Franz Kafka Metamorphosis Essay

The book, The Metamorphosis is one of Kafka’s most characteristic work (Sockel, 1). In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, the author, Kafka, elaborates on his philosophy of “Isolation + Despair = Possibility of existential understanding”. In order for the reader to fully understand what Kafka thinks of existentialism, the reader must read it multiple times and process everything down. Throughout the book, Kafka reveals his philosophy by isolating the main character, Gregor. He also reveals it by showing moments where he felt hopeless. To reveal this philosophy, Kafka also portrays the absurdity of the human condition. Gregor sometimes had the ability to think of his life as an insect despite the absurdity of his conditions. In his book, Kafka reveals the hardships a person goes through to be accepted and to live in a society when the person is in need.
Being turned into a bug was ideally supposed to be a solution to Gregor’s problem. This is because at the beginning of the book, it is mentioned that
By turning into an a bug, Gregor is isolated from all he used to do when he was still a human. He is isolated from his job, from his family, from all the activities he used to do with his family outside of the house, etc. Gregor is now in a world where he cannot accomplish much as he used to. He cannot enjoy life to the fullest because he does not walk on two legs anymore and does not have two hands either. He is paralyzed in a realistic world where all he can eat is leftovers, food that has been spoiled, or any eatable items he founds on the ground. Kafka also isolates Gregor by leaving him in his room alone the whole day with no company, excluding the times when his sister would go in to clean his room or bring him food, as well as the times when the maid went in to check up on him, etc. Kafka does a great job isolating Gregor. This can be seen through the way his family reacts to his death at the end of the