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Symbolism used in metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Symbolism in Franz Kafka's metamorphosis
Symbolism in Franz Kafka's metamorphosis
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In the world there exist systems created to oppress, suppress, and repress innocent people. An empire is a destructive structure built to enslave human beings by those who yearn for supremacy and is demonstrated through “The Metamorphosis”, through “Empire as a Way of Life”, and through the connection of symbolism between the two texts. Taking a look at Gregor’s life, from “The Metamorphosis”, expresses what it is like to lose one’s self. “Empire as a Way of Life” explains what it means to be an empire and how nations become empires. Both texts exhibit “empires” that control people for the sake of the “empire’s” welfare. In order to comprehend what it means for someone to lose their own sense of thought it is helpful to look at a prime example. In the story “The Metamorphosis”, …show more content…
Gregor’s family is a symbol of a repressive structure that inhibits Gregor’s every thought and action. When Gregor gets up in the morning to get ready for work and finds that he has been transformed into a cockroach, he ponders about how maybe he should just go in to work late and get fired, but then realizes that he cannot because “if [he] were not holding back because of [his] parents, [he] would have quit long ago” (Kafka 8). This quote displays how the family contains immense power over Gregor which causes him to turn into a cockroach that symbolizes that he has become alienated, has become unfree, and has lost his sense of identity. Gregor’s life revolves around his job. Gregor never goes out, he does not have a girlfriend, and the only thing going for him is his work. All of this shows that Gregor has lost a sense of what is going on in the outside world and has become isolated from it. He is extremely consumed with work that he has no time to think about other things. Gregor
Although it can be argued that supporting his family is a generous motivation, it can also be interpreted as "self-forgetting". As Gregor expresses his dislike towards his job, his reasons to stay concern his family: "…once I 've saved enough money to pay back my parents ' debts to him -- that should take another five or six years -- I 'll [leave] without fail" (90). This shows Gregor, despite being unhappy, continues to put his family above himself. Later in the story, Gregor hears his father discussing how he invested some of Gregor 's paychecks instead paying off the debt. Upon hearing this, Gregor gives little thought to how he could have had the money for himself, and instead thinks, "…it was better the way his father arranged it" (112). Gregor 's lack of concern for himself in comparison to his family indicates even more similarity to insects. By nature, many insects, like worker ants, will labor until they die for the sole reason of feeding their colony, just like Gregor and his family. This likeness is illustrated in the final part of the story when the Samsas come to find Gregor intolerable. Closely following Gregor’s metamorphosis, his family holds out hope that the human Gregor may return to help support them. However, as time goes on, the family becomes more independent, and Gregor, no longer of use, becomes a burden that
Relying on Gregor to support their lifestyle for years, Gregor’s mother, father and sister, Grete, no longer have any use for him once he is transformed into a bug. The transformation is more of an inconvenience to them than a tragedy. Now, the must go out and get jobs, and instead of Gregor taking care of them, they now are responsible for taking care of Gregor. Grete uses her brothers new outer casing as a way to gain respect and power in the family by becoming his caregiver (1093).Grete continues to gain power in the family, as Gregor begins to descend to the bottom of the family hierarchy. His entire family is disgusted by his new form and terrified of his next move. They resent Gregor and consider him to be a burden, taking care of him slowly begins to ruin their lives. Gregor’s family only seem to care about themselves and ignore the blatant issues that Gregor must be going through
“It has to go”, cried his sister. “That’s the only answer, Father. You just have to try to get rid of the idea that it’s Gregor. Believing it for so long, that is our real misfortune. But how can it be Gregor? If it were Gregor, he would have realized long ago that it isn’t possible for human beings to live with such a creature, and would have gone away of his own free will” (Kafka 52). The relationship between family member’s in Kafka’s Metamorphosis is an interesting theme addressed, and somewhat distressing subject. Why is it so hard to accept that this monstrous bug is Gregor? Is it so bad for him to want to stay and be near his family- the only thing he’s ever had and known? For the sister to even come out and say these words seems somewhat selfish. Why can’t it be turned around to a viewpoint through which we have a family loving their son, unconditionally, regardless of what state he’s in? The word love is definitely one which is not seen in close companionship with the Gregor family. And we can see that this lack of affection carries on to be one of the driving forces behind the theme of alienation in the novel.
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.
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
“Life can either be accepted or changed. If it is not accepted it must be changed. If it cannot be changed it must be accepted.”- Winston Churchill. Change is frightening, but without change you can never accomplish a greater goal. Gregor experienced a dramatic change in his life. He may or may not have experienced the physical change described, but he did experience a mental change. The mental change opened Gregor’s eyes to what really mattered in life. Once Gregor accepted his physical change he was able to begin his mental change. Gregor’s values in life had changed dramatically from beginning to end. Though Gregor was subjected to ridicule, he was given the greatest gift. The opportunity to change is the greatest gift anyone can
Kafka’s The Metamorphosis takes on an wide variety of main themes. One of the most important of these is the collapse of morality and mercy, even among those people who are expected to be most fair and compassionate. Gregor’s metamorphosis is indeed terrible, but more terrible still is the psychological corruption of Gregor’s family. Their inability to adapt to the changes that have occurred signal a total breakdown in the family structure, and offer a cautionary tale about the fragility of notions of justice and mercy and how a certain change can change a persons perception of them.
