Franz Kafka wrote in a unique style, called Kafkaesque, and it was named after him. Displaying a combination of realism and nightmarish or dreamlike events, his writing style was darkly symbolic. In The Metamorphosis, Kafka shows his writing style, using symbols to portray a deeper message. Gregor Samsa had been separated, both physically and emotionally from other loved ones around him. The way Kafka portrays Gregor’s miserable life shows how isolated Gregor was from his family, society, and himself. The moment Gregor became withdrawn from his family began when his family could not understand his speech as a cockroach: “they couldn't understand his words any more, although they seemed clear enough to him” (1210). When Gregor had first spoken, …show more content…
Once they saw the monster he had become, they never let him out of the bedroom: “He (Gregor’s father) was, rather, obsessed with the notion of getting Gregor back in his room” (1214). Gregor remained in his room constantly, locked away: “No sooner was he in his room than the door was pushed shut behind him, and locked and bolted” (1233). Gregor was always by himself in the bedroom, without any positive human interaction. Being alone constantly drove Gregor into a depression so deep he could not escape: “How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense” (1205). Since he was locked away, he felt isolated and withdrawn from his family, so withdrawn and depressed he passed away …show more content…
When he first turned into a cockroach, he was hungry and wanted to try the different foods presented to him: “He was so pleased he almost laughed, as he was even hungrier than he had been that morning, and immediately dipped his head into the milk, nearly covering his eyes with it” (1214). After being brought many different types of foods, Gregor found the food was disgusting: “he withdrew it (his head) in disappointment…the milk did not taste at all nice” (1214). His favorite foods as a human revolted him in his new cockroach body. Then, as the story went on, Gregor began to give up hope and started eating less and less. Gregor slowly started losing hope in his situation and may have stopped eating on purpose to end his miserable life. Gregor also was not sleeping at all: “Gregor hardly slept at all, either night or day” (1227). Sleeplessness also happens to be a sign of depression. Towards the end of the story, Gregor gave up altogether: “He remained in this state of empty and peaceful rumination until he heard the clock tower strike three in the morning…Then, without his willing it, his head sank down completely, and his last breath flowed weakly from his nostrils” (1233). Gregor was displaying many signs he wanted to give up on life and die, and eventually he did just that. Gregor’s life slowly turned from hopeful and optimistic to hopeless and negative. His metamorphosis made
Gregor’s life slowly ends due to the betrayal of his his loved ones. He feels bad once his parents betray him and he feels he is an inconvenience. Then his sister is too busy and exhausted for him and he has nobody to help him or bring him food. Lastly, with nobody left Gregor betrays himself by simply allowing himself to die. Betrayal contributes a lot to this book as it is evident in every part of Gregor’s downfall. If Gregor’s family did not betray him, maybe they could have found him help to get better and back to normal. He also could have learned how to cope with his metamorphosis and lived with it everyday, however; Gregor’s family did betray him, and it slowly led him to end his life by starving
He overheard his father speaking to his mother and sister about their financial status. As well as, how his father has been using the money he had saved from his business. Like any caring child, Gregor did not ask or question his father, just aided with no remarks. Even after his family started changing towards him, he only worried about cooperating financially in order to avoid any stress or family destruction. He slowly came to the conclusion that he will always be a bug, and because of that he isolates himself.
Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to discover that he has been transformed into a repugnant vermin. One may never know what initiated this makeover, but the simple truth is that Gregor is now a bug, and everyone must learn to live and move on in this strenuous situation. In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, the characters that interact with Gregor, including his mother, his father, and his sister Grete, must come to terms with his unfortunate metamorphosis, and each does so by reacting in a unique way. Gregor’s family members are constantly strained by this unusual event, and all three of them are pressed to their breaking point.
When comparing Franz Kafka and his personal life to The Metamorphosis it is obvious in more ways than one that he was writing a twisted story of his life. The emotional and physical abuse Gregor goes through are similar to what Kafka went through in real life. They were both abused and neglected by their fathers when they were disappointed with them. Kafka uses Gregor transforming into a bug as a way of exaggerating himself, trying to express his feelings and point of view. When writing, Kafka felt as if he was trapped in his room which he referred to as "the noise headquarters of the apartment". Gregor was an exaggeration of this because he could not leave the house to escape the noises and abuse.
