The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

Throughout life, events occur and mold us. Events that hold many achievements and hardships. Events that causes us to adapt hopefully for the better. Events that becomes experiences, which we learn from and evolve into a wiser self. However, these inspiring words and pithy phrases are more suited for the messages of a fortune cookie. While we have these moments of triumph and success, we also have terrors that reside in the opposite side of the spectrum. Moments of lasting pain and trivial endeavors that leave an imprint on us unlike the moments of joy. It is through man’s isolation and pain that tell us not to talk to strangers or play with fire. Franz Kafka explores these ideas. He journeys into the complicated genre of alienations and psychological
tribulations of mankind in his stories, The Metamorphosis, A Hunger Artist, and The Trial. On July 3, 1883, Franz Kafka was born to a mother who was oblivious to his ambitions and to a father who held the family with vises. In the city of Prague, where he was born, he saw the true face of his father within his household. A man who controlled everything and trivialized the aspect of creativity and imagination. During school and work, he always aspired to become a writer. However, he needed to have a stable job to continue his hobby of writing. Through his father’s personality, Kafka derived his stories and his protagonist to have an unsightly ending and to be an underdog with little self-worth, respectively. Kafka lived through isolation and knew the full extent of it. A single man in a house of strangers. One who could not comprehend and one who could not care. In his most popular story, The Metamorphosis, Gregor awakes to realize that he has become an insect.
Following the realization of his transformations, Gregor is greeted by his family members and his boss with grimace. Eventually, it appears to him that not only did his physical appearance change, but also his mental processing. He found milk, which was once his favorite dairy product, to be tasteless and instead chose rotten food as a suitable form of nourishment. In time, Gregor realizes that he has become a burden to the family. Gregor notices the pain he is inflicting on family. The financial and psychological problems he causes. Gregor realizes that the only way to save both himself and his family is to take his last breath. Kafka explains the thought process behind Gregor, writing, “He thought back on his family with deep emotion and love. His conviction that he would have to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister's. He remained in this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three in the morning.”(89) Kafka represents Gregor in the form of an insect to symbolize isolation. Stanley Corngold realizes “But if Kafka wished to suggest the solitude resulting from the absolute loss of all significance, he would have to present this condition as a consequence of the loss of the human form.” (243) The isolation that afflicts Gregor stems from three key elements: language barrier, difference in physical form, and
aesthetics. In his short story, A Hunger Artist, Kafka displays isolation on a massive scale. The artist is not alone from his family like Gregor, instead he is alone from the world. The hunger artist lived in his own world. Perfectly content with his profession, he would stay fasting for 40 days and attract crowds. However, his only regret was that he could only fast for 40 days. He fasted with joy but ate with melancholy. Through the cage, the audience saw a man who starved and wanted to eat. He was misunderstood and soon the art died out. Catherine Cox analyzes the story to reach the conclusion that “Photographs are then shown of the artist, who on the fortieth day appears almost dead from malnutrition. The hunger artist watches the audience accept the lie that his depression is caused by fasting.” (Cox, par. 3) When the setting changes to a different time period, it is revealed that the hunger artist reunited with his impresario, the person who showcased the hunger artist. He told him that he could have kept fasting, and he never wanted to stop. Confused, the impresario asked for his reasoning. His reason was simple, he loved to fast “because [he] couldn’t find a food which [he] enjoyed.” In The Trial, Kafka uses K.
as the protagonist who takes a mental journey for a year. He shows of a man who, on his birthday, is charged for no apparent reason. Much of the story revolves around a case filled with enigmas. K. treats the case indifferently, confused with all of the event that unfold. The world seemed to be against K., but K. was the one who could not make the right decisions. Intercourse with Leni, indifference to a court case, dismissing a competent defense lawyer, all mistakes K. has made through apathy and daydreaming. When he justifies he was only told that “You should keep talk at a minimum. What you say can easily by assumed by how you act. The case is the same even if you were to say a few words.” Much of this adventure tampers with the psychological process. K.’s being charged for an unspecified crime has an endless about of implications. One year later, on his birthday, K. goes out and is taken away. Held by the neck and stabbed in the heart, he
dies. Kafka’s writings exhibit a very brutal ending and saddening progression. He punctuates the prevalence of isolation and he does so with many trials set on the protagonist. His writing also give insight to the type of childhood he grew up on. A father who relentlessly fired pessimism at his son. The hardships mankind suffers through maybe temporary. However, in times of trials and tribulations it is important to hold your ground. Gregor and K. both suffered through traumatizing events leading to their unfortunate demise. The hunger artist was left in a circus to live out his days as a malnourished entity. Kafka shows how alienation and mental warfare can do to an individual. A sad ending for a great story.