Modern Literature Term Paper

The Fatality of Detachment from Society The unconscious mind is a force that can affect our lives greatly without us even realizing it. This is a concept that is explored as a common theme in modern literature. When reading modern literature, one often comes into contact with characters who are exploring the inner workings of their minds. However, it is also very common to come into contact with characters who are completely unaware of the way that their minds work. Gregor Samsa from The Metamorphosis and Meursault from The Stranger are perfect examples of these kinds of characters. Both Gregor and Meursault are disconnected from their inner feelings, thoughts, and emotions, which poses many problems for them throughout their lives. From these characters, we can see that when a person is disconnected from themselves, they become disconnected with society as a whole, which can ultimately be fatal. Gregor Samsa is so disconnected from himself that he finds “himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin” (Kafka, 4). Gregor is introduced in the beginning of the novella as a travelling salesman who works in order to support not only himself, but also his entire family. His life revolves around his work and he does not maintain any social relationships outside of the relationships that he has with his family, and although he does maintain relationships with his parents and sister, they are not very strong connections. He does not see his family very often because of the nature of his work, and it seems as though his parents use him solely as a source of income and do not show him much affection. His relationship with his sister is a little more solid. However, throughout the novella, even this relationship diminishes, as Gregor is unable to relate to her in any way because of his transformation.
One could argue that Gregor’s transformation took place because he was so alienated from his feelings. To him, his conversion from human to bug was not such a big

References: Camus, Albert. (1942). The Stranger. France: Librairie Gallimard. Kafka, Franz. (1915). The Metamorphosis. Saxony, Germany: Leipzig.