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Literary analysis of the metamorphosis
Literary analysis of the metamorphosis
Analysis of Franz Kafka metamorphosis
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The Metamorphosis as a Depiction of Franz Kafka's Life
The Metamorphosis is said to be one of Franz Kafka's best works of literature. It shows the difficulties of living in a modern society and the struggle for acceptance of others when in a time of need. In this novel Kafka directly reflects upon many of the negative aspects of his personal life, both mentally and physically. The relationship between Gregor and his father is in many ways similar to Franz and his father Herrman. The Metamorphosis also shows resemblance to some of Kafka's diary entries that depict him imagining his own extinction by dozens of elaborated methods. This paper will look into the text to show how this is a story about the author's personal life portrayed through his dream-like fantasies.
Franz Kafka grew up in a financially secure Jewish family in Prague. He spoke German and was neither a Czech nor German due to his Jewish upbringing. Born in 1883, he was the eldest child and the only son. He lived his life in the shadow of his dominating father under constant pressure to take over the family business. Kafka's father viewed Franz as a failure and disapproved of his writing because he wanted Franz to become a business man like him. This obsession with wanting Franz to become a businessman led Herrman to beat his son. Franz Kafka died on June 3, 1924 from tuberculosis of the larynx.
From the moment we meet Gregor Samsa's father we are shown how short tempered he is. He "came on, hissing like a wild man" when Gregor first exited his room in his new state as a bug. Gregor's father chased after him with a cane and newspaper making a hissing noise that annoyed Gregor. Just this passage here shows how alike Mr. Samsa and Herrman Kafka are. Kafka was...
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...appened so often during the times he was trying to write, it happened unknowingly.
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.
Works Cited:
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Mattituck: Vanguard Press, 1946.
Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is so strikingly absurd that it has engendered countless essays dissecting every possible rational and irrational aspect of the book. One such essay is entitled "Kafka's Obscurity" by Ralph Freedman in which he delves down into the pages of The Metamorphosis and ferrets out the esoteric aspects of Kafka's writing. Freedman postulates that Gregor Samsa progresses through several transformations: a transformation of spatial relations, a transformation of time, and a transformation of self consciousness, with his conscious mutation having an antithetical effect on the family opposite to that of Gregor. His conjectures are, for the most part, fairly accurate; Gregor devolves in both his spatial awareness and his consciousness. However, Freedman also asserts that after Gregor's father throws the wounding apple, Gregor loses his sense of time. While his hypothesis certainly appears erudite and insightful, there really is no evidence within the book itself to determine whether if Gregor has a deteriorating sense of time. If Freedman had only written about Gregor's spatial and conscious degradation, then his entire thesis would be accurate.
The Metamorphosis Research paper Franz Kafka, in his novel The Metamorphosis, explores two conflicting ideas through his protagonist Gregor: unity and isolation. Gregor’s transformation created a whole life of distress for him, but on the other hand also formed a deeper and better relationship for the rest of the family. Gregor’s transformation to a Vermin created a new life of separation and isolation for him. Before Gregor’s transformation he already felt isolated and stressed out because he was the only one working and he didn’t have that good of a relationship within his family. Kafka states “Constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate.”
There is a theory that dream and myth are related which is conveyed through the writing of Douglas Angus’ Kafka's Metamorphosis and "The Beauty and the Beast" Tale and supported by Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. The stories are very symbolic when conveying the metamorphosis of a human being. Unlike Beauty and the Beast, in the Metamorphosis some suggest love is received through acts of cruelty yet in actuality it appears that cruelty results in heartache. Due to being a beast, the repulsiveness requires genuine love which can achieve the “magical transformation.” This “magical transformation” is not achieved and creates a twist in the plot derived from the concepts in the “Beauty and the Beast.”