Gregor had a very sorrow life before his transformation into a beetle. He was unhappy about the job he was working. As a travelling salesman, he complained that he always worried about the connection between trains, “the irregular bad food, the temporary and constantly changing human relationships which never come from heart” (Kafka 2). He hated his job, if he didn’t have to pay his father’ debt, he would have quit the job 5 years ago (Kafka 3). At the first night after his transformation, he hardly slept because of hunger, worries, and felt of “murky hope” (Kafka 3). After his transformation, he was unable to work and provide the money to his family, so he felt
Before the transformation, Gregor was a human form of nonchalant reclusiveness. It’s almost as if it was crucial for him to go through the conversion so he could become more emotionally aware despite the irony of him not even being human but a bug. For someone who has been human for about 20 years with absolutely no experience of being an insect, then suddenly become more humane as a creature is odd and outlandish. Gregor’s care for his family increases and begins to worry about their loss of financial and emotional security. He fears that what “if all the peace, the comfort, the contentment were to come to a horrible end?” Gregor’s attitude towards his transformation is hopelessly mundane: he does not question why he has been transformed into a cockroach. Significantly, he fails to find the horror and the absurdity in the situation. Right before his death, Gregor feels all kinds of warm and fuzzy feelings about his family members. Despite his pathetic condition, he seems more humane than the rest of the characters. In a way, Gregor’s transformation and all of the events after that day illustrates both the rewards and sacrifices of defying social convention and living the extraordinary
Gregor is the focal point of the family, he provided for them when they needed the money. Gregor also brought the family into turmoil with his change. Just as Gregor brought them into turmoil he brought on growth for the family. His death gave his family a new life. Before Gregor’s metamorphosis, his family was a helpless and selfish. There was little meaningful interaction among them. Once Gregor had become a creature the family had to become resourceful, they learned valuable skills. Gregor gave his family something that could bond them together, they discussed what to do about Gregor almost every night. Gregor’s tragedy brought his family together. Gregor served as a “savior” for his family, he played the same role that Jesus did for the world. Gregor’s life was taken so that the rest of his family may achieve salvation. His family had changed from a selfish and lazy group of people to a loving and caring family. As Gregor grew closer toward death, his family grew closer to
Throughout this short story, Gregor who has been reduced to one of the lowest forms of physical animal forms without reason, his family whose psychological development is least human and humane. Although he has changed form, his emotional being has not changed in any fundamental way. Gregor still has human feelings and needs, he still wishes to relate with his family and other members of society, and he still wishes to be responsible, his mother, father, and his sister have not changed form, but their metamorphoses are the most profound because they demonstrate how easily one’s beliefs, values, and basic treatment of others can be compromised because of a failure to adapt psychologically to an unexpected change of something they always considered as normal.
Gregor’s alienation first comes about after he wakes up one morning having been transformed into a giant bug. The negative effects from Gregor’s alienation can first be shown through the minimal interaction that he begins to have with the rest of him family. His metamorphosis to a giant bug creature is what keeps his from wanting to interact with other people. He is no longer a human being and thus cannot act like one. The effect that this metamorphosis has on Gregor can be understood through a quote where Gregor’s business manager says, “what’s the matter? You barricade yourself in your room, answer only ‘yes’ and ‘no’, cause your parent...
In Franz Kafka 's novella The Metamorphosis many ideologies and personal family relations are examined and brought to light. These include views of existentialism and estrangement, both of which that are demonstrated by Gregor 's personality and his family members. Many of these elements are found in Gregor’s personal affairs, as well as how he goes about enduring his metamorphosis. The strife in which Gregor and his family share has a particular Id, Ego, and Super-Ego-like quality to it, which later blends into a theory discovered by Freud years later. While the dark story The Metamorphosis may seem like only an exploration into the realities of existentialism and estrangement, it is truly an exploration of the birth of psychoanalytic theory
In The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka manifests naïveté of Gregor Samsa by prolonging his realization of societal banishment due to underexposure. Revelations made by Samsa later prove his ignorance of his purpose in the eyes of his family. In addition to the many instances in which Gregor is trialed, Kafka’s continuous stream of distractions mimic Gregor’s persona.
Gregor’s denial takes place when he prepares for work, ignoring his transformation, “First of all he wanted to get up quietly, […] get dressed, […] have breakfast, and only then think about what to do next” (Kafka 6). By characterizing Gregor as determined, Kafka shows his protagonist’s resolve to remain firm in ignoring his transformation for his family’s sake. Typically, such a metamorphosis would warrant panic, but Gregor is so selfless that he denies his own emotions to be useful for his family. Through the sequential syntax employed in this quoate, Kafka shows that Gregor does not want to stray from his usual routine. This attribute, along with his physical transformation, separates Gregor from humanity.
The story, Metamorphosis, is an unusual story to say the least. The very first sentence one meets the main character, Gregor Samsa. This sentence really shows how different this story is when compared to other books in this class. Throughout the story the author, Franz Kafka, wants the reader to sympathize with Gregor. ‘When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself changed into a monstrous cockroach in his bed’ (87), is the first sentence, and already the author wants the reader to feel sympathy for Gregor. This is no dream either, he is really a bug, and Kafka makes sure there is no confusion. This is just one of many examples that I will discuss where Kafka wants the reader to sympathize with Gregor.
In The Metamorphosis Kafka illustrates a grotesque story of a working salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking up one day to discover that his body resembles a bug. Through jarring, almost unrealistic narration, Kafka opens up the readers to a view of Gregor’s futile and disappointing life as a human bug. By captivating the reader with this imaginary world Kafka is able to introduce the idea that Gregor’s bug body resembles his human life. From the use of improbable symbolism Kafka provokes the reader to believe that Gregor turning into a bug is realistic and more authentic compared to his unauthentic life as a human.
In conclusion, because Gregor’s identity in his insect form was entirely based on his memory of having once been a human, and because of a lack of any physical proof of his past, he struggled with accepting his own humanness. During this stage of doubt and self-questioning, he went through a mental and physical metamorphosis, turning insane and drowning in depression and anxiety. However, the last straw for him was exactly his family’s refusal to accept him as a human, contributing to him finally breaking and giving up.