, a realistic element. This entanglement between magical and realistic elements is a common literary device found in magical realism. Therefore, Kafka’s combination of magical elements, such as Gregor’s insect body, and realistic elements like Gregor’s family and bedroom, supports the classification of “The Metamorphosis” under the genre of magical realism. When Gregor woke up from unpleasant dreams in the beginning of the story, he found himself “transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect” (89). This is clearly a magical element, as it is obviously impossible for a human to turn into an insect in one night (or any amount of time). Although Gregor goes through very dramatic changes, his “regular human bedroom” remains the same. Aside from having an insect body, Gregor’s surroundings, such as his

In his novel The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka describes his own life through the life of his protagonist Gregor Samsa.  Careful study of Franz Kafka's life shows that Kafka's family, workplace, and reaction to the adversity in his family and workplace are just like those of Gregor.  So we might ask why Gregor was transformed into a bug since Kafka obviously never turned into a bug.  The absurd image illustrates how Gregor lacks self-respect and feels like he's a bug in the eyes of his family and society.  Franz Kafka was unhappy and never found his place in life, either.  Therefore, he might have felt just like Gregor, like a bug.  Furthermore the novel describes Kafka's expectations of his own future and he was partially

This story "The Metamorphosis" is about Gregor, a workaholic, who is changed into an insect and must then deal with his present reality. The hardest part of being an insect for him was the alienation from his family, which eventually leads to his death. In reading the short story "The Metamorphosis," (1971),one can realize how small the difference is between Magical Realism and Fantastic. This literature written by the Austrian, Franz Kafka, is often debated over.

The Metamorphosis, a story written by Franz Kafka, is about the sudden transformation of Gregor Samsa into a bug. The narrator describes how Gregor’s transformation negatively affects his work, family, and social relationships; it also takes readers through Gregor’s journey of trying to regain his humanity. Throughout the story, Gregor denies his loss of humanity and attempts to preserve his previous work and family relationships because these relationships make up a great deal of his identity. Throughout his life as a bug, Gregor realizes just how much of an influence his work and family have on who he is, and life becomes difficult for him now that he is letting down both his family and his

Gregor was just an ordinary man, living a normal life. Until one day something strange seemed to had happened. This transformation would change his life for the duration of his living period, Gregor was now an insect. He soon learned to adapt to his conditions and his transformation as well, over the course of the next few months he had picked up a few things from his new instincts. Throughout the story “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, it shows the change and the new life that Gregor is now living.

Gregor Samsa, the protagonist in The Metamorphosis, "awakes" from a "dream" to find he has become an insect. He wonders what happened, and tells himself it is not a dream. I think that is exactly what it is; a dream, or rather a nightmare. I think Samsa's feelings of isolation and alienation, from modern society and family, have caused him to lose touch with reality. Gregor's physical isolation from

“The Metamorphosis” is rarely considered as magical realism because of its absurdist fiction properties, but its use of the magical realism aspects, transformation of the common and distortion of identity, similar to the use in “Axolotl,” makes it part of the magical realism genre. The use of absurdist fiction does not mean that there are no traits of magical realism found in the story. At the start of “The Metamorphosis,” Gregor Samsa “finds himself transformed into gigantic insect”(Kafka 89) one morning, something that cannot happen. He was just a normal person with an “exhausting job…traveling about day in, day out ”(89). Before his transformation Gregor was a normal person, his metamorphosis is the only out of ordinary occurrence in his life. Him turning into an insect is both the transformation of the common and distortion of identity aspects of

     I have chosen The Metamorphosis as my subject for this paper; I will take a close look at how the death of Gregor Samsa opens the doors to understanding the story. I will give examples of irony through Gregor’s metamorphosis and how this irony brings together the conclusion of the story. Through his death we see the truth behind his parents, which in it’s self is ironic. It is difficult to pinpoint one specific thing to write about in the story; there are just so many things that can be brought to light. If I happen to lose sight of my topic bear with me, there is just so much to be discussed in the novella.

Gregor’s transformation to a Vermin created a new life of separation and isolation for him. Before Gregor’s transformation he already felt isolated and stressed out because he was the only one working and he didn’t have that good of a relationship within his family. Kafka states “Constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate.” Gregor is a traveling salesman who sees new people