Franz Kafka once stated that a book should be used as "an axe to break up the frozen sea within us," and his short story, "The Metamorphosis" does not stray from doing so. In "The Metamorphosis" Kafka tells the tragic and absurd tale of a working-class man who is transformed into a bug and the overall isolation and rejection he receives from his family and the rest of humanity. .
Kafka uses the symbolism of the man's metamorphosis to perpetuate the theme of isolation among people and their unending enslavement to the work world by forces of materialism. His criticism of the modern capitalist society and the human preoccupation with financial security is quite apparent and "The Metamorphosis" acts as an "axe" to get the reader to see his view. Using his tragic protagonist he creates a certain effect in which the reader has a clearer view of society's sad plight and the isolation that results. This isolation faced by the protagonist serves as the main conflict of the story. .
The story is set in the early 1900's, in a small working-class neighborhood. Almost the entire narrative takes place in the Samsa home. This is a key element to the story's theme. This apartment, mainly the room in which the bug-man is kept, is used to ostracize him from the outside world. The room is a tool to further Kafka's theme of isolation.
Kafka instantly sets a fantastically absurd and bizarre mood within the first few lines of the story: "When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin (Kafka 433)." This leaves the reader instantly disturbed. Futhermore, neither the narrator, nor Gregor, seems too concerned with the man-to-bug transformation. The narrator sticks to just telling the facts. This in turn causes even more anxiety within the reader. It is here the reader is introduced to the protagonist and former human, Gregor Samsa.
This in context of the entire book is the actual opening line of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. ... Franz Kafka's theme of isolation is very thick in this novel. ... There are additionally some themes of materialism in Metamorphosis. ... Kafka's tone in this novel is decidedly calm. ... Metamorphosis contains quite a few interesting literary devices. ...
And one of his best-known books was The Metamorphosis. The Metamorphosis is a short story that was first published in 1915. ... In the story The Metamorphosis, Kafka describes the dull, gloomy and humid environment that foreshadows the decay and deterioration of Gregory's life. ... In The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka reflects upon many negative aspects. ... When you compare Kafka's life to The Metamorphosis is it very clear that in many ways he was writing about his distressed life. ...
Kafka's classic, The Metamorphosis, offers insight into the lives of assimilated Jews living in Prague during the late 19th and early 20th Century. ... The Metamorphosis reflects the apprehension that pervaded the mind of assimilated Jews in Prague. ... In Metamorphosis, parallels between Gregor and the Jewish people in Prague at this time can be drawn. ... "Dirt streaks stretched all along the walls; here and there lay balls of dust and flith" (Kafka, 54). ... Throughout Metamorphosis, Gregor's family is portrayed as the Germans and Czechs during Kafka's time period. ...
In my opinion, "The Metamorphosis" is autobiographical of Franz Kafka's life. ... Throughout many of his stories, especially "The Metamorphosis," we see how Franz Kafka portrays his own father into the personality of his characters. Franz Kafka's shows in "The Metamorphosis," through the character of Gregor Samsa, how his very own father extremely wounded him. "The Metamorphosis" is mainly about a man's feeling of inferiority and loneliness. ... It seems as though the father in "The Metamorphosis" is Franz Kafka's very own father. ...
(Kafka 87) In his letter to his father, Franz dealt with many issues referred to indirectly in The Metamorphosis. ... Many believe that these life story facts inspired Kafka to write The Metamorphosis. ... Kafka shows not only a metamorphosis in Gregor, but also in his mother, father, and sister as well. ... In The Metamorphosis, Kafka's character comments on how his family should have encouraged him as he tried to open the door to his room, a difficult task for a beetle. ... Kafka referred to the picture twice in The Metamorphosis, showing this first clue to its significance. ...
The author, Franz Kafka's purpose of "The Metamorphosis" is to make people understand more about human condition. ... The Metamorphosis World Literature, Revised Edition 1998. ... "The Metamorphosis." ... Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. 21 Feb 1998. 22 February 2002...
The short story, "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway, and the novella, "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka, both contain covert alternate meanings that emanate from the authors' literary style preferences. ... Additionally, Kafka's writing in "The Metamorphosis" was translated from German into English and many have speculated, including the translator, in the 2014 edition, Susan Bernofsky, that the translation impacts the story because of a lack of English terminology to directly covey Kafka's ideas (Kafka 122). ... The notion of leavi...
Fantasy in Kafka Kafka's "Metamorphosis" is a story of despair and futility in the life of Gregor Samsa. ... Having never lived for himself and always for others suggests that Kafka rejects the Christian tradition and ideal that insists upon being dead to self and having contempt for worldly things. Kafka's disassociated tone in this story (as well as his others) increases the horror and the isolated feeling. Perhaps it is this tone that places Kafka's works among the fantastic, along with the reversal of motivation and resolution so prevalent in his tales. Kafk...
Though it is difficult to see a meaning that does not revolve around the aspects of old age, "Transforming Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis" by Nina Pelikan Straus, shows the reader that there might be another meaning besides John B. Shea's "Kafka Saw The Future," talking about a specific topic relating to old age. ... It seems as though the mutual characteristic and theme of both subjects, and also the meaning of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, revolves around transformation and the transformation of one who is close to death, seeming as though life has no meaning a...
