Summary:
In Franz Kafka's short fiction, "The Metamorphosis", the author was able to skillfully express deep emotions while keeping his readers interested throughout the story. Some may say that the story is sad and horrifying, yet Kafka creatively intertwined humor, which is many times quite ironic, into this seemingly sad story.
Kafka's Humor
In Franz Kafka's short fiction, "The Metamorphosis", the author was able to skillfully express deep emotions while keeping his readers interested throughout the story. Some may say that the story is sad and horrifying, yet Kafka creatively intertwined humor, which is many times quite ironic, into this seemingly sad story. This gives the reader the opportunity to view the situation from a different angle rather than just to focus on the horrific circumstances that Gregor Samsa, Kafka's protagonist, must go through in "The Metamorphosis." Margaret Church, a critic in contemporary studies explains, "with Kafka we are in the mind of Gregor and are forced to accept this world of Gregor and to recognize it as our own" (189). Kafka allows the reader to relate to Gregor, who is in the position of an outcast, and still be sympathetic towards him. Kafka also creates odd and ironic situations. Certain events that Kafka creates are rather comical because they reflect situations that we are familiar with. Ruth Tiefenbrun who has done research through psychological interpretations on Kafka's literary work says, "for Kafka everything he wrote had a unique, personal meaning"(6). I believe this story reflects Kafka's own life, which was rather dismal and may even seem almost horrifying from another person's point of view. It seems that this story reflects Kafka's troubled life, allowing the reader to see from his perspective through the unfortunate character, Gregor.
The story begins with Gregor waking up as an insect:
When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect. He was lying on his back, which was hard, as if planted in armor, and when he lifted his head slightly he could see his belly; rounded, brown, and divided into stiff arched segments; on top of it the blanket, about to slip off altogether, still barely clinging. His many legs, which seemed pathetically thin when compared to the rest of his body, flickered helplessly before his eyes (Kennedy 337).
This captures the reader's interest immediately. We can all agree that this will probably never happen to us. The fact that Kafka even thought of an event like this is already comical. If we were in Gregor's situation, we may feel extremely disturbed or even suicidal. However, Gregor instead thought of how to get out of bed and go to work. Gregor also thought of how to explain his situation to his family and the manager from the office. A conventional person would not even think of explaining the fact that one has been "transformed... into a monstrous insect," but would rather be overwhelmed by the fact that his or her life is ruined. Here Kafka made such a disastrous situation into what seems to be a temporary annoyance one may face in daily life. "What Gregor awakens to on the morning of his metamorphosis is the truth of his life. His ordinary consciousness has lied to him about himself..." (Greenburg 70). Whether symbolic or not, from the very beginning, Kafka creates this terrifying but funny plot, something that is very unlikely to happen physically, but gives us an insight to what Kafka himself many have been facing every day.
The story moves on explaining the horrified family members trying to deal with Gregor as an insect and rejecting him for being what he has become. When Gregor finally manages to open the door and presents himself in front of the family members and the manager from the office, his mother "ran... into the outstretched arms of his father", and the father soon started "stamping at his feet and waving the cane and newspaper in order to drive Gregor back into his room." In truth, as we can see in the story, the only thing that changed was Gregor's appearance. His character, his love, and his loyalty to his family never changed. Again, Kafka creates such an odd scenario. Why are the family members so sure that the insect is Gregor? Why is it that they do not question whether Gregor disappeared and was replaced by a huge insect? Instead Kafka makes it very natural for the family to accept and believe that the insect is Gregor without a doubt. This either meant that the catastrophic circumstance of a loved one becoming an insect, although terrible indeed, was a digestible, if not acceptable event, or that this was Kafka's humor expressed in such a way to portray society's intolerance. If the former wasn't the case, this means Kafka had a strong opinion about the way society viewed outcasts and wanted to express his views.
Why did something so horrible happen to Gregor in the fist place? Gregor was a hard-working, selfless man who only thought of how to help support his family and get his parents out of debt. He never missed a day of work until the morning of his transformation. Amazingly, The manager himself comes over to his house to accuse Gregor for being lazy and stealing funds from the company. Gregor, who gave up most of his salary to support the family, also finds out that his father has been putting money aside instead of using it to pay off the debt that they owed. Even though the other family members had the ability to work, there was an expectation for Gregor to do so and pay the bills with the money he earned. Gregor was mistreated by everyone around him, yet he humbly continued to work and support the family. Then, on the day of his metamorphosis, the whole world seemed to come against him. His family was cold and unsympathetic towards him. Yet instead of feeling resentful, Gregor felt bad for his family members for what he had become. To many, this may seem too great a tragedy for such a kind, unselfish person to have befallen him. Did Gregor deserve such a transformation followed by such harsh treatment?