Bacillus anthracis or anthrax is bacteria that infect thousands of people a year worldwide. Mostly found in the hinds and hair of grazing animals like cattle and sheep, the bacteria can stay dormant for years until contacted. Contact can occur through broken skin, eating infected meat, or inhaling infected dust from hides through the mouth or nostrils. Normal contact through the skin begins forming malignant skin ulcers that are dark black in appearance. If left untreated, the blisters lead to blood poisoning and eventually death. Eating contaminated meat not fully cooked can cause intestinal infection also leading to death. Surprisingly, many people survive contact of the skin and very few cases of intestinal infection exist. However, inhalation of infected dust or spores are much more deadly because the symptoms resemble a common cold...
In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, the transformation of the character Gregor from a man to one of the most hated insects, a vermin, may seem exaggerated and ridiculous, becoming more so over the course of the story the action builds and the emotions and ideas of the characters in the story begin to change and become more prominent. Kafka’s intention, however, is to expose and explore the impoverishment of human psychology with respect to the ways in which changes in one’s circumstances and conditions reshape notions people have of the way they believe in justice and mercy which will be explore further in this analysis of Gregor Samsa.
In the novel, The Metamorphosis, Kafka writes about a man who one day transformed into a bug. Kafka’s own feelings of nothingness caused this story to shape into this unique story. Kafka writes, “The dream reveals the reality, which conception lags behind. That is the horror of life – the terror of art” (qtd. In Kennedy and Gioia 299). Kafka said this as a rebuttal to a friend trying to pry information out of him about The Metamorphosis. Kafka meant that the true burden of art is that a person’s experiences will always heavily influence their creations, and that is horrifying. It is clearly shown in his writings that his personal experiences helped shape the story The Metamorphosis. Every little detail about Gregor’s life is a reflection of Kafka’s own life. Gregor’s family, job, and dreams all were influenced by Kafka’s personal experiences. His father was domineering just as Gregor’s father controlled him after he turned into an insect. He had a horrid job just as Gregor did, and he lived at his parent’s house for most of his life. Gregor’s dreams of being free from his job and parents were also Kafka’s dreams. Kafka’s reality is shown in his story, The Metamorphosis, through Gregor’s family and dreams of freedom.
Before the similarities are displayed, the justifications behind this premise are as follows. Kafka’s works demonstrates the use of a self-nulling reference system in order to void possibilities of critics attempting to use hermeneutics (Thiher, 50). Hermeneutics is the methodology of interpretation. Examples of this method can be found throughout the story in the use of the realistic and unrealistic elements intertwined in different situations. “Kafka’s Metamorphosis validates contradictory readings that cancel coherent interpretation,” is a quote by confirmed critic Gavriel Ben-Ephraim(451). A specific example can be located in Part I, when Gregor attempts to rise from bed and fails. He thinks to himself, “What a job I’ve chosen.” In truth, he did not h...
Anthrax is a very real and dangerous threat to all people who come in contact with it. The bacterial infection is caused by the bacteriaium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax is divided into three categories all are contracted in different ways. The first type is called Cutaneous Anthrax; this is where anthrax spores make contact with the skin. If there is a cut or a lesion then a person can be infected. Cutaneous Anthrax is the most common way to get anthrax, but is also the least lethal. The second type of anthrax is called Pulmonary Anthrax this is where a person inhales the spores of anthrax directly into the lungs. If this type of anthrax is left untreated it could lead to death. The third type of anthrax is called Gastrointestinal Anthrax, this form results from eating meat from animals that have been infected with the anthrax bacteria. This causes the intestinal tract to become infected and this from is almost always fatal. This particular mode of anthrax has never been seen in the United States.
...haracter, Gregor, transforms into a cockroach in the beginning. Throughout the story, Gregor is portrayed as a “helpless bug” and is treated unfairly and poorly by his own family. His parents are more astonished than pitiful when they first see Gregor. Later on, his mother faints at the sight of him. His father throws apples at him because his mother fainted from the way he looks. Grete, in the beginning of the transformation, is nice and takes care of him. Later, she changes her mind about Gregor, quits taking care of him, and comes up with the idea to get rid of it. ‘If it was Gregor, he would have long ago seen that it’s impossible for human beings to live together with an animal like that,’ (139). Kafka, throughout the story, tries to get the reader to feel sympathy towards Gregor in many scenes, and it works because his family doesn’t show sympathy towards him.
