Metamorphosis

Adaption from Text to Graphic NovelImagine the horror of waking up transformed into an insect? Gregor Samsa is a traveling salesman, but the only thing he appears to have sold is himself. Gregor can blame himself solely for his post-metamorphosis anguish and despair. Susan Bernofsky’s translation of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka appears to be the narration of Gregor Samsa’s misfortune/metamorphosis into a monstrous insect, but there is a much more profound meaning beneath the surface. There are two scenes in Bernofsky’s translation that exemplify the true meaning of The Metamorphosis. This tale depicts the struggles of Franz Kafka’s life. Kafka is essentially Gregor because Kafka’s father considered him a failure for wanting to become a writer rather than a businessman. The temperament of Kafka’s father is very similar to that of Gregor’s father. Gregor is presented as an exaggeration of Kafka’s life. Kafka seems to have felt like a creature trapped in a room and could not leave in order to escape further abuse. The Metamorphosis is no more than a hyperbole for the emotional and physical abuse that Kafka’s family put him through.
Early on in Bernofsky’s translation, the sorrows and hardships that Gregor feels are reflected upon:
“Good Lord,” he thought, “what an exhausting profession I’ve chosen. Day in and day out on the road. Work like this is far more unsettling than business conducted at home, and then I have the agony of traveling itself to contend with: worrying about train connections, the irregular, and unpalatable meals, and human intercourse that is constantly changing, never developing the least constancy or warmth. Devil take it all!” (Bernofsky 23)
Gregor is clearly unhappy with his profession as Kafka was unhappy in the field of business and wanted to become the write that he longed to be. Gregor’s transformation or metamorphosis can be perceived as a hypothetical situation. Gregor morphing into an insect could be what Kafka sees happening