The Metamorrphosis Critical Analysis

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This essay will look at Franz Kafka’s 1915 The Metamorphosis from a Marxist perspective. Although on the surface The Metamorphosis is a science-fiction like story of low-income, travelling salesman Gregor Samsa (the protagonist who lives with his parents and sister) being transformed into a giant insect, this close reading of the novel will argue that Gregor Samsa and his transformation are symbolic of the proletariat/working classes under a Western capitalist society. Similarly his boss (who is left unnamed during the whole story) represents the bourgeoisie. Their abusive relationship, as well as Gregor’s passive acceptance of his conditions (before and after the transformation), are indicative of how Kafka perceived the behavior of the working
An obvious explanation for this reaction is that the boss got scared of his monstrous form and left, but adding to all the previous points made in regards to the Marxist allegory of The Metamorphosis, we can safely assume that one of the reasons the boss never came back was because Gregor was now unable to work for him ever again, meaning he had completely lost his value as a human being. This can also be directly related to Karl Marx’s idea that the classes with power only use the working classes as a way to secure the means of production by forcing the proletariat to dedicate their lives to labour. The degradation of Gregor’s professional life extends to his personal life as well, seen as how his family (even his sister who was the closest family member he had) also gradually abandons him. According to Marx and Engels: “The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation into a mere money relation” (222). Once Gregor is unable to provide for his family, he becomes useless to them and all the “sentimental vein”, as put by Marx and Engels, is lost in favour of the more affordable option, which is simply to get rid of him and his expenses and move to a smaller house where Gregor won’t be ‘taking up

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