In the novella “The Metamorphosis”, Franz Kafka focuses on the topic of alienation and considers its underlying effect on the human consciousness and self-identity. The alienation Kafka instigates is propagated towards the main character Gregor Samsa, who inevitably transforms into a giant cockroach. The alienation by family relations affects him to the extent that he prioritizes his extensive need to be the family’s provider before his own well-being. This overwhelming need to provide inevitably diminishes Gregor’s ability to be human-like. Kafka also enforces the idea of the ability to resurrect one’s self-identity following psychologically demanding events. In this essay, I utilize Gregor Samsa’s metamorphosis to address that alienation, in its various forms, is instrumental in the dehumanization process and can also oppositely induce a restoration of self-identity. The metamorphosis acts as a metaphor to express the inhumane change of state that occurs to a victim of alienation; it also formulates Gregor’s epiphany. He suffers through three forms of alienation: exploitation, violence, and neglect. The joint presence of these three external forces deprives him of a human distinctiveness, but in turn, influences a final realization that enforces the restoration of his self-identity, and therefore human identity.
His family used to care about him but after the transformation, they were no longer concerned for him. Every time the family talks about money, Gregor feels guilty and embarrassed because he can no longer provide for them. When he was able to work before, he had brought money home and “They had simply got used to it, both the family and Gregor; the money was gratefully accepted and gladly given, but there was no special uprush of warm feeling” (Kafka Ch 2 pg 6). Now that he can no longer provide, the family had to come up with ways to keep up with finances. Gregor is dehumanized each time his sister Grete walks into the room to look after him because she cannot bear the sight of him so he hides each time. Each day following Gregor’s transformation, the family’s behavior towards him became more cynical and resentful towards him. They do not allow him to leave his room and worry about how they can go on living with him. They think of him as being a creature, losing their view of him as a human being and no longer important. When Grete decided to take his furniture out of his room, Gregor feels he is dehumanized because they are taking away the link to his humanity. When it came to Gregor’s father, Gregor would “run before his father, stopping when he stopped and scuttling forward again when his father made any kind of move.” His father then threw at apple at him which ‘landed right on his back and sank in; Gregor wanted to drag himself forward, as if this startling, incredible pain could be left behind him” (Kafka Ch 2 pg
...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.
This emphasizes why Gregor’s family attempts to hide him away and why they begin to disregard him as human. They are hoping that society will not see that they are harboring Gregor and will not be judged. Their disgrace of Gregor is shown when they begin to describe him as an “‘it’” (Kafka 43). The family’s disdain is also clear when they begin locking Gregor in his room. However, this might also be because they view Gregor as dangerous, which was a common stereotype for the mentally
Family’s ignorance has also quickened the process. In exposition of The Metamorphosis, Gregor is presented as a relatively successful citizen. He and his family live in their own house, although Gregor is the only one working, they still have a maid to work for them. Nonetheless in the end, Gregor dies alienated and involuntarily. As “his head involuntarily sank down altogether” (Kafka 49), his destruction as a human is determined. Kafka reveals to readers the process of Gregor’s self-destruction throughout the story. Some would argue that the story begins with a climax, which is most biggest sacrifice Gregor made: He is transformed into “an enormous bug” (Kafka 11). As he did not make sacrifices to the family, he is still considered as an individual with all the human attributes as the rising action develops. He is able to think logically; there is a detachment between his bug body and human mind, as “each time he rock[s] back into the supine position” (Kafka 11) when he wants to move. He is also able to see. However as the rising action develops, the family begins to ignore him as Gregor but see him as a monster, he is forced to make sacrifices and compromises to wards the family. His human qualities begin to destruct. He has more connection with the body, and starts to enjoy “hanging up on the ceiling” (Kafka 32) like a bug. He also “no longer derive[s] the slightest pleasure from eating” (Kafka 32) when Grete starts to neglect him. When the story getting closer to the climax, Gregor loses more humanity when he sacrifices his room into a cave where a bug lives. His last confrontation with the family is when he comes out to save his sister from the lodgers. He has almost no humanity at the time; to others Gregor is only a giant bug. Grete eventually declares that “[they] have to get rid of it” (Kafka 47). The declaration can be
From the beginning of The Metamorphosis Kafka offers a comical depiction of Gregor’s “squirming legs” (Kafka 13) and a body in which “he could not control” (7). Gregor’s initial reaction to this situation was the fact he was late to his dissatisfying job as a salesman, but Gregor knows that he has to continue his job in order to keep the expectation his family holds upon him to pay of the family’s everlasting debt. When Gregor’s family eventually realizes that Gregor is still lying in his bed, they are confused because they have expectations on Gregor that he will hold the family together by working. They know if Gregor was to quit his job there would be a great catastrophe since he is the glue to keeping their family out of debt. The communication between his family is quickly identified as meager and by talking to each other from the adjacent walls shows their disconnection with each other. Kafka introduces the family as lacking social skills in order to offer the reader to criticize and sympathize for Gregor’s family dynamics. Gregor’s manager makes an appearance quickly after experiencing the dysfunction within the fami...
Despite his situation Gregor still feels that he can go to work. However he proves unable to do this when he encounters so much trouble when trying get out of bed and open the door. Gregors manager comes to his home, wondering why he didn’t show up for work. The manager gets irritable and tells Gregor in the presence of his family that he wanted a real explanation as to why he would not come out of his room. Gregor finally has enough strength to open the door with his mouth but by that time his manager had already left. He is now saddened and in fear that he lost his job, because he knows that he is the financial “backbone” of the family. When his family finally sees that he is an insect they are immediately disgusted. His mother faints, and his father forbids his mother and daughter to see him. Grete, Gregors ...
In The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, Gregor’s evolution to an insect symbolizes the loss of thorough communication, representing the disconnection of the individual from his family and his surroundings. Through this metamorphosis, the once loving family begins to remove itself from any past interactions with Gregor. In addition, the setting and surroundings of Gregor completely overcome him and persuade him to lose hope. The family and surroundings, not the change to an insect, lead Gregor towards death. Not only do the uncontrollable surroundings change Gregor, but so does the family.