Franz Kafka and Gregor Samsa’s lives are in countless ways the same especially with their fathers. Franz’s father was named Herman, who triumph in his business of clothing; slightly resembling Gregor’s father’s named Herr, who failed in developing an increasing business. Herman was actually disappointed in his son's dream of being a writer; unlike Herr that was very proud to have his son in a well situated job. Both of the fathers were impatient and both decided to beat their son. Herr did it to get Franz to take over his business; while in the book it described how Herman throwed red apples at Gregor perhaps, because he was frustrated by his appearance of a repulsive varmint. Not only are their fathers…
As with any great literary work, there must be a purpose behind the story. Kafka’s short story was written for a few main reasons. He wanted to exemplify the absurdity of life, show that there is often a disconnect between the mind and body, and that there are limits to society’s affection for its servants. I found that all points appeared to be both relevant and accurate while maintaining the fantastical appeal of the strangeness of Gregor’s sudden transformation. I believe this contributes to why “The Metamorphosis” has made a lasting impact across the globe.…
A compare and contrast Analysis of Frank Kafka’s, The Metamorphosis and The Things They Carried.…
In Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, in desperate need of appreciation, took the responsibility and obligation of maintaining his unappreciative family member’s every day life. While traumatic instances occur, the limits of the family’s loyalty and sympathy for Gregor’s needs are rejected by the ones he cherishes the most. Obviously, one can notice the unconditional love Gregor shows his family, but the profound transformation he physically endures leaves him now as his family’s burden (SparkNotes Editors). Although many instances occur throughout Gregor’s transformation that shows new profound realization of his unsympathetic family, one can analyze the many symbols shown in this tragic story.…
illustrate his view to the diseases and patients, besides to the patients’ relations with the…
In the “Kafka’s fantasy of punishment”, Author Kaiser reveals and scrutinizes more insightfully the significant meaning of the metamorphosis of Gregor Samsa. In Kaiser’s point of view, Gregor’s transformation is a “self-punishment for his earlier competitive striving aimed against his father.” His unintentional emotions toward his father are beyond hatred, which is interpreted by Kaiser as an oedipal jealousy intended for the mother. However, that is not the manifest struggle between the son and father. It is Gregor’s bold ambition costs him to suffer. Before his catastrophic metamorphosis, the son takes up the position as head of the family as a result of business failure of his father. He begins to work assiduously to sustain the whole family;…
In Franz Kafkas, “The Metamorphosis”, character, Gregor, represents, Kafka himself by symbolizing, how he was raised, his family, and his spiritual death. Just as Gregor did, Kafka had a rough relationship with his father. In 1911 Kafkas father pressured him to open asbestos factory, even through Kafka’s hated and believed he was wasting his time on this endeavor, he tried to please his father. This is represented in the book as Gregor’s attempt to provide for his family and father by taking the grueling traveling sales job he hates, in order to pay for his families previous debts he wasn’t even a part of. In the book Gregor stayed at his dreadful job, in an effort to prove his loyalty and worth to his family. Just as Gregor Kafka tried to prove himself, by educated himself more and more, by getting multiple jobs, and hiding from his true passion, writing, hoping that his worth may be measured. Another similarity shown was Kafka closeness to his sister, as was Gregor in the book. Grete was the only one of the family that would bear to see his hideous form; in order to make sure Gregor was eating. In the end Kafka died a slow death from tubercrulosis, still failing to fully please everyone. This is represented in Gregors death by, Gregor’s realization he was incapable of helping and becoming a burden on his family, he choose to die rather than live with the guilt and frustration. Kafka’s noticeable similarities give the piece a more realistic tone rather than just a made up story about a big…
<center><b>To what extent did Kafka use comedy/irony to develop his tragic, cynical view of society and family?</b></center><br><br>Gregor Samsa, a young traveling salesman who lives with and financially supports his parents and younger sister, Grete, wakes up one morning to find "himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin" or insect. At first, to my surprise, he is preoccupied with practical, everyday concerns: How to get out of bed and walk with his numerous legs? Can he still make it to the office on time? <br><br>Most persons would be devastated to find themselves in such a position as Gregor, but he did not seem to care much about himself, but only about his obligations, instead of panicking, he starts cursing his job : "If I did not hold back for my parents' sake, I would have quit long ago, I would have marched up to the boss and spoken my piece from the bottom of my heart", " Well, I have not given up hope completely; once I've gotten the money together to pay off my parents' debt to him, I'm going to make the big break. But for the time being, I better get up, since my train leaves at five." This is a sort of dry humour; a person in a tragic situation does not seem to notice the predicament he is in.<br><br>He tries to get out of bed, but his new form does not enable him to do the things he used to do so easily. The way he describes it, can already be seen as comical : "First he tried to get out of bed with the lower part of his body, but this lower part- which by the way he had not seen yet and which he could not form a clear picture of- proved too difficult to budge; it was taking so long; and when finally, almost out of his mind, he lunged forward with all his force, without caring, he had picked the wrong direction and slammed himself violently against the lower bedpost,", just imagine a giant beetle trying to climb out his bed and clumsily hurting himself in the process.<br><br>Kafka definitely seemed to love the comic sides of what might…
