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Alienation

Kafka's "The Metamorphosis"

Franz Kafka’s work demonstrates that the attributes conventional society mistakes for life's meaning -- success, social position, political or corporate power -- are ultimately meaningless in the great scheme of things. Also, he saw tremendous irony in the fact that our human lives are so transitory and our fortunes so subject to the whims of fate, and yet most people act as if we will live forever with ultimate control over the progress of their existence. In his story "The Metamorphosis," Kafka presents a conventional, respectable protagonist whose life is suddenly and permanently changed by a physical disability -- a "metamorphosis," or transformation -- which catapults him out of his efficacious complacency into a sudden confrontation with the greater questions of existence. This transformation, because it affects the way society looks at the protagonist, also effects a telling effect upon his self-image and spiritual identity.

"The Metamorphosis" opens with the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, discovering that he has turned into a giant cockroach. This metamorphosis makes all his previous activities impossible. He previously held down a job as a salesman; he can no longer do this because his boss finds him horrifying, and undoubtedly the customers would too. (In addition, there is the additional drawback that his giant insect’s body tends to get stuck in doorways.) Gregor assures his boss that "One can be temporarily incapacitated . . . [but] when the incapacity has been got over, one will certainly work with all the more industry and concentration." But there is no possibility that Gregor will be able to return to work. His disability is permanent.

Because Gregor has contributed heavily to the family’s comfortable lifestyle, this new development causes them to turn on him. His beloved sister concludes that he should be disposed of, because he isn't really Gregor. His father heaves an apple at him with such force that the apple...