How Does Kafka Show Loyalty

Kafka’s Cautionary Balance Between Loyalty and Total Devotion

Typically, loyalty is seen as a worthy quality to have; everyone wants to have

loyal spouses and friends, and betrayal is usually not an ideal situation. However, total

devotion is much more extreme than this, and is detrimental to oneself. Kafka reveals

that while loyalty is not necessarily a negative thing, total devotion is what ultimately

causes the sacrifice of one’s own purpose.

Loyalty to one’s family is perhaps one of the first types of connections made in

life, and Gregor Samsa’s surpasses the normal levels and delves deep into the realm of

total devotion. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor constantly puts himself second to his

family’s needs, even when the consequences
His sister and parents have come to expect

Gregor to do everything for them, and when he is unable to, due to his metamorphosis,

they find him useless. When Gregor’s bug transformation is still unknown to his family

and he was locked in his room, Kafka writes, “Gregor was still here and hadn’t the

slightest thought of abandoning his family” (17). Despite his horrifying and surprising

shape shift, Gregor’s first thought is of his family’s well-being, rather than his own. He

has done this his whole life, even working to pay off his parents’ debt rather than having

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a job for solely himself. Gregor’s excessive devotion also leads to his death; after

Gregor’s family speaks openly of their plans to banish him, “he recalled his family with

affection and love” (49). He promptly dies after these thoughts, which is a result of his

life’s dedication to support and please his family. One can only give so much of himself

before it taxes him to the point of no return; Gregor never lived his life for himself and

therefore never had a fulfilling
He should

have had some loyalty to his own wishes rather than being devoted to what the

administration assigned to him. Too much of his existence was acting as an average

office worker, and he lost sight of what he truly wanted; he did what became expected of

him and realized too late that it wasn’t what he actually enjoyed doing.

No one wants to be considered selfish, but many tend to forget that being too

selfless also has its faults. One of the many themes in the required Kafka stories is the

aspect of giving too much of oneself and its negative impact. All of the main characters

in these works were challenged in exceeding their loyalty limits, and all four failed,

resorting to total devotion in order to please someone other than themselves. Family,

faithful beliefs, leaders, and one’s job are all valid sources to give one’s loyalty (in

moderation) to, but one should exercise caution as not to become totally devoted to these

causes. At times, some selfishness is necessary so that you can, at the end of your life,

feel like you accomplished something for yourself, not for everyone else but