The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka Essays Examples

Introduction

The one of the best Franz Kafka’s works is the story "The Metamorphosis". The protagonist of the novel is Gregor Samsa. He is a breadwinner of his family, consisting of father (completely bankrupted Prague layman), asthmatic mother and sister named Greta. In order to save the family from begging, Gregor works for one of the creditors of his father on the position of the traveling salesman, a cloth merchant. He is in constant traveling, but then one day in between of those trips, he stayed at home. In the morning when Gregor woke up, an incident beyond human comprehension has happened. Gregor has turned into a beetle.
In his short story "The Metamorphosis" Franz Kafka raised the problem of dedication, workaholism, family relations. He showed that because of the financial difficulties people can lose their humanity.

Thesis statement: In "The Metamorphosis" Franz Kafka described the powerlessness of man in face of the absurdity of reality.

Body
The story makes a striking impression from the very first sentence (“The Metamorphosis”, by Franz Kafka): "One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin". The very fact that of the transformation of man into an insect, in narrative classical manner reported in the beginning of the story causes a feeling of aesthetic shock. This shock is caused not so much because the situation seems too far-fetched but because the idea of ​​human-sized insect unwittingly causes a feeling of physical revulsion. Kafka tells us about how Gregor faces the inconveniences of everyday life with so concise and dry language and over time it is possible to involuntarily forget about the amazing facts that formed the basis of history.
The transformation of Gregor has completely changed the habitual way of life of the family. That’s why Gregor is just an annoying and disgusting in the perception of his family. All have turned away from Gregor, everyone neglects him. Even sister Greta, who for some time treated to his brother with sympathy (fed him, cleaned his room), a month later becomes a cruel and arrogant, like the rest.
Gregor is locked in his little room and feel an unbearable suffering (Kafka describes in detail its internal state and experience) because, becoming an insect, he retained the human emotions and human mind. Understanding that nobody cares about what he is feeling, he is still thinking about them with tenderness and love. Incredibly, but everyone perceived his death with relief. No one regrets that Gregor is no longer near them; no one wonders why this misfortune has happened to him.

Conclusion

The story "The Metamorphosis" is the most vivid expression of the tragic vision and understanding of the world of Franz Kafka. The "transformation" in this story, as in his other works, allows different interpretations. At the same time, the most banal reading is on the very surface. This is an estrangement in the family and society, the loneliness of a sensitive man, capable of compassion and sacrifice, the absolute loneliness due to the same awareness of his difference from others. Kafka sharpens the hopelessness of the hero by a terrible metonymy: full spiritual isolation of the hero he passes through an incredible metamorphosis of his appearance.
French literary critic Claude David believes that the hero of the story - it's Kafka himself, turned by his reclusive character, by his penchant for solitude, by his obsessive thoughts about writing in some kind of monster. He has consistently cut off from his work, family, meetings with other people. He is locked in the room, where no one dares to enter and which is gradually released from furniture He is as incomprehensible, despised, disgusting object in the eyes of everyone.
Supporting his hero and sincerely sympathize to him, Kafka talks about how helpless is a man in front of the merciless reality. He is just "a dust of the earth", "a lump of clay", powerless, helpless, suffering painful and permanent destruction, doomed to alienation even surrounded by the closest people to the dreary solitude, and finally - to destruction. In his time, Franz Kafka was a real innovator in the field of fiction, coined multi-valued symbolic and allegorical images, emphasizing the tragedy of human destiny, endless alienation of the individual, his loneliness and helplessness in face of the absurdity of reality. His works are invariably causing the reader's interest, forcing to think about "eternal questions" that puts life. In his works Kafka destroyed the traditional beliefs and practices. But apparently he did not look as a destroyer. On the contrary, he has always been shy, timid, indecisive, a notorious man. And today, when the problem of alienation of the individual has become one of the main problems of human society, Kafka’s words are particularly relevant. This story helped me to think not only about the tragedy of Gregor Samsa, but to look at my relationship with others in a different way, to rethink many of my actions.