Perception in Other's Eyes

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The foreign eyes which control our individual mind. The people today are illuded with how their society perceives them. The way others perceive us has become equivalent to how we perceive ourselves. This is one of the main themes in Franz Kafka's novel, The Metamorphosis. The protagonist, Gregor is not disturbed with his morphed abnormal physical and tries to continue along his day as a traveling salesman but is restricted due to his cockroach shaped-like body. The absurdity of the novel also adds a sense of slapstick humour along the way to total chaos that . Gregor struggles as a regular human-minded hideous vermin that faces with his family and daily routines. His relationship between him and his family slowly eradicates as he continues to become more apparent to be inhuman to his family. The interplay between how one’s own individual perception and how people are perceived by others is the focal point of Kafka's novel and the reality of today’s everyday social lifestyle.
The story already begins with an absurd plot twist when Gregor realizes that he has transformed into a monstrous vermin but is not distracted by it and quickly continues to focus on going to work as a traveling salesman. During his state of ‘shock’, Gregor reflects on the difficulties of being a traveling salesman and how he is unable to create relationships and bonds between peers. In this moment, Gregor is not phased by the changes of his body and attempts to roll himself out of his bed but his new convex-shaped back restricts him from doing so. With all that is going on, people would think that he would go into the direction of complete insanity but instead Gregor just focuses on providing for his family. All seems to be calm and still until the revelati...

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...repay their debt. Even when Gregor’s death had become a reality, they simply just discussed their finances about moving to a smaller apartment and finding Grete a husband which would allow Grete to emphasize with Gregor now that she seems to be their future financial plan.
In conclusion, Kafka had generated an over exaggerated horrifying truth of man. The Metamorphosis portrays the selfish desires that we as humans often have with our peers that originally is perceived as an act of kindness. Perhaps, a worker being close with his higher ranked boss only to boost his chances of promotion, or a son only showing compassion to his mother in order to obtain a desired item or maybe even a student only having a having a friendly relationship with a teacher only to raise their unsatisfied mark. Gregor’s family certain prove the point to be true but then again, it’s fiction.

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