Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis uses a fantastic situation to create an allegory about the meaning of humanness and about the relationship of the individual to the world in which he lives. That relationship is involved here as the ties to that world are broken. Gregor Samsa awakens to find that he has been changed into a huge vermin. The only contact he has with the world in which he lived the night before is through the family members who can be heard moving around the house and who react to Gregor's change in various ways. Underlying this story is the sense that Gregor is being punished for some unstated crime and that the universe has taken this means of inflicting that punishment. Yet it is more likely that the universe is meaningless, unmotivated, and absurd, and so the transformation that comes over Gregor cannot be explained with references to symbolic forms at all. Yet this does not mean that the character himself does not believe the universe has meaning, a meaning directed at him. As with certain other Kafka heroes, Gregor seems to have no idea what crime he committed and in many ways does not seem surprised that he is being punished in spite of that fact. Gregor believes that man's position in this world is always to be the transgressor against some higher power he or she never really knows or understands. The transformation really explains nothing about the universe except that it might be vindictive, and yet it has no reason for that. Any examination wh

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first, bringing in the world of commerce, and the severing of that tie is accomplished when Gregor cannot get out of bed and leave the house. The ties with the family are a different matter. The reactions of the family members show not only how they behave in this strange situation but also reflect how they feel about Gregor and how they related to him before the transformation. Grete, his sister, is the only one who maintains her feelings and shows a human compassion and understanding for her brother. There is a certain irony in her behavior, for even as she shows compassion for her brother, she pushes him more into the role of insect. When the discussion about his furniture begins, she takes the position that all the furniture should be removed. With the removal of the furniture, of course, Gregor becomes more insect than ever. The reference to Grete's acquisition of new confidence indicates that she gains from Gregor's change and becomes more an individual than she could be in this family before the transformation. Her mother withdraws more into herself as Grete blossoms. There is a similar linking of the characters of Gregor and his father, with a huge gulf created between the two by the transformation. The father

Category: Literature - F