Tupac Shakur, was a famous American rapper and actor that once said, “Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside while still alive. Never surrender.” Holocaust survivor and the author of Night, Elie Wiesel, seems to say the same as Mr. Shakur, that life is more miserable when one feels that void while being alive rather than being dead. In his memoir, Elie reveals his story when Hitler came into power with the Nazis and put all the “undesirables” through their most horrible times ever. When Elie loses his faith in God, faith in his people, and the role of a son, it eventually leads to his metaphorical deaths.…
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is an enlightening novel on how death helps to illuminate the message of the novel. Gregor’s death helps to illuminate the fact that his family never cared about him and alienated him before and during his metamorphosis with how his family treats him before his metamorphosis, when they throw the apple at him, and how they feel after his death.…
Franz Kafka is said to have based most of his works off of his own life. Consequently, in one such work, Metamorphosis, the characters, and their struggles parallel those of people present in Kafka's life. Metamorphosis tells the story of a man, Gregor, who leads a prominent lifestyle until he wakes up one morning transformed into a bug; from the moment that he takes his first breath in his transformed state, Gregor's life goes downhill. Because Kafka's work reflects his life, his state of mind is revealed through the fact that he chooses a bug in peril to represent himself. Kafka's purpose for writing Metamorphosis was to alleviate his hardships by providing himself an escape through writing.…
Franz Kafka's beginning of his novel, "The Metamorphosis," begins with what would seem a climactic moment: "As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect." From this point on, the reader is determined to make sense of this transformation. However, the reader later comes to realize that Gregor is actually not an insect, but this metamorphosis into a vermin was purely symbolic. It symbolizes the degrading lifestyle that Gregor leads to support his family. This leads the reader to understand Gregor's absurd dilemma.…
The early twentieth century represented a time of hardship and struggles throughout Europe. In 1915, at the onset of World War I, Austria-Hungary centered at the heart of this turmoil. This societal angst eventually translated into/became the individual alienation that lies at the center of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. The protagonist Gregor Samsa’s shocking change into a bug reflects this angst felt by Kafka and his own perception of the world – and his role in it. As a bug, he cannot provide for his family any longer, and therefore becomes excluded from familial affairs. The family adjusts to his plight by taking on extra jobs and admitting boarders into the home for extra financial support; all the while, Gregor becomes victimized by the coldness of his newfound world. In a period where everyday living presented a daily fight to survive, the family could not lament Gregor’s absence for too long before worrying about personal wellbeing. This coldness of that era is incorporated through Gregor’s dire situation and in turn, the family’s cold reaction indicates the “survival of the fittest” theme evident in families during that time. Kafka employs depressing language and style, a three-part structure to the novel, and an extended metaphor to shape the belief that in a world filled with conflict, regardless of family ties, only the fittest will endure.…
In his story, Before the Law, Franz Kafka suggests that obstacles that one faces in life can either be used to mold one's success or bring about one's failure. If one can overcome the challenges that they are faced with, they grow in a unique type of way, for every individual perceives each situation in a distinct fashion. That unique type of growth is what establishes a person's character and perception of the world. However, if one cannot overcome their obstacles, then they cut off their means for growth and are left uninspired, forgetting any dreams or aspirations. It is through the man's interactions with the doorkeeper, and his inability to overcome this obstacle, that eventually leads him down the path of complacency and failure. It is the doorkeeper in this parable that keeps the man from gaining access to the law, and his inability to pass this doorkeeper that leads to his demise. It is important to realize that the man strives to reach "the law", however he winds up getting only as far as the doorkeeper. A question arises here, what would have happened if the man was able to overcome the doorkeeper and enter the gate? The doorkeeper himself somewhat provides an answer to this question when he warns the man that he is "only the least of the doorkeepers. From hall to hall there is one doorkeeper after the other, each more powerful than the last. The third doorkeeper is already so terrible that even I cannot bear to look at him." Of course these are difficulties that the man from the country has not expected, and instead of taking his chances, the doorkeeper gives him a stool and lets him sit down at one side of the gate. The man failed to realize that even if there were another doorkeeper behind the first door, he would have been able to face him with the experience and knowledge gained by overcoming the initial doorkeeper. Why was the man so foolish to just sit there and let his life pass him by? This concept of attaining knowledge applies not only to the…
The worry that pervades the Samsa apartment following Gregor’s metamorphosis reflects Kafka’s personal anxiety at the time. The Jews may have assimilated in efforts to integrate into Western society but the surge of anti-Semitism witnessed in the nineteenth century made it clear the Jews would always retain their denizen status. Kafka, like many Jews at the turn-of-the-century, realized the real loss suffered from assimilation to be that of their identity. Through assimilation Jews and non-Jews alike conditioned themselves to associate the idea of Jewish selfhood with their participation in secular society and the economy. The Jews, even within their own families, like Kafka in his bourgeois family or Samsa in his middle class family, were…