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Mahi Wazee

Professor Beadle

English 115

1 April 2019

True Thoughts of the People

Franz Kafka has never been a direct person, well at least from what it seems in his story,

The Metamorphosis. The short story that was published back in 1915 is as simple as it seems.

The Metamorphosis has more hidden meanings behind the story and especially the characters

which makes it possible to read it as an allegory. The changes in the characters showcase

different meanings and morals of the story. This reading is also significant due to the real-world

resemblances it shares with actual society. In the following paragraphs I will explain as to why

The Metamorphosis can be read as an allegory of the representation of human instincts towards

things they dislike, disgusted with, and gives them trouble. The Metamorphosis is the perfect

portrayal of society when they showcase the troubles of their characters.

The first transformation that occurs is the one with the main character, Gregor Sansa.

What had happened to Gregor is that he suddenly had woken up to his humanlike body

transformed into a human sized insect. In The Metamorphosis, this change seems as if it were for

the worse. Gregor seems to have been troubled the most if anything. And I feel like the examples

given in The Metamorphosis and the change in attitude of the characters reflects those in human

society. The first example is a natural instinct you could say, it is Gregor’s boss running away

from Gregor after seeing his new appearance without any regards as to what were Gregor’s

circumstances for not going to work. In the story it states, “But the chief clerk had turned away
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as soon as Gregor had started to speak, and, with protruding lips, only stared back at him over his

trembling shoulders as he left. He did not keep still for a moment while Gregor was speaking,

but moved steadily towards the door without taking his eyes off him… he stretched his right

hand far out towards the stairway as if out there, there were some supernatural force waiting to

save him” (Kafka 17). This is an accurate representation of society because as we all do, we

retreat in fear and disgust if witness something abnormal in front of us. Perchance you walk into

a room and you stumble upon a creature that should not be a thing in reality, and out of natural

instinct, one would want to get as far away as possible due to the fear and suspicions that may

occur. The boss did the same thing as any other person would do. Another example in the story

was when Gregor’s father was being rough with him, to the point where it seemed like abuse

when Gregor was hit by his dad with a stick. In the text it says, “Then his father gave him a hefty

shove from behind which released him from where he was held and sent him flying, and heavily

bleeding, deep into his room. The door was slammed shut with the stick, then, finally, all was

quiet” (Kafka 18). This shows that his father is no exception when it comes to people in society

mistreating things just because that thing is not the same as them. As noted earlier in the story,

the family depended on Gregor, so he was treated the same as everyone else was. But as soon as

Gregor morphed into an entirely different being, he was considered a burden and abused by his

father. It appears to disgust them, so they just perhaps torment it, like a person stepping on a

cockroach just because they do not like it. Another example where The Metamorphosis can be

read as an allegory of people is when Gregor’s family wants to kick Gregor out do to him not

being of use to them by not financially supporting them. On page 52 of The Metamorphosis, is

states, “’We have to try and get rid of it’, said Gregor’s sister, now speaking only to her father, as

her mother was too occupied with coughing to listen, ‘it’ll be the death of both of you, I can see
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it coming. We can’t all work as hard as we have to and then come home to be tortured like this,

we can’t endure it. I can’t endure it anymore.’ And she broke out so heavily in tears that they

flowed down the face of her mother, and she wiped them away with mechanical hand

movements. ‘My child’, said her father with sympathy and obvious understanding, ‘what are we

to do?’” This sequence shows the similarity of the characters and real-world people by showing

the characters trying to get rid of something that is useless to them and is causing them trouble,

much like people in actual society do. What is so significant about this example is that Gregor’s

sister and mother were fond of him. And as time went on where Gregor could not do anything to

help out the family, they had started to become resentful of Gregor, wanting him out of the house

to relieve their stress. As you can see, Gregor’s transformation was not a good one. It seems to

have made him suffer quite considerably and his family as well. Many of the things in the story

somehow relate to real-world people, which makes The Metamorphosis be read as an allegory of

people and their natural instincts to things that don’t appeal to themselves.

There are more things to say about Gregor and his transformation, because they could

still be interpreted in many more different ways. In Cristina Nicolae’s Franz Kafka’s