From this point we can see the changes that begin to happen in the family. Before the metamorphosis, "Gregor remained close only to his sister." Gregor's sister, Grete, tried to continue her relationship with him. Out of good will she decided to feed him. The parents who once saw Grete as "somewhat useless" started appreciating her for taking care of Gregor. But although Grete was trying to be kind to him, Gregor "came to realize that the sight of him disgusted her."
The father also began to change. Gregor remembered his father, "who used to lie sunk in bed, exhausted" and "who was hardly capable of getting to his feet." But after his transformation, Gregor was faced with a fierce father who "held himself very erect, dressed up in a closely-fitting blue uniform."
Gradually, Gregor began to become nothing more than a nuisance to the family and found himself completely isolated. And although the family couldn't stand having a huge insect in their house, "familial duty required them to swallow their disgust and to endure him, to endure him and nothing more." Eventually his family gave up on Gregor's return. In fact, they didn't need to rely on him anymore because, since Gregor's terrible reveal, his family had become stronger and more self-sufficient. His father got a job so they no longer had to count on Gregor to pay the bills. As his family grew more independent of him, Gregor faced his death sentence. "His life is his death and there is no salvation"(Greenburg 70)
If I didn't have to curb my tongue because of my parents, I'd have given notice long ago. I'd have gone up to the director and told him from the bottom of my heart exactly what I thought. That would have knocked him from his desk! It's an odd way to run things, this sitting high at a desk and talking down to employees, especially when, since the director is hard of hearing, they have to approach so near. Well. There's hope yet; as soon as I've saved enough money to pay back what my parents owe him- that should take another five or six years- I'll go do it for sure. Then, I'll cut myself completely free. Right now, though, I'd better get up, as my train leaves at five (Kennedy 337)
These were the thoughts going through Gregor's mind as he was struggling to get out of bed see the manager. Through analyzing Kafka's life, we may see the resemblance of these thoughts to the ones Kafka himself may have had.
Franz Kafka was born in a German-speaking Jewish family in Czechoslovakia. His father was overbearing and placed the heavy burden of his expectations on Franz, his only surviving son. The only reason Kafka studied law and worked as a claims investor for an insurance company was to satisfy his father's desires. Kafka eventually wrote a letter to his father saying that he would never be able to become the person his father wanted him to be. Although others found his work to be significant, Kafka was known to have little confidence in himself. This may be the result of Kafka's troubled relationship with his father. Gray Ronald explains Kafka's situation at that time as "isolated or at least separated from the Czechs as a 'German', from the Germans as a Jew, from orthodox Jews as a man of independent mind, and from his own family by what he felt to be the implacable hostility of his father, he had a hard station to occupy"(30).
Since Kafka didn't have much of a decision about who he wanted to be or what he wanted to do, it is understandable why he might have created the character Gregor Samsa, who was working a job he never wished to pursue. Like Kafka, Gregor did what he had to do to please the family instead of what he himself wished. Kafka had the same sad situation as his protagonist, that of not being accepted for who he was by his family and the outside society.
It is apparent that there are many similarities between the author, Franz Kafka and his character, Gregor Samsa. We can see the struggles Gregor endured and can only imagine what similar ordeals Kafka had to face. From this we can assume that the things that went through Gregor's mind must have been what Kafka thought about himself; relationships within the family and living up to expectations, dealing with society as an outcast, and being rejected and isolated from the world. We can conclude that this story reflects the way Kafka perceived his life. Even though one may see it as miserable and depressing, Kafka was able to see it as ironic and at times ridiculous. It might have been crucial for him to see life in this way since his situation was dismal and separated him from society in many ways. There is nothing hopeful or inspiring in his humor, however, it gives one an entirely different way off perceiving life as it is.
Work Cited
Church, Margaret. Time and Reality: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. Durham, N.C.:
Chapel Hill, 1963.
Gray, Ronald. Franz Kafka. Great Britain: Cambridge UP, 1973.
Greenberg, Martin. The Terror of Art: Kafka and Modern Literature. New York: Basic Books, 1968.
Kennedy, X.J. and Dana Gioia, eds. Literature: An Introduction to Fictions, Poetry and Drama. 9th ed. New York, Pearson, 2005.
Tiefenbrun, Ruth. Moment of Torment: An Interpretation of Franz Kafka's Short Stories.
United States of America: Southern Illinois UP, 1973.
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