Metamorphosis : Kafka, Alienation and the Absurd.

Numerous writers throughout history has had

incorporated alienation and the absurdity of the world in
their works. Especially after the two world wars, the
Western world was in a turmoil. Several works emerged
because of the disillusionment faced by people
throughout Europe. Many people felt that the world had
lost the cultural abundance and spiritual guidance of the
past. The Metamorphosis is one such work where the
author, Franz Kafka, a German – speaking Bohemian
novelist and short story writer based in Prague, fuses the
elements of realism and absurdity.

The Metamorphosis,first published in 1915,has been

cited as one of the seminal works of 20th century
literature. It is a novella in three parts, that deals with
the story of a travelling salesman, Gregor Samsa, who
one day woke up to find himself
transformed( metamorphosed) into an enormous,
monstrous insect-like creature:
“One morning,when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled
dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a
horrible vermin.” (Kafka,1915,p.15)
The main reason behind Samsa’s transformation into
a ,’horrible vermin,' (Kafka,1915,p.15) is never revealed.
Moreover, Kafka never gave an explanation for this
unusual transformation. The rest of the novel deals with
Gregor’s attempt to adapt to his unusual condition, as he
deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister,
who are repulsed by the horrible creature that Gregor
has become.
From the beginning of the novella, it was crystal clear
that Gregor was not particularly disturbed by his horrible
transformation. In fact, what troubles Gregor more than
his ,' armour-like back,' and his,’brown belly,'
(Kafka,1915,p.15) are ordinary concerns like losing his
job, his family’s financial situation and sending his little
sister to a music school. I believe the indifference
displayed by Gregor regarding his transformation helps in
maintaining the absurdist overtones that are found
throughout the whole story.
But ultimately,with Gregor’s new transformation came
numerous problems. Additionally, we found out that
Gregor continues to stay at his job as a travelling
salesman because of his parent’s debt. Moreover, his
monotonous lifestyle had led him to a life of
alienation,even from his relatives. From a close reading
of the novella, we can discern that Gregor never had an
intimate relationship with anyone, probably because of
his job as a travelling salesman, and I believe this is
denoted by his mother’s statement to the chief clerk that
came to check up on Gregor:
“It nearly made me cross the way he never goes out in
the evenings, he’s been in town for a week now but
stayed home every evening. His idea of relaxation is
working with his fretsaw.” (Kafka,1915,p.26)
Moreover, Gregor was met with hostility from his father
due to his horrible insect-like form. And from further
reading,I discovered that The Metamorphosis is not
merely a work of fiction, but an autobiographical piece of
writing that reflects Kafka’s own life. Kafka felt like an
insect in his father’s authoritative presence, and like
Gregor he cowers in fear of his father, who considers him
repulsive and hostile. When Gregor first made it out his
room after his transformation, it was his father who
drove him back into his room using a stick and a large
newspaper:
“Gregor’s father seized the chief clerk’s stick in his right
hand, picked up a large newspaper from the table with
his left, and used them to drive Gregor back into his
room, stamping his foot at him as he went.”
(Kafka,1915,p. 39).
Gregor’s transformation does not merely affect himself,
but his family as well. In addition to living with a
monstrous vermin, Gregor’s family members are left
without proper income,since the family mainly depended
on Gregor and his job as a travelling salesman. They had
to sell their jewelries, rent out their flat and fire their
maid and replace her with a charwoman. They even had
to search for jobs themselves.
And as time passes,Gregor began to behave more and
more like an insect, he enjoys crawling on the wall and
ceilings, while preferring darker spaces. His mother and
his sister decides to move some of the furniture in his
room to give him more space to ,’play.’ But his mother
began to question if this will made Gregor feel that the
family is ready to give up on him. This made Gregor
anxious and afraid at the thought of losing all the
remnants of his human life. Following this, he clings to a
particular portrait on the wall that he is emotionally
attached to. His mother saw him and fainted right then
and there. His father, who had just came back from his
work, assumed that Gregor had done something to harm
his wife. And in a frenzy, he violently pelted apples
towards Gregor, and one managed to lodged itself into
Gregor’s armor-like back,which severely injured him. And
his mother, with, “ her hands behind her father’s head,”
( Kafka,1915,p.70) had to beg him to spare Gregor’s life.
This incident intensified Gregor’s alienation from the
world and his family, as he was forced to stay inside his
room without any human contact. This again parallels
Kafka’s real life, when he was forced to take an office job
that he did not enjoyed, because he needed money for
his planned marriage. Moreover,he was forced by his
family to spend his afternoons in the office. Kafka felt
that this alienated him from his creative needs. Kafka had
been very close to his sister Ottla,and she usually
understood him, but even she turned against him in
insisting that he stay at the office in the afternoons. This
in turn reflects Grete (Gregor’s sister) betraying Gregor
by insisting that the family gets rid of him.
What separates Kafka’s writing from the rest, is his
ability to present an impossible situation , such as a
man’s transformation into an insect, and develop a story
from there with immaculate realism and accurate
attention to detail. The sheer absurdity of The
Metamorphosis forced us to look for deeper meanings
within the story. Moreover, it highlights the absurd
reality of existence, which makes it a timeless classic that
continues to stand the test of time.