Metamorphotic Prison: The Door and the Window, Gregor’s scenarios are interpreted more

thoroughly. An example would be when Gregor had transformed into the creature that he now is,

he was relieved of his burdensome tasks. He did not have to work, considering how hard he

worked, he was able to laze around and have a somewhat enjoyable time. There was even a point

in the story where Gregor was having a jolly climbing the walls and such. This could be seen as

an allegory because you could say a person in reality will start enjoying his life more once the

burden in said person’s life is gone. In this case it was Gregor’s responsibilities. In Nicolae’s

piece, it says, “a need to break away from a frustrating existence as a traveling salesman who is
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‘chained’ by his parents’ debts. Gregor, who sees himself as “the boss’s minion, without

backbone or intelligence” (Bernofsky), takes pride and comfort in being the family’s provider,

but at the same time he feels suffocated and dehumanised by“a demanding job” which requires

being “day in, day out on the road”, dealing with “the worries about train connections, irregular

bad food, temporary and constantly changing human relationships which never come from the

heart”(Metamorphosis, 5), facing the possibility of becoming “a victim of gossip, coincidences,

and groundless complaints” (Metamorphosis, 21). His “half-articulated resentments concerning

his job”, states Preece, “clearly reveal the emotional and psychological damage his economic

bondage has inflected” (135).” (Nicolae) This could relate to a working person in the real world.

Someone could perhaps feel more satisfied in life if a change occurs in their life. Another thing

that is mentioned in Nicolae’s piece is the transformation of language, and how it somewhat

benefitted Gregor. As he has lost the ability to communicate in human language, which led to

less communication, so he had less to worry about. In the source it says, “The metamorphosis of

the body implies subsequent changes: behavioural alteration and loss of comprehensible, human

language. Gregor Samsa loses his ability to speak, he can no longer communicate with the others

and gradually ceases to even try to communicate. Language is seen an attribute of humans and

the loss of this ability underlines the very idea of loss of human condition/identity.” (Nicolae)

This can be interpreted as isolation can lead to less worry due to less complications in

communicating with others, you could prioritize yourself. As you can see, the transformation can

be interpreted differently, it could be either good or bad, which shows how The Metamorphosis

can be read as an allegory of people relieving themselves from stressing responsibilities.

The transformations in The Metamorphosis are interpreted figuratively most of the time.

And in Ephraim’s article they do that very thing. There seems to be very subtle meanings in the
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transformations throughout the story. The first example used by Ephraim is about Gregor’s body

transformation and how it it’s the source of concern for Gregor. In the article it states, “The

transformation's psychic immediacy forces us to understand it as a problem of being, not

language. The omnipresence of Gregor's (usually banal) consciousness set against an ugly/absent

corpus creates a strange disjuncture between mind and body. A transformation that begins in the

repetitive rhythms of the mind completes itself in the unwanted proliferations of the body. The

mind loses control over the body that represents it to create an unbridgable distance between

signified and signifier, a broken metaphor. Gregor's body, his visible aspect, is a dominant yet

annihilated sign, both everything and nothing.” (Ephraim) This shows that the mind can affect

the person and the person’s body. Very similar to some people who have a unhealthy mentality

which can affect them in the physical sense as well. It could affect your relationship with reality

and lead you astray from it. Another way Ephraim expresses Gregor’s transformation is how the

transformation made the insect Gregor and not Gregor at the same time. This is due to Gregor’s

separation from humanity and self-neglection. In the article it says, “In Kafka's handling of

transformation it is striking that allegory begins precisely where metaphor ends, the obliteration

of Gregor's humanity also obliterating the ground for a figurative equation between a man and a

bug… In one of the most difficult of the story's cognitive dissonances, the insect always is and

is/not Gregor.” (Ephraim) This shows the change in a person could lead them to being someone

else mostly but will always manage to never let go of one’s past. As one that has changed will

never be the same as they were but still will have something reminiscent of their past. Like how

people will try to change, but they will always be remembered for their past. From this article,

you could see that The Metamorphosis and the transformations could be interpreted more

complexly and hold much more meaning, such as showcasing inner conflicts of a person.
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As you can see from The Metamorphosis, it is a complex piece of work. Kafka’s work

had many different meanings, from morals to daily life and inner conflictions. Due to these many

different interpretations, I see this story fit to be read as an allegory since you can heavily relate

it to people in the real world. Such as inner conflicts/struggles and basic human instincts. But the

meaning of the story isn’t limited to just a few, it seems as if it could be interpreted in a lot of

more ways. In any case, this is a good read if you want to imagine things in multiple

perspectives.
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Works Cited

Ben-Ephraim, Gavriel. “Making and Breaking Meaning: Deconstruction, Four-Level

Allegory and 'The Metamorphosis.'.” Cengage, 1994,

go.galegroup.com.libproxy.csun.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE|A15602652&v=2.1&u=csunorthridge&it

=r&p=EAIM&sw=w.

KAFKA, FRANZ. METAMORPHOSIS. ARCTURUS PUBLISHING LTD, 2018.

Nicolae, Cristina. “FRANZ KAFKA’S METAMORPHOTIC PRISON: THE DOOR

AND THE WINDOW.” 2015, pp. 143–149.,

web.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.csun.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=7700e657-76f4-4055-

8160-

264be980a667@sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ==#AN=110029912&db

=ufh.