kafka

Mistreatment from the 1800’s is Still Reflected in Modern Day Society

“The father’s explanations were to some extent the first pleasant news that Gregor got to hear since his imprisonment.” (p. 1654) In the story The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, the character Gregor undergoes a metamorphosis into an insect and experiences what it’s like to feel imprisoned and mistreated within his own home. Throughout the story he continuously is mistreated by his family and sadly still reflects modern day families and society.

Gregor family consisted of his father, his mother and his sister Grete. Before Gregor had turn into an insect he was the main provider of income and covered all expenditures for his family. Gregor was the only person that worked in his family and was a traveling salesman. Therefore, his parents and sister stayed at home and did nothing while Gregor worked everyday. Kafka describes Gregor’s father as having an “…unsuccessful life” and “he had grown very fat, becoming rather clumsy.”(p. 1655). His father at one point owned his own business but it had collapsed five years earlier from the day of Gregors transformation. However his father still remained to have a strong sense for business. His mother was lazy and found to be less intelligent then the rest of the family. She also was not working. Kafka states,

And perhaps the old mother go to work-she, who suffered from asthma, who found it strenuous just walking through the apartment, and who spent every other day on the sofa grasping for air by the open window? (p.1655).

His sister was seventeen, kind to Gregor, beautiful, and musical. She played the violin. Grete soon took over as head of the house hold when Gregor turned into an insect.

With Gregor’s transformation thus brings about the problem of who’s going to now provide for the family. This problem then brings upon mistreatment towards Gregor. Many times throughout the story he is forgotten about, attacked, and made to feel dehumanized and no longer apart of the family. In the beginning of his transformation Grete is the only one who takes care of Gregor. She feeds him twice a day and tries to make sure his food is of his liking. His mother in the beginning seems to still care for him but however, cannot bear to look at him or enter the room. The fat...

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...ought about others and truly cared about others happiness. However many times he felts pressured by his family to work and feels that helpless and guilty when he can no longer provide for his family. To me this is way he transforms, because he is so pressured he fears it so much that it’s almost like he willed it to happen. I feel this could have all been avoided. I feel that Gregor should have left his family and started his own life and paid for his own bills. His family did not appreciate him and all that he provided for them so there was no need to put himself under that kind of pressure.

I felt The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, proved to be an excellent science fiction writer through the use of details. “His many legs, wretchedly thin compared to his overall girth, danced helplessly before his eyes” (p. 1641); this is just one of many example that Kafka uses detail to help the reader visualize Gregor as an insect.

Overall this story provides ideas and activities of society during the late 1800’s and modern day life still today. Because of pressure from society and our families we tend to mistreat those around us.