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…
his room, Gregor panics when they started taking out furniture, like the writing desk he…
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…
In Part I of Metamorphosis, Kafka ends the part by illustrating the rejection of Gregor by emphasizing that even before his transformation in an insect; a situation which forces him to hid away from others, Gregor has always been isolated from others. Due to his job as a traveling salesman, Gregor is unable to make any friends or stay close to anyone at all for that matter, turning him into a very reclusive person (though Kafka never states is Gregor has always been this way or if is simply the job that caused this). When we come to the end of Part I, Gregor is also in extreme anxiety due to the fact that he was supporting his family and is now unable to work. This effect Gregor so much that even after he has transformed into a bug, he is still trying to find ways to be able to work. This conflict causes Gregor to feel trapped, like a bug locked in a room, hidden away under the settee.…
The straightforward style of The Metamorphosis gives the story a nightmarish quality. Throughout the chapter, he struggles with the task of getting out of bed as an unidentified bug. In chapter 1 paragraph 14, it reads, “Should he really call for help though, even apart from the fact that all the doors were locked? Despite all the difficulty he was in, he could not suppress a smile at this thought” (ch1 paragraph 14). Gregor is in a serious situation, but his alarming new appearance doesn’t seem to faze him at all. His startlingly calm reaction to this bizarre situation gives the reader the sense that Gregor is emotionally detached. Gregor’s reaction is opposite of how we think he should reacted, he smiles instead of panicking. The strangeness…
Gregor undergoes his metamorphosis without complaint.When he was transformed into an insect, he never questioned the cause, or attempt to take action to change his absurd condition back to normal. However, he accepts his metamorphosis by taking the physical comfort provided by his new body as an escape from his past suffering on his job as a salesman. After the removal of…
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.…
In The Metamorphasis by Franz Kafka, Gregor is a man who works to help pull his family out of dept, when one morning he wakes up transformed into a vermin. After a long hour of trying to get out of bed he manages to succeed in opening up his door to tell his manager, who had arrived at his home due to his tardiness, that he is still capable of working. The entire family shocked by his transformation, reject him and push him into isolation in one room of the house. Gregor becomes very dirty and a pest to the house and eventually dies due to starvation and multiple injuries. The family then celebrates the relief of Gregor’s death, by taking the day off from work and going on a peaceful train ride.…
In Franz Kafkas, “The Metamorphosis”, character, Gregor, represents, Kafka himself by symbolizing, how he was raised, his family, and his spiritual death. Just as Gregor did, Kafka had a rough relationship with his father. In 1911 Kafkas father pressured him to open asbestos factory, even through Kafka’s hated and believed he was wasting his time on this endeavor, he tried to please his father. This is represented in the book as Gregor’s attempt to provide for his family and father by taking the grueling traveling sales job he hates, in order to pay for his families previous debts he wasn’t even a part of. In the book Gregor stayed at his dreadful job, in an effort to prove his loyalty and worth to his family. Just as Gregor Kafka tried to prove himself, by educated himself more and more, by getting multiple jobs, and hiding from his true passion, writing, hoping that his worth may be measured. Another similarity shown was Kafka closeness to his sister, as was Gregor in the book. Grete was the only one of the family that would bear to see his hideous form; in order to make sure Gregor was eating. In the end Kafka died a slow death from tubercrulosis, still failing to fully please everyone. This is represented in Gregors death by, Gregor’s realization he was incapable of helping and becoming a burden on his family, he choose to die rather than live with the guilt and frustration. Kafka’s noticeable similarities give the piece a more realistic tone rather than just a made up story about a big…
Franz Kafka is said to have based most of his works off of his own life. Consequently, in one such work, Metamorphosis, the characters, and their struggles parallel those of people present in Kafka's life. Metamorphosis tells the story of a man, Gregor, who leads a prominent lifestyle until he wakes up one morning transformed into a bug; from the moment that he takes his first breath in his transformed state, Gregor's life goes downhill. Because Kafka's work reflects his life, his state of mind is revealed through the fact that he chooses a bug in peril to represent himself. Kafka's purpose for writing Metamorphosis was to alleviate his hardships by providing himself an escape through writing.…
In the novel The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka it establishes the theme of alienation from the society and their true identity. The main character, Gregor Samsa awakes to the realization that he has transformed into a verminous bug. His physical and mental metamorphosis creates obstacles throughout the course of Gregor’s life. Gregor who was once the caretaker of his family is now unable to work. This has caused an economic burden on his family. The transformation also is viewed as a danger to the family’s household. Therefore, they barricade Gregor in his room where he has limited access to his family and the society. Throughout the novel the furniture, door and uniforms serve as symbols of Gregor’s alienation from society and himself.…
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 the novel The Metamorphosis, Kafka uses symbolism to express the idea that Gregor transformed into a bug physically, after feeling like one psychologically. Gregor worked as a traveling salesman and although he didn’t like his job or boss, he dealt with it in order to support his family. His parent’s owed money to an employer and Gregor wanted to help in any way he could and stated "Well, there’s still hope; once I’ve saved enough money to pay back my parents’ debt to him—that should take another five or six years--I'll do it without fail. I'll cut myself loosely then" (Kafka267). He hopes to quit his job, clear his parents from debt, and send his sister to music school. The story begins with Gregor waking up and finding himself to be a giant insect. He did not seem to care about his transformation and did not believe that it would change his life in any way. He was more worried about missing the train and angering his boss than the fact that he turned into a bug. The moment his family saw him as an insect they were in shock and worried about what they were going to do. After a while they really did not seem to mind at all and handled his transformation well. He’s sister was still supportive of him and even fed him.…
In the novel, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, alienation and isolation are very prominent themes that flow through the pages. When Gregor undergoes his transformation into a grotesque insect, it creates this psychological and emotional rift between Gregor and his family.…
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka offers much to be critiqued, including the reason why Gregor Samsa was transformed into a hideous beetle. The truth is Gregor had put himself into a position of demise long ago. Over the years, he had worked himself into both physical and mental exhaustion. Gregor was the sole provider, and eventually his family grew less appreciative of him. His relationship with his family had gone south. They were no longer as close, and it were as if he had become isolated. In Education for Tragedy, Walter H. Sokel elaborates on that point.…