The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

In the book, Metamorphosis, Frank Kafka tells the story of a dysfunctional family that becomes even more dysfunctional when their son, Gregor, transforms into a cockroach. Before and after his transformation, Gregor has a variety of identity and self-esteem issues. Through his transformation, many of these issues are maximized. He begins to not know who he is anymore, and he is disgusted by the fact that he has turned into a hideous creature, both figuratively and literally. This is demonstrated when he has woken up after turning into a cockroach with an itch. After he tries to scratch his itch, he notices one of his many insect legs and is revolted by the truth. The immensity of his disgust is portrayed in his reaction to his transformation into a bug. He does not react how most people would if they woke up one morning to find that they have been turned into what most would consider the world’s most repulsive insect. Instead of waking up in a panic, he simply reflects on his life as a human and how monotonous it was. In this reflection, it becomes clear that his family is codependent on him. Codependency is a major concern, and it should be addressed.

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 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.

Franz Kafka’s twentieth-century classic, The Metamorphosis, shows the changes of the Samsa family after their son, Gregor, turns into a vile insect. Even though Gregor has turned into the most disgusting of creatures, this “metamorphosis” is ironic compared to the transformation that his family endures. While Gregor still sustains his humanity, the lack of any compassion and mercy from his family, is what makes them the disgusting creatures rather than Gregor. The changes of Gregor’s father, mother, and sister prove that the theme of metamorphosis is not exclusively present within Gregor.

Analysis of the story “The Metamorphosis”, by Franz Kafka was written back in the early 1900’s, but reflected a more modern way of thinking and lifestyle of today. Gregor felt that he was a slave to his job, isolated from his co-workers, and misunderstood by his family. Although that is the norm in today’s society, it was not the norm back then. In the story Gregor finds himself transformed into a cockroach and his internal struggles become a permanent reality. Kafka’s choice of the family member to play the role of the cockroach was necessary in portraying the curse of the working man only living each day in hurried lifestyle with no freedom.

This novella shows the psychological and emotional distance that Gregor causes to those around him when he becomes a literal insect.

“The Metamorphosis”, by Franz Kafka, is a mystical tale about a young businessman who awakes one morning to find his physical appearance transformed. His family and business associates fear his transformation and take immediate action by locking him in his room. For the following months, his young sister cares for his wellbeing and survival by tending to his needs. However, as time passes by, the inconveniences of caring for Gregor create tension and irritability that ultimately leads to drastic measures in some circumstances. As the tale comes to an end, he passes away due to severe neglect. Moreover, despite all the hardships he faces; he dies with fond memories of their love. By analyzing Kafka’s use of literary elements, Gregor’s ambiguous transformation can be concluded as the direct result of the superior authorities he encounters throughout his life and his negligence and passiveness towards those leads to the loss of his individuality.

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

In the story “The Metamorphosis”, written by Franz Kafka, Gregor’s family represents the causing factor that prompts Gregor to become a cockroach. Gregor’s family is a symbol of a repressive structure that inhibits Gregor’s every thought and action. When Gregor gets up in the morning to get ready for work and finds that he has been transformed into a cockroach, he ponders about how maybe he should just go in to work late and get fired, but then realizes that he cannot because “if [he] were not holding back because of [his] parents, [he] would have quit long ago” (Kafka 8). This quote displays how the family contains immense power over Gregor which causes him to turn into a cockroach that symbolizes that he has become alienated, has

People who become gay or lesbian have to deal with the rejection from their family members and all the problems they face, due to what their sexual identity is. This problem leads into the book Metamorphosis, which Franz Kafka used many different characters, the plot, and setting to show many allegories. However, this is about how Gregor is facing this problem of being a bug, which is an allegory representing someone who is gay or lesbian and facing the same problems. It is shown through how his parents grieve for him, his eating disorder, and how his family is trying to ignore him. Gregor coming out of his room as a bug is an allegory of a family member coming out and telling their family that they are gay or lesbian.

The story of this book revolves around a businessman named Gregor Samsa, who one fine morning wakes up to find himself transformed into a monstrous vermin. Over the decades, this vermin has been portrayed by scholars to be a beetle or cockroach. The reason as to why this transformation happened, was never explained by Kafka in the book neither did he ever tell his readers about the fate of Gregor. Some of the scholars are of the view that the story’s biographical and historical context conveys Kafka's own process of self-alienation. This is because Kafka was a German writer who lived in Czech Prague, and always had the desire and the pressure to become a successful businessman just like his father. Thus, the

This Socratic seminar has benefited me greatly by giving me further insight of the novel, The Metamorphosis, in which I would not have thought of otherwise without the minds of others. My perception of the book both existentially and symbolically has changed considerably after the comments that were made in the group as well as the thought provoking questions asked throughout the seminar.

Frank Kafka’s short story Metamorphosis involves an element of horror derived from the unchallenged acceptance provided by everyone, including Gregor himself to his transformation into a vermin- cockroach. Kafka, renowned for his surrealism, tries to create a universe where a seemingly unrealistic reality containing chaos, corruption and immorality, is in fact reality, and an actually consistent perception of the truly horrid nature of human existence under the influence of society. Set against the backdrop of truly unnatural and surreal circumstance, Kafka explores the prospect of human sympathy; and to what extent sympathy actually exists between humans than simply on the mere countenance of men. In Metamorphosis, Kafka especially elucidates the unprincipled, unpleasant nature behind the ideology of a society overruled by a capitalist mindset, completely preoccupied with work and giving little regard for one’s own nature of existence. And when Gregor dies, the readers might be prompted to feel that there is no resolution to life.

In The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka emphasizes the ideas of freedom and imprisonment, symbolized within the life of a young man, Gregor Samsa, who devotes himself completely to fulfill his family’s needs. Despite various interpretations of the novella, Kafka prominently portrays through the symbolism of Gregor’s apartment itself, a divide between his family’s world and his own after his transformation as an insect. In doing so, Kafka presents a dilemma that Gregor faces as the consequences of his transformation include losing his freedom and finding himself imprisoned by his own family. In this complex novella, Kafka uses the recurring imagery of disease, doors and Gregor’s room in the apartment to illustrate the loss of freedom and the gain

In Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis,” Gregor Samsa deals with the alienation from his family stemming from both absurd and mundane circumstances. While Gregor’s transformation into a bug is the catalyst to his physical alienation, Gregor had for years been becoming more and more isolated mentally and emotionally from his family due to his displeasure at his having to work a job he hated due to his father’s failings and the lack of gratitude he received from his family for his hard work. It was not just his family who Gregor was becoming isolated from, but it was humanity in general that Gregor had been drifting apart from, as he had not mentioned having any friends or work colleagues which leads the readers to believe he had no social life