Literary Analysis of Franz Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’

January 30, 2018

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Literary Analysis of Franz Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’
‘Metamorphosis’ is one of Franz Kafka’s known works. Written from the vantage point of Gregor Samsa,
Kafka provides readers with an individual’s sudden transformation into a bug and the corresponding
impact it creates to his family, identity and state of consciousness. By utilizing his approach, the story
moves to emphasize the author’s inclination to focus on a single character with the aim of highlighting
numerous ways where readers can interpret the story. Based on Walter Sokel’s assertion, “Kafka’s literary
uniqueness lies in the fact that he dramatizes conventional figures of speech and endows them with full
consistent detail; his tales act out the implications of metaphors buried in the German idiom” (203).
Seeing this, the story provides a good indication of Kafka’s life in the past and advances the symbolisms
evident with his experiences in the past.

One of the key themes presented by Kafka in this piece corresponds to the persona’s transformation. As
readers uncover the physical changes happening to Gregor Kafka utilizes the insights happening inside
his head to develop understanding how he feels as this transformation is taking place. Clearly, Gregor’s
change to a bug brought forward questions surrounding its significance and the impact it can create to his
life. Evident in this change of course is the shift on how he was treated by his family members. Compared
to the past wherein he is considered to be essential because of the ability to provide for his family, this
gradually changes as he becomes an insect that lacks a specific purpose and relevance to the household
(Batson 1). As the story tries to develop awareness to the transformation of Gregor, Kafka also brings
forward the impact it creates to his family, consciousness and existence in the world.

Also evident in the change happening to Gregor is the apparent isolation and alienation he felt during the
change. With the metamorphosis taking place, Gregor finds out the feelings of isolation and how his
decision to let go of his obligations to his family further distanced his relevance to them. Given the
potential consequence of his actions, the protagonist also had to endure the impact of his appearance
and its appeal to his family members. Though initially, they found ways to show pity and compassion for
his change, it eventually led to other members moving on with their lives without his old physical form
(Kafka 1). This in turn led the consciousness of Gregor to feel alienated and isolated from the rest of the
world. Rather than finding ways to connect with others in his new form, he has to struggle alone to
understand his condition and its consequences to his existence.

Lastly, there is Kafka’s attempt to portray the traditional notion of family and how the case of Gregor
deviates from such reality. Looking closely, prior to his transformation, Gregor Samsa is the main provider
with his job in sales. Given his father’s weak physical state, the family had to depend on his income to
sustain their everyday needs (Kafka 1). However, when Gregor transformed into an insect, Mr. Samsa re-
assumes the position as patriarch of the family and exerts control even to Gregor’s life. Though this may
seem to be the case, Kafka also challenges the response of Gregor’s family during his transformation. In
particular, it questions the abandonment and their ability to turn back to someone who has sacrificed most
of his life trying to provide in the family that in the end chose to neglect and accept his change as a bug.
Overall, Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ seeks to put forward numerous interpretations and meanings to readers.
The multitude of themes conveys man’s interaction with changes in his identity and the impact it creates
to both his consciousness and the people around. With the story’s ability to highlight the perspective
coming from Gregor Samsa, readers are able to identity important symbolisms that can altogether be
related to Kafka’s identity and also emphasize its relevance in shaping individual transformation and
metamorphosis.

Themes
The Absurdity of Life

Beginning with its first sentence, The Metamorphosis deals with an absurd, or wildly
irrational, event, which in itself suggests that the story operates in a random, chaotic
universe. The absurd event is Gregor’s waking up to discover he has turned into a giant
insect, and since it’s so far beyond the boundaries of a natural occurrence—it’s not just
unlikely to happen, it’s physically impossible—Gregor’s metamorphosis takes on a
supernatural significance. Also notable is the fact that the story never explains Gregor’s
transformation. It never implies, for instance, that Gregor’s change is the result of any
particular cause, such as punishment for some misbehavior. On the contrary, by all
evidence Gregor has been a good son and brother, taking a job he dislikes so that he
can provide for them and planning to pay for his sister to study music at the
conservatory. There is no indication that Gregor deserves his fate. Rather, the story and
all the members of the Samsa family treat the event as a random occurrence, like
catching an illness. All these elements together give the story a distinct overtone of
absurdity and suggest a universe that functions without any governing system of order
and justice.
The responses of the various characters add to this sense of absurdity, specifically
because they seem almost as absurd as Gregor’s transformation itself. The characters
are unusually calm and unquestioning, and most don’t act particularly surprised by the
event. (The notable exception is the Samsas’ first maid, who begs to be fired.) Even
Gregor panics only at the thought of getting in trouble at work, not at the realization that
he is physically altered, and he makes no efforts to determine what caused the change
or how to fix it. He worries instead about commonplace problems, like what makes him
feel physically comfortable. In fact, the other characters in the story generally treat the
metamorphosis as something unusual and disgusting, but not exceptionally horrifying or
impossible, and they mostly focusing on adapting to it rather than fleeing from Gregor or
trying to cure him. Gregor’s family, for example, doesn’t seek out any help or advice,
and they appear to feel more ashamed and disgusted than shocked. Their second maid
also shows no surprise when she discovers Gregor, and when the boarders staying with
the family see Gregor they are mostly upset that Gregor is unclean and disturbs the
sense of order they desire in the house. These unusual reactions contribute to the
absurdity of the story, but they also imply that the characters to some degree expect, or
at least are not surprised by, absurdity in their world.
The Disconnect Between Mind and Body

