Bystander Apathy In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

The world can seem cruel in too many ways, all the violence, pain, and monstrous acts committed, and many are not willing to help. People pass by others in need of help, and often do not give those a second thought. In The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, the main character, Gregor, becomes a gigantic beetle-like insect, and his family abandons him in his one time of need. His family does not aid him, or even bother with him, until he has died. In a cruel world, no one cares about one another, no one bothers to help each other, a society so focused on one’s self, not another citizen in need of help. People do and do not help, because of a cynical society, selfishness, and a psychological effect called bystander apathy, but this is no excuse to
Bystander apathy, is the psychological effect of not helping someone, due to other people also witnessing the crime. To victims, this is the worse possibility to happen. People assume that, because that their is other people around, that they will help, other than just helping themselves, for example Kitty Genovese, she was brutally murdered and attacked, crying for help, but no one was willing to help, because they believed others would help. Thirty-Seven people saw the murder, and not a single person called the police. Heidi Scrimgeour described an incident, in which she could have helped but did not, because “...her friend - adamant that it was too dangerous to get involved - pulled her way…,”(Dwyer) leaving the victim at the hands of a cruel monster, then later, in the hands of fate, stuck in intensive care. It is not only bystanders that are affected by this, the victims are the ones suffering from this invisible threat. Mark Reid was a sufferer to this to this psychological phenomenon, he described the event, “...there were lots of people around - over fifty - ...but no one came to help…, ”(Dwyer) although he was understanding, it does not change the circumstances he had to live through. A professor, Helen Cowie describes this effect as “... when people are alone , they are more likely to take action but when the group remains inactive the percentage of people who will take action plummets”(Dwyer). In The Metamorphosis, it is shown bystander apathy, because the time when the family is home, the sister does not try to help Gregor, but if they are asleep or gone, she gave him food, and later she slowly stop giving him food (Kafka). Bystander apathy, is a real psychological phenomenon that affect real people, it stops us from doing what is right, and later pains our