The phrase "home sweet home- refers to the sweetness and comfort of a family that creates a home wherever it may be. In many cases, it is not true. Most families are not functional families. The phrase "home sweet home- has been in retirement ever since it was created because there exists no example of a perfect family for the perfect home filled with sweetness and comfort all together. There contains many problems in a home, which may result in total chaos such as divorce of the parents, violence of any kind, or just the running away of the children. Franz Kafka, the eldest of six children in a Jewish middle class family, illustrates symbols of alienation, domestic violence, and guilt in the short story "The Metamorphosis."".
Alienation shows up as one of the themes symbolized in the short story. Gregor is the main character in the short story and is a symbol for alienation. When he woke up one day and "it was absolutely impossible, for he was used to sleeping on the right side and in his present plight he could not get into that position- (405), shows that he has been alienated from his body because he could not control his body anymore. He became alienated from his body before the transformation into a bug and after the transformation into a bug that he "did not give up [trying to turn over to his back] until he felt in his side a slight but deep pain, never before experienced- (405). This shows that Gregor has not yet notice his transformation because he does not realize that he has been alienated from his original body, therefore he tries to move like a human. "To get his body out of bed, he first tried moving the hind part. But unfortunately this hind part, which he had not yet seen, and of which he could form no very precise idea, when so slowly it proved to be very difficult to move- (408). He still has no idea of this transformation because he did not look at himself from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet to see that he is not a human.