house. This way of narrating it is very opened to us, and makes us feel like we
Symptoms of the disease vary depending on how the disease was contracted, but symptoms usually occur within seven days. Usually when a person becomes infected cutaneously the bacterium enters a cut or abrasion on the skin, such as when handling contaminated wool, hides, leather or hair products (especially goat hair) of the infected animal. A skin infection begins as a raised itchy bump that resembles an insect bite, but within one to two days it develops into a vesicle and then a painless ulcer, usually one to three centimeters in diameter with a black necrotic (dying) area in the center of the ulcer. Lymph glands in the adjacent area may swell. About twenty percent of untreated cases of cutaneous anthrax will result in death (www.cdc.gov). Deaths are rare due to antimicrobial therapy.
Anthrax is a bacterial disease caused by bacteria called Bacillus anthracis (buh-SIL-us an-THRAY-sus). The Bacillus anthracis can exist in two different forms: favorable form, when the bacteria are rod-shaped and can grow and divide, or the unfavorable form, when they form a very resistant dormant spore that helps them survive extreme environmental conditions. Like other bacteria, Bacillus anthracis is very small, only about 1 by 9 micrometers in size. It is Gram-positive, which makes the bacteria purple-pinkish rods, with a relatively long lifespan of over 70 years. Bacillus anthracis feed on iron, oxygen, water, and nutrients to survive and reproduce. Bacillus anthracis need a favorable environment, but can reproduce in many different ways, either through spore germination, asexual bacterial reproduction, or formation of new spores. Herbivore animals such as cattle, sheep, and goats are the primary target of these bacteria and can be infected when they breathe in or ingest spores in contaminated soil, plants, or water. These elliptical shaped spores have thick and layered walls which make it resistant to heat, dryness, ultraviolet light, and gamma radiations. These spores initially develop inside the rod-shaped form, causing it to be named endospore. Because the bacteria is zoonosis, which means that it affects domestic and wild animals primarily, it is very rare for people to be infected by anthrax, but it is theoretically possible when the spores get into the body either through coming in contact with infected animals or contaminated animal products. Even though people can be infected with anthrax through animal contacts, it is not contagious, meaning that it cannot be transmitted from a person to person. After the spores get ...
Using symbols, Kafka illustrates the story which is not just about Gregor’s transformation but it is more than that. The entire Metamorphosis is an allegory about Gregor changing into a vermin, symbolize that he wanted to free himself from his family obligation. “As Gregor Samsa awoke from unsettling dreams one morning, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin” (Kafka 7). He thought his transformation was a dream but he soon realizes that it was reality. Gregor was the source of the income for his family and was employed in a job he did not like. “What a grueling profession I picked! Traveling day in, day out” (Kafka 7). This is ironic because Gregor was forced by his father to choose the alienated career. Mr. Samsa was indebted to his boss; working as a traveling salesman he would have pay off his father debt. Working as traveling salesman made Gregor alienated socially and mentally. The word transformation does not only app...
Anthrax is an extremely life threatening disease. It is a hard working and thorough bacterium. This bacterium becomes dormant and spore like when it lacks a host or is placed in danger by its surrounding environment, such as extreme temperature variations. In this form, it can survive for decades at a time until it has a new host to attach itself to. Once Anthrax has a new host, it begins to reproduce and spread at a high rate of speed. Agricultural areas are the place that Anthrax is usually found in abundance often infecting animals such as cattle and sheep amongst others. Humans can contract Anthrax in ways such as handling of the infected livestock or items that have come in contact with the infected animals or by inhaling the spores from the animal by products. This is most commonly known as Cutaneous Anthrax (Walsh, Skane 2011).
Anthrax is a bacterial disease instigated by the endospore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium Bacillus anthracis . Anthrax itself comes from the Greek word for coal, nthrax, attributable to the coal colored lesions that oftentimes develop on victims’ dermis. Though the sporadic disease most commonly affects animals in agricultural regions, it can sometimes infect humans and cause serious illness as well as both hypodermic and internal infections that can prove fatal to those infected.