FREE ESSAY ON METAMORPHOSIS BY FRANZ KAFKA

METAMORPHOSIS BY FRANZ KAFKA

her own reality or truth of their existence. For some it may be nothing 
they expected while others can just be successful in anything. The true 
reality is that regardless of what direction is taken in life a person 
brings the same inner self, motivational levels and attitudes. As 
followers of literature we often escape our own reality and experience 
life through the imagination of the author's we read. By doing so, many 
people find themselves gaining information about themselves. In Franz 
Kafka's Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa's reality changes indifferently in 
spite of his drastic physical changes. Before the Metamorphosis, Gregors 
life consisted of working and caring for his family. He led a life of a 
traveling salesman, working long hours, which didn't permit to him living 
his own life. He reflects his own life as the plague of traveling: the 
anxieties of changing trains, the irregular, inferior meals, the ever 
changing faces, never to be seen again, people with whom one has no chance 
to be friendly (Kafka 13). Working to pay off his family's debt, Gregor 
never left anytime for himself. Kafka himself counterparts this sentiment 
in a quote taken from his diaries; no matter how hard you work that work 
still doesn't entitle you to loving concern for people. Instead you're 
alone, a total stranger, a mere object of curiosity (Pawel 167). So 
in-depth with his work, Gregor becomes unknown to himself and to life. In 
Gregor's life he had no room for anyone other than his family which in the 
end left him without love or caring or any other kind of companionship. He 
worked so industriously for his family that this became his only goal in 
life. They became so dependent on Gregor to support them but did nothing 
for him in return. Up until now Gregor was living a life of obligations, 
he came home every night to an empty hotel room to ensure his family was 
taken care of. His parents and their dominance thus extends to the system 
which deprives him of creative life and married love (Eggenschwiler 54). 
Apparent to everyone, Gregor was no longer thought of a member of the 
family but nothing more than a support system. The fact of the matter 
become, everyone had grown accustomed to it, his family as much as 
himself; they took the money gratefully, he gave it willingly but the act 
was accompanied by no remarkable effusiveness (Kafka 48). Gregor still 
believed he had to provide his family with a pleasant, contented, secure 
life(Emrich 149). Before the metamorphosis, Gregor's existence was much 
like it was after it. After being transformed into a cockroach Gregor 
lived in isolation with his family. In a dark bedroom, in the jumble of 
discarded furniture and filth, monstrous vermin, a grotesque, hidden part 
of the family(Eggenschwiler 211). Gregor's sister was the only one who 
helped poor Gregor, in his time of transformation. She was frightened but 
managed to put her fears aside, she even got angry with others for trying 
to help. Upon his sister taking care of him, the rest of Gregor's family 
would not associate with him. No one attempted to understand him, no one, 
not even his sister, imagined that she could understand him(Kafka 45). 
Before long, Gregor noticed that through his metamorphosis he had not lost 
nor gained anything. The actual metamorphosis symbolizes a rebellion 
assertion of unconscious desires and energies (Eggenschwiler 203). After 
the metamorphosis, Gregor's family undergoes some pretty harsh changes. 
For after the change, Gregor would not be able to support his family's 
lazy asses. He went to his boss and begged him to please sir, spare my 
parent (Kafka 24). Strangely, after what his family put him through he 
still looked vigorously for a way to help his parents, his duty was to 
remain docile and to try to make things bearable for his family(Kafka 
42). As time passes, Gregor realizes that his family doesn't need his help 
and support and that he is nothing more than a burden to them. The family 
never realized the strain that the transformation had put Gregor through, 
and now they have cut off relations instead of supporting Gregor they 
desert him. Even his sister had gotten to the point of no longer feeding 
or cleaning Gregor's room, she might stop in and give him a piece of bread 
but not stay and talk to him. The thing that really got to Gregor is the 
memories of all the things he had done for his family and now here he is 
being shoved into some room and given nothing in return. Thinking of his 
family Gregor decides he must go. Gregor died that night and when his 
family found out they mourned for only a minute and went about their sick 
ways. Did responsibility prove to be too much for the family Gregor had 
taken care of for so many years? The true reality of Gregor and his family 
can be seen through the resulting condition of the family itself. For five 
years Gregor had remained a slave to his own family not finding out they 
could have taken care of themselves until it was too late. Now Gregor 
realized he was forced to live a life of not loving anyone and basically 
just a life of loneliness. Upon hearing that his family could have taken 
care of themselves, Gregor was not angry but glad that his father had made 
his understand what life was about. After observing a family who lived on 
in the comfort of someone else, we are shown a family exhausted and 
depressed form laboring at menial jobs-messengers, seamstress, and 
salesgirl. In this story the Metamorphosis, we tend to believe that 
Grego's change into a cockroach is the main purpose of the story but after 
close consideration I believe it was a story of the transformation of the 
family. Franz Kafka asks us to fathom if only for a moment the thought of 
our lives changing due to some radical change. Do we feel like Gregor? 
Would we be better off as a cockroach? I believe the answer is no. 
Through the Metamorphosis we observe as one man's life is proven to be 
in vain and no better as a cockroach than a human. Can anyone be sure that 
their lives are good and perfect and that their family's would understand 
and accept any change that could arise? However selfish this may seem, the 
fact is that above and beyond all things a person must consider his/her 
self first. Sense of self will keep you through all the adverse times in 
life and be a companion to rely on when no one else cares.