Gregor’s transformation completely alters his outward appearance, but it leaves his
mind unchanged, creating a discord, or lack of harmony, between his mind and body.
When he first gets out of his bed after waking, for instance, he tries to stand upright,
even though his body is not suited to being upright. He also thinks of going to work,
despite the fact that he can’t by any means do so, and when Grete leaves him the milk
at the beginning of Part 2, he is surprised to find he doesn’t like it, even though milk was
a favorite drink when he was human. In essence, he continues to think with a human
mind, but because his body is no longer human, he is unable at first to reconcile these
two parts of himself.
As Gregor becomes accustomed to his new body, his mind begins to change in
accordance with his physical needs and desires. Yet he’s never able to fully bring his
mind and body into harmony. Gregor gradually behaves more and more like an insect,
not only craving different foods than he did when he was human, but also beginning to
prefer tight, dark spaces, like the area under his sofa, and enjoying crawling on the
walls and ceiling. (Through these details, the story suggests that our physical lives
shape and direct our mental lives, not the other way around.) But Gregor’s humanity
never disappears entirely, and he feels conflicted as a result. This conflict reaches its
climax when Grete and the mother move the furniture out of Gregor’s room. Gregor
initially approves of the idea because it will make his room more comfortable for him
physically. Without furniture, he’ll be able to crawl anywhere he pleases. But realizing
that his possessions, which represent to him his former life as a human, provide him
emotional comfort, he suddenly faces a choice: he can be physically comfortable or
emotionally comfortable, but not both. In other words, his mind and body remain
opposed to one another. Gregor, unable to relinquish his humanity, chooses emotional
comfort, leading him to desperately cling to the picture of the woman in furs.
The Limits of Sympathy

After Gregor’s metamorphosis, his family members struggle with feelings of both
sympathy and revulsion toward him. Grete and the mother in particular feel a great deal
of sympathy for Gregor after his change, apparently because they suspect some aspect
of his humanity remains despite his appearance. This sympathy leads Grete initially to
take on the role of Gregor’s caretaker—she even goes so far as to try to discover what
food he likes after his change—and it leads the mother to fight with Grete over moving
the furniture out of Gregor’s room since she holds out hope that he will return to his
human form. Even the father, who shows the least sympathy of the family members
toward Gregor and even attacks him twice, never suggests that they kill him or force
him out of the house. Instead, he implicitly shows compassion for Gregor by allowing
the family to care for him.
Eventually, however, the stresses caused by Gregor’s presence wear down the family
members’ sympathy, and even the most caring of them find that their sympathy has a
limit. One of those sources of stress is Gregor’s appearance. Grete is so upset and
revolted by the way he looks that she can hardly stand to be in the room with him, and
his mother is so horrified when she sees him as she and Grete are moving his furniture
that she faints. In addition, Gregor’s presence is never forgotten in the house, causing
the family members to feel constantly uncomfortable and leading them to speak to each
other mostly in whispers. Moreover, the fact that Gregor cannot communicate his
thoughts and feelings to them leaves them without any connection to his human side,
and consequently, they come to see him more and more as an actual insect. All these
factors combined steadily work against their sympathy, and the family reaches a point
where Gregor’s presence is too much to bear. Significantly, it is Grete, the character to
show the most sympathy toward Gregor, who decides they must get rid of him.

Motifs
Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis depicts multiple transformations, with the most significant and
obvious example being Gregor’s metamorphosis into an insect. Though Gregor’s
physical change is complete when the story begins, he also undergoes a related
change, a psychological transformation as he adapts to his new body. Grete
experiences her own transformation in the story as she develops from a child into an
adult. (In fact, in zoology the word metamorphosis refers to a stage in insect and
amphibian development during which an immature form of the animal undergoes a
physical transformation to become an adult.) At the beginning of the work, she is
essentially still a girl, but as she begins to take on adult duties, such as caring for
Gregor and then getting a job to help support her family, she steadily matures. In the
story’s closing scene, her parents realize she has grown into a pretty young woman and
think of finding her a husband. The scene signals that she is now an adult emotionally
and also physically, as it describes the change her body has undergone and echoes
Gregor’s own physical change.
The family as a whole also undergoes a metamorphosis as well. Initially, the members
of the Samsa family appear hopeless and static, owing to the difficulties resulting from
Gregor’s transformation as well as their financial predicament. But over time they are
able to overcome their money problems, and when Gregor finally dies and the family no
longer has to deal with his presence, all the family members are reinvigorated. As the
story closes, they have completed an emotional transformation and their hope is
revitalized.
Sleep and Rest

References to sleep and rest, as well as the lack of sleep and rest, recur
throughout The Metamorphosis. The story opens, for instance, with Gregor waking
from sleep to discover his transformation, and Part 2 of the story begins with Gregor
waking a second time, in this instance late in the day after the incident in which his
father drove him back into his room. He quickly crawls under the sofa in his room to
rest, and he spends a great deal of the story beneath the sofa either resting quietly or
anxious and unable to rest. Moreover, Gregor describes how his father used to while
away the day in bed or dozing in his armchair, and after the father resumes working, he
often refuses to go to bed in the evenings and instead falls asleep in uniform in his
chair. Toward the end of the work, as Gregor’s health declines he stops sleeping almost
entirely until finally he dies.
Money

Because of the failure of the father’s business and the debts that resulted, money is a
chief concern for the Samsa family, and consequently it appears as a frequent topic in
Gregor’s thoughts and in the conversations of the family members. Gregor’s chief
concern after discovering he’s become an insect is that he’ll lose his job, which we
quickly learn he took solely as a means of earning money for his family. The office
manager also implies while checking on Gregor that Gregor’s boss suspects him of
stealing money from the firm. Then, shortly after Gregor awakes at the beginning of Part
2, he overhears the father explaining the family’s financial situation in detail to the
mother and Grete. Later, the father and Grete both take jobs to make up for the loss of
Gregor’s income, and the family even takes in a few borders as a means of bringing in
extra money, which results in an argument about money after the borders discover
Gregor.