Kafka's Metamorphosis: Uses Characterization and Point-of-View to make us Painfully Aware of Our Own Vulnerability
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In The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka binds our sympathies to the man who becomes a cockroach, Gregor Samsa, by demonstrating his (and our) vulnerability to forces beyond our control. As Kafka (67) informs us, "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect." He combines characterization and point-of-view - two of the elements common to all narrative fiction - to create an image of a half-man, half-insect who may be repulsive, but who is also deserving of the reader's pity and empathy. Physically, Gregor Samsa is as far from captivating human sympathy as it is possible to be. Nevertheless, as readers we are entirely sympathetic to his experience and the emotions he feels because Kafka lends him the vulnerability that elicits our empathy. The fact that Gregor becomes isolated, alienated, and mistreated primarily because of the way he looks on the surface is purposefully done by Kafka so we can empathize with a character that is a huge insect. By using the techniques of characterization, different perspectives, and Gregor's point-of-view, Kafka masterfully wins our empathy and sympathy for the giant cockroach Gregor Samsa becomes. It is because of the different perspectives of Gregor that we ultimately come to empathize with a character that is repulsive on the surface. The character of Gregor is not possessed of a substantial number of redeeming qualities. As he is transformed into a gia
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acterization is a critical element to the story's success in making us feel empathy and sympathy for what is literally a giant cockroach.
Multiple perspectives help us empathize with Gregor, from his internal hurt to his family's varied reaction to his condition. It is from Gregor's perspective that we must understand the story and share in its action. This perspective is established as noted above when he awakens from his uneasy dreams to the reality of a new body, a new vulnerability, and a forever changed life. The story is, at least in part, about how it feels to see others reacting to one's own repulsiveness. This is the perspective of the handicapped or disfigured person who perceives that all around him are viewing and "knowing" him or her through the lens of the disability, without reference to "who" the person is. Gregor is handicapped and disabled, in a particularly horrible and repulsive manner, but he remains the same "person" despite his new physical existence. That he knows this and others do not (or will not) provides a unique point of view within the story. Only Grete, Gregor's beloved sister, seems to share our empathy for his condition and the fact that he is still a human being. As she says when
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Approximate Word count = 1256
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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