Examples Of Alienation In The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

Throughout the novel The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka continuously portrays his own struggles with alienation through his main character, Gregor Samsa. Both men become increasingly alienated due to the effects of poor health, strained family relationships, and even low self-esteem. During Kafka’s life, he became increasingly sickly, and is forced to hide himself away from society in sanatoriums. Similarly, Gregor realizes his new appearance as a bug is grotesque to the people around him, so he becomes forced to hide himself away in his room. Both Kafka and Gregor struggle with negative relationships regarding their families. They strive to make their families proud, but always seem to fail. This failure to make their families proud makes both Gregor and Kafka degrade themselves even more. They sink into sadness, and cannot seem to resurface, which creates unstable mental health. Overall, Kafka uses Gregor to express how his own life was filled with alienation.
Both men are greatly affected by poor health which as a result causes a lack of human connection. Although the effects are similar, the specifics of their individual health are
different.When Gregor wakes up one day as a beetle, his first thoughts barely relate to his condition, but rather to the fact that he is going to be late for work. His condition is not gradual, but suddenly happens over night. As a result, Gregor becomes nervous to show his true appearance to his family and work manager, and fears they will be afraid and grossed out by him. Gregor proves to be correct since they are all shocked and disgusted, and this makes him increasingly scared to show anyone his new appearance. He is forced to isolate himself from his family in order to protect them from his grotesque looks. This causes Gregor to become trapped in his own room which he never gets to leave, and is only ever visited by his sister who merely cleans his room. Gregor describes the situation of his room by saying, “No one came in, and now the key was even inserted in the outside” (Kafka 21). The key being inserted in the outside shows that the family is afraid of Gregor, so they revoke any control Gregor has to leave his room, which he has before. On the other hand, Kafka’s health was not overnight, but rather increased in intensity as time went on. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which caused great agony and pain. Kafka needed to travel to many sanatoriums in order to get better, and there he was isolated from any human contact. The impact of his health was described by saying that his “health had declined seriously and his personal life had once again degenerated into despair” (Major 20th- Century Writers 1529). By saying that his social life had degenerated, it shows that Kafka had a lack of control about keeping a positive social reputation due to the need of getting better. Even though both men had different health issues, they were both forced to seek isolation which caused alienation.
Kafka and Gregor shared a similar strained relationship with their families. They felt as if they did not belong due to differences in views and appearance, which causes a feeling of alienation in their own homes. Kafka had a very challenging relationship with both of his parents, and often felt like a disappointment. His father “had a forceful personality that often overwhelmed the Kafka home” (Biography.com). With an overwhelming personality, Kafka’s father created a negative environment in his household, which lead to Kafka feeling like his father controlled his whole life. He forced Kafka to forget his dream of becoming a writer because he did not grasp the understanding of his son’s talent. Kafka’s mother lacked the scholarly depth to protest against her husband, so she was forced to side with him regarding her son’s affairs. She even whimpered to her son saying, “After all take a look at the factory now and again just to keep father’s mind easy” (Kafka to Max Brod 103). By telling her son to check on the family factory rather than pursuing his own dreams, it shows she truly only has her husband's feelings of interest. Kafka kept putting all his dreams aside for his father, but it still was never enough to please him. As a result, Kafka began to feel like an outcast in his own family. Similarly, Gregor’s family begins to reject him after he transitions into a beetle. His father, especially, believes that once Kafka transitions into a bug he is no longer himself, but rather a disgusting bug. This leads to Kafka’s father rejecting him, and even physically abusing him. Gregor’s father shows this abuse when he begins “pitching one apple after another” (Kafka 37). The apple represents the father’s knowledge of the old Gregor, and him throwing it shows his want to forget about him. His father no longer wants to recognize the bug as possibly being his son, and now wants to try and get rid of the creature inside his house. The rest of Gregor’s family opposes to their father at first, but once they see what a burden the bug is they believe that it should leave too. Both men suffer from alienation in their homes because their families reject them due to differing characteristics
The effects of alienation were caused by not only the people around them, but also Kafka and Gregor’s low self-esteem. Throughout Kafka’s life he suffered from depression and anxiety due to his toxic family relationships. He had little time to write, which is what he truly enjoyed. This depression lead to “his inhibitions and insecurities [which] plagued his relationships” (Biography.com). The insecurities he suffered from were that he always felt like he was never enough, so he avoided commitment in relationships fearing he would not be enough for his partner. Kafka also believed that his writings were never good enough, and even wrote in his diary saying, “I am now reading Metamorphosis at home and find it bad” (Entries in Kafka’s Diary 109). When he wrote that he finds the story bad, he means that the book will never be to his expectations which he had set so high due to lack of self-esteem. His self-doubt soon lead into suicidal thoughts and self-harm which caused him to be even more isolated from society. During Kafka’s life he is described by saying, “He was quite close to committing suicide” (Sokel’s Comment 106). The phrase “quite close” is used because Kafka had always expressed suicidal thought, but never actually made the dreadful decision. This shows that Kafka always portrayed a inability to follow through, which was why he was unable to fully commit suicide. Just like Kafka, Gregor begins to become suicidal after he realizes his family no longer loves him. His father abusing him is a realization for him that his family honestly believes that the bug is not him. This makes Gregor so depressed that he begins to starve himself hoping he will die, and stop being such a burden to his family. Unlike Kafka, Gregor does pursue in killing himself, and his family realizes how he dies by saying, “Of course he didn't eat anything for such a long time” (Kafka 52). When they say that he did not eat for such a long period of time it shows that the family notices that he was unhealthy, but do not care to save him. Both men were influenced negatively by themselves, which resulted in them thinking they were just not enough.
In the novel, The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka creates Gregor to mirror his own struggles with alienation.
Both Kafka and Gregor suffer from poor health, which forces them to seek isolation in order to get the help that they need. Throughout Kafka’s life, he is influenced away from his own desires due to the negative opinions of his family, which made Kafka feel that he did not belong in his own family. Similarly, Gregor is rejected by his family due to his grotesque appearance which differs from the rest the people who surround him. Both men suffer from strained relationships with their family, which leads them into feeling alienated in their own homes. Due to the constant feeling like they were never good enough, Kafka and Gregor develop low self-esteem, which takes over their lives to the point where they become
suicidal.