Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” is a nightmarish tale with a very straightforward, matter-of-fact style, and this style enhances its nightmarish quality. An example of this is found in paragraph, which states, “His many legs, pitifully thin when compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.” When describing this scene, the narrator definitely uses illustrative words, but does not have the disgusted tone one would expect from a story like this. The narrator speaks in an emptier way, which helps magnify the eerie feeling of the work. Both it and Gregor act very removed from the events, not how a normal human would react. Another instance of this is, “So then he tried to get the top part of his body out of bed…
In the Metamorphosis,Gregor must work to support his family after they lost the company and lost all their money. One morning he wakes up and discovers he is a vermin. The first thing that occurs to him when he discovers this is how will he get to work and that his boss will come to his house and demand that Gregor come to work, meanwhile Gregor is locked in his room unable to get out of bed because he is a bug. Finally he is able to get out of bed, but the boss is gone the time he gets up. His family sees him and is disgusted and shocked by his transformatio. His sister brings him food and cares for him like no one in his family ever has, but even she becomes disgusted with him after a while. They all ignore Gregor. At one point Gregor is…
The nightmarish quality of “The Metamorphosis,” by Franz Kafka, is enhanced by the straight forward -almost academic- nature of the writing. One such example of this occurs on page 93, reading, ““What’s happened to me?” [Gregor] thought. It wasn’t a dream. His room, a proper human room, although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls.”(Kafka) From thereon, he abandons the description of his transformation to describe the room and previous night. As the audience reads this, they are thrown by the sudden shift of topic, still wondering what has happened. The fact that most works put an emphasis on the “why?” makes the reader expect an answer, developing their panic as it becomes less and less likely that there will…
As with any great literary work, there must be a purpose behind the story. Kafka’s short story was written for a few main reasons. He wanted to exemplify the absurdity of life, show that there is often a disconnect between the mind and body, and that there are limits to society’s affection for its servants. I found that all points appeared to be both relevant and accurate while maintaining the fantastical appeal of the strangeness of Gregor’s sudden transformation. I believe this contributes to why “The Metamorphosis” has made a lasting impact across the globe.…
“The Making of an Allegory,” by Edwin Honig and “Franz Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ as Death and Resurrection Fantasy,” by Peter Dow Webster illuminate how sacrifice and transformation are a vital part of the deeper meaning of "The Metamorphosis." Gregor Samsa is an ordinary young man until he wakes up one day as a giant vermin; metamorphosised into something horrendous and reviled by the world. Through Honig’s and Webster’s critical essays, this transformation, as well as many more, and sacrifice made by all involved are explored in a thorough and definitive way.…
Statistics show that 1 in 10 Americans have suffered depression, depression often being a result of isolation and alienation from society. In the short story “Metamorphosis”, Franz Kafka utilizes point of view and anthropomorphism to develop the theme of alienation.…
In The Metamorphasis, Kafka’s treatment of Gregor’s transformation demonstrates how beyond human control the natural world is. The human turning back into nature demonstrates a relationship between man and the environment. Throughout the novel there is, however, much talk of the cure and of acceptance, yet nature goes on unrelated to all talk of ways to change the situation.…
A compare and contrast Analysis of Frank Kafka’s, The Metamorphosis and The Things They Carried.…
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a novella. The theme in this story is that change in one character leads to positive and negative change in other characters. Gregor Samsa, the main character changes into dung beetle. His change affects his family deeply and they make both positive and negative changes to accommodate both his change and themselves. The family resents Gregor and sees him as a burden, which is a negative change, but previously the family had relied on Gregor as their source of income. This is where the conflict arises because now they have to learn to work for themselves instead of relying on Gregor for income, which is ultimately a great positive change.…
The Metamorphosis is a novel written by Frans Kafka. The book basically talks about a transformation from a human into a bug that took over Gregor. The best theme that fits the Metamorphosis is isolation and self-sacrifice. Because first of all Gregor sacrificed his freedom of will by working all day to support his family. Second, when Gregor turned into a bug his father isolated him from the family. And last, Gregor spent his all his time in his room feeling ashamed for something he didn’t do.…
Since the Greek philosophers people have debated endlessly the extent to which the mind influences oneʼs personal reality, or even reality in general. In the Metamorphosis, the link between Gregorʼs mental and physical reality are in some way linked, and as Gregorʼs ability to function within the parameters of humanity dissipates, his physical links with the human world diminish as well. He loses his personal connection with his own body, and slowly but surely loses connection with the outside world; work and acquaintances progress along without him, and his family shuts him away as if he had never existed. But despite the authorʼs frequent superficial focus on Gregor Samsaʼs physical aspect, it is fundamentally the mental breakdown which Franz…
In Metamorphosis, by author Franz Kafka’s we come across the protagonist Gregor Samsa who is deemed lowly and helpless. Gregor’s emotional and mental state was triggered by the financial burden due to his father’s decisions, the struggle to support his family and the debt to his employer. There are two metamorphoses occurring in the story, Gregor transforming into a rodent and the disintegrating of the family unit. Gregor’s struggles in supporting his family and the hardship of dealing with debt are problems that socially many other people have. This took a toll on Gregor, and because he could no longer take care of himself and his family he was deemed a burden.…
The details increased the impact of the details about Kafka's life. His life sounds terrible when you read about it, but the visuals makes you actually imagine the hostile environment that he grew up in as a child. This visual allows you to understand why the father in Metamorphosis was so terrible. That it was because the fictional father was modeled after his actual father. I looked at the illustrations first because that's what caught my eye first. Written text is small and common, but large illustrations are used less, so when they are used I tend to look at them first.…
In zoological terms, the definition of metamorphosis is the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form (in an insect or amphibian). In Franz Kafka’s novella, The Metamorphosis, the most apparent metamorphosis is that of the protagonist, a traveling salesman by the name of Gregor Samsa. “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” (Kafka 67) Gregor’s metamorphosis from the sole breadwinner to the paralyzed burden of the family drives him into alienation by his own family. Because he is unable to provide for his family anymore, Gregor ‘forces’ his family to undergo metamorphosis as they struggle to fend for themselves. Gregor is not the only one to…
People have always felt the pressure of conforming to societal norms, enough that they feel the need to change their personality. In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, the protagonist Gregor struggles between meeting expectations and coming to terms with the darker side of himself. Through Gregor’s struggles, Kafka points out the underlying human weaknesses that cause a metamorphosis in each of us.…