In this paper I will interpret the short story, The Metamorphosis, by
Franz Kafka. My purpose is to explain to my classmates the short story’s goal
what Kafka wanted to transmit to people. I want to expand more why this
short story is considered one of the best poetic imagination works. In my
research I expect to use Kafka’s work, The Metamorphosis as my primary
source. Important other sources include essay critiques from different
editors, which will help us to understand much more what Franz wanted to
express.
The point of view of this story is very interesting because it is in the
third person. We do not know who narrates the story. There is nobody in the
house telling us the story, and there is never mentioned somebody for telling
the story. The best is because this “somebody” knows a lot about the Samsa’s
family background, and he tells us very clear everything happening in the
house. This way of narrating it is very opened to us, and makes us feel like we
are imagining a movie or remembering a happen from how it is narrated.
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found
himself transformed in his bed into gigantic insect.” This is the first sentence
of the short story (Kirszner & Mandell 388). This short story has very
interesting attention catching line. Kafka does not describe anything; he just
comes straight to the point and says that Gregor was transformed into an
insect. After this incredible beginning everybody starts wondering that what
will happen later in novel after this “intense start”.
Surprisingly, when Gregor wakes and finds out that he has been
transformed into an insect. He hardly has to accept it. He sta...
... middle of paper ...
...tions for this story. A lot of
different meanings have been thrown such as religious, political,
psychological or sociological, but nobody never could find out the exact
meaning and support his interpretation.
Works Cited
Hibberd, John. “The Metamorphosis: Overview.” Reference Guide to World Literature. Ed. Lesley Henderson. 2nd ed. New York: St. James Press, 1995.
Hill, Stanley "Kafka's METAMORPHOSIS." Explicator 61.3 (2003): 161-162.
Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Literature: Reading & Reacting & Writing. 4th ed. Boston: Earl McPeek, 2000. 388-423.
Klingenstein, Susanne. “The Metamorphosis: Overview.” Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 2009.
Ryan, Michael P. “The Metamorphosis: Overview.” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Jennifer Smith. Vol. 12. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001.
Both Saturday Climbing and mirror image are stories of dealing with changes in life. In Saturday Climbing an overprotective father struggles to let her daughter make decisions for herself as she grows up and in Mirror Image a teenage girl with a recent brain transplant surgery struggles with sudden change in identity. The protagonists have different kinds of attitudes about change: in The two stories have similarities and differences between how the protagonists approach these differences.
Angus, Douglas. Kafka's Metamorphosis and "The Beauty and the Beast" Tale. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 53, No. 1. Jan., 1954, pp. 69-71. Print.
2. Franz Kafka, "The Metamorphosis," The Metamorphosis, The Penal Colony, and Other Stories, Trans. Willa and Edwin Muir (New York: Schocken Books, 1975), 67—132.
The Metamorphosis is a among Franz Kafka’s famous stories. The story is about a haunted man who changed into an insect. The author has written the story based on various theories such as Marxism, existentialist and religious views. It is also a reflection of a hostile world with major themes being abandonment, self-alienation, and troubles relationship. It reveals people’s struggles while in the modern society where one is neglected in the time of need (Franz 8). The cultural and social setting of the story helps in supporting the major themes of the story. In as much as the story is a dramatic fiction, it is necessary to explore the interior monologue style in order to inform the audience what the protagonist is thinking.
In the novel Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and Barbara Gowdy’s short story “Flesh of My Flesh” a metamorphosis occurs where Sam, in Gowdy’s story, was born in the wrong body just as Gregor, in Metamorphosis, wakes up in the wrong body. However, the perception of the theme of harmony between the body and identity are distinguishable between the two stories. They differentiate between who establishes the separation between the body and identity, the evolution of the perception of the separation of identity and body and how the character that establishes the separation comes to accept the division.
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th Compact Ed. New York: Longman, 2013. 268-98. Print.
The time period in which “Metamorphosis” was written in (1912) is very significant, because of its historical impact on the novel and the particular views of the time. America was becoming increasingly prosperous with its capitalist views, and was seen by the world as ‘the land of opportunity’, where anyone could be wealthy. Between 1880 and 1930, approximately 2,800,000 Germans and Czechs immigrated to America, in search of a better life, possibly causing resentment and bitterness from those left behind for the capitalist way of life.
The story of the short novel The Metamorphosis is about a middle class family whom life started to crumble in a flick of the eye. A family that for years depended on person, “Gregor” their oldest and only son. In the novel that author describes how the family became dependent of Gregor and how they were able to rebuild their life and overcome life’s obstacle. The author also describes how powerful the minds is and how it could destroy your life as well as the life of those around you.
The turn of the twentieth century sparks the change of European culture as people experience the power struggle between nations. As World War I heightens in the early 1900s, devastation is brought to many families as the men are sent to battle in the trenches, while the remaining working class struggles to control their own lives at home. Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis exemplifies the constraints wrapped around the working class as World War I was underway beginning in 1914. Gregor Samsa’s bug transformation depicts his isolation from his world and his family since he is not able to work. While this is apparent, in Mussolini’s The Doctrine of Fascism and Brecht’s Fear and Misery of the Third Reich, the state instills fear into people in order
The phrase “Kafkaesque” has got into the English language to describe and explain situations like those in Kafka’s writing. He has left a lasting legacy. And few literary talents can assert the kind of influence that the inspiration behind the adjective "Kafkaesque" has had. He is considered to be one of the innovative writers ever. Metamorphosis is a story of Gregor Samsa young, traveling salesman who has overnight been transformed, incredibly into ugly bug, a dung beetle. He was the sole bread
In the novella, The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka uses symbolic language to suggest a theme of dehumanization not only in the story, but in relation to the society he lived in. Even though it is a different time era now than when Kafka wrote the story, the relevance of the topic still prevails. Dehumanization in itself is the act of denying a human or a group of people a positive set of humanistic qualities (Haslam 1). Analyzing text that is present in this novella, it can be determined that because of Gregor’s physical and mental changes, he goes through a series of dehumanizing acts created by himself and others. Dehumanization is still relevant in today’s society, and because of that, many groups have taken a stand and used their voices to
The Metamorphosis is one of the preeminent works of Franz Kafka. It depicts the challenges faced in contemporary society, although humans may not wake up as an insects in real life, individuals do experience forms of change. The protagonist of the story is a representation of Kafka himself. Man...
This paper will present a novel, The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka. My purpose of this paper is to analyze the story and the author Franz Kafka's life. The Metamorphosis is an autobiographical piece of writing, and I can find that parts of the story reflects Kafka's own life, also I would like to analyze the symbolism of the story, the protagonist in the novel The Metamorphosis. The analysis of the story is addressed to all people in general. The research of this paper will be supported by scholarly journals, academic websites, and books.
Goldfarb, Sheldon. “Critical Essay on ‘The Metamorphosis’.” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Jennifer Smith. Vol. 12. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001.
Kafka, Franz. "The Metamorphosis". The Metamorphosis. Trans. Donna Freed and Ed. George Stade. New York: Barnes and Nobles, 2003.