Metamorphosis

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” This is a quote from Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis where Gregor Samsa's life changes after turning into an insect. This is a story that I feel very fond of as it is one of the most eerie tragedy that I have ever read. The premise of this story is of Gregor Samsa who one day turns into a giant insect changing his life forever. This not only affects himself but distances him from his family who are unfamiliar of him in this new form, all while being conscious of all they do. Realizing the burden that he puts on the family, especially his sister Grete, he decides to starve himself to death. The family realizes his death and are relieved, moving to a smaller apartment to save costs. I find this story very prominent in using the theme of alienation to display how change poses a threat to not just oneself but how others view you and the relations you hold with them.

Insects as a symbolism for harmful change is something I find quite clever. Turning into something so vile reflects how others react to the sight of seeing someone who does not reach their standards and rather barbaric in a sense. One may ask about whether turning into a bug physically meaning that you lose your humanity? I think that humanity is something that comes from the inside, personally. I think that it is the traits, in the form of actions that define us as humans, the empathy we show because we are conscious beings. Does becoming something else truly reflect how one is on the inside? This is one of the questions I pondered after this scene of physical change when realizing that Gregor was still thinking with the same personality on the inside. A family man trying to support his loved ones.

I think that the theme of alienation here strongly depicts the author's reflection of what he saw within his own family such as his father which he had a bad relationship with. The distancing of family displayed in this story I think tries to create a sense of reality and selfish nature that we all contain within ourselves no matter how much we call ourselves a saint. The fact that a person who was once family is ousted like an outcast displays how significant the retainment of humanity is to one's feelings of affection. I think there is reasonability in the family's actions though and in a sense not so selfish as how do they know that Gregor retains the same humanity that he once had. Can you love something you once loved without it retaining any of its features you loved? This idea I think is what is brought up by this theme of alienation in this story and a reflection of how change may be a cause for this. Personally, I would understand why this leads to Gregor committing suicide and the despair he must have felt realizing that his family does not recognize him as the person he once was though one must realize the reality of being in such a situation and how one would act themselves seeing the shell of a loved one in a disgusting insect's body.

This brings me to the other notable theme brought up; isolation. I think that another reason leading to Gregor's tragic demise is the isolation he is put in, both lonely and claustrophobic left to rot by himself for so long only to hear that his family plans to dispose of him. Imagine yourself in his shoes knowing that those closest to you living their lives outside pretending you do not exist until planning to kill you, a tragic and melancholic way to go in my opinion. I think that isolation is something that has the ability to kill as we human are social creatures that yearn to interact with others. Leaving someone in this immobile state with the ability to interpret what happens around him with no one to talk to can lead to the deterioration of both the mind and body from such a drastic change in lifestyle. Gregor in this story thinks that what he is afflicted with is temporary but by the end, we can clearly see that what happened to him is permanent change and that life is not all smiles and rainbows, that we have to face the reality of who you are and how people will interpret you for the rest of your life. Gregor is left behind.

Thinking about this gives me the chill, alone in a room in a body that does not appeal to oneself and those that are related to them. I think this may also be a reflection in some sense with the idea that the handicapped or those who are not up to the expectation of the social norm are excluded and looked down upon by others for the burden they bring upon them rather than looking how it feel to be them. Overall, Metamorphosis has been a slow ride of tragic emotions that has opened my eyes to this world of expectations and trying to adapt. How one may not be up to what others desire and thus shunned. Metamorphosis is truly a staple of the 20th century.