Literary Analysis Essay on Metamorphosis

Introduction

In the metamorphosis Gregor Sasa who is a travelling salesman woke up one morning and discovers that he had turned to an insect creature. He lies for a while in bed thinking of the lots of unpleasant aspects of his job and the family heavy income reliance from him. Being late for work, he worries and panics due to his boss reaction and he thinks of calling to say he is sick.Gregor father, mother and sister were all calling him as he is in his room. In his strange response in his voice it draws more concern. In the meantime, he tries his best to manoeuvre his wield body out of bed.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Gregor's supervisor comes looking for him and accepts none of the family excuses. Gregor tries to defend himself but no one could understand him. Eventually Gregor manages to open the door and comes out and his father clenches his jaws, his mother swoons and then he weeps. Gregor persuades the supervisor on how he is a good worker but he leaves the house in terror. Over the other coming days Gregor keeps hidden in the room by an unspoken understanding. Grete then becomes his caretaker cleaning and feeding him when the maid and parents were away. Her sister Grete performs it briskly with no much attention for Gregor. Gregor spent his days reflecting on his family and how he got the job with the intension to help his sister and parents. He thought of how he would save to bring back the collapsed fathers' business and sister's education.

Kafka uses literature in the story to tell his own real life. There are so many similarities in the story with those of his own. Gregor in the story feels that he has an obligation to pleasing his father. Moreover, his father kills him when Gregor bombards him with some apples of which some were dislodged in his back. In addition, his mother and sister had good intentions where his mother pleads with the father not to kill believing he has temporary sickness. And he would be heald. Gregor's mother goes further by asking the furniture to remain how it was in his room. "so that when he comes back he will find everything unchanged and be able all the more easily to forget what has happened" (Kafka 26). His sister Grete was very concerned about what had happened to his brother and demands the removal of the insect. This shows that Gregor's family never had an idea of what had happened to his brother due to the preoccupation they had.

Gregor's predicaments with the family were the same as that of Kafka. Kafka's father loathered and ignored him when he engaged in writing. His father saw it as a demeaning profession but his mother was supportive. However Kafka's mother was not able to defend him from the brutality of his father. Grete is also comparable with Kafka's sister Ottla. Kafka was very close to his sister. This is evident after Kafka completed 'The Metamorphosis', he documents it in the diary "I am living with my family, the dearest people, and yet I am more estranged from them that from a stranger" (Herbert and Roberts 14).

What amazes the readers of the story is that despite Gregor has all his physical feathers of an insect but his actions are the same as those of an individual. He never believes he is an insect. Due to this the reader can interpret the metamorphosis of a show of conflict that he had with the situation at the workplace and that of the family. There is no human dimension to any of his activity he does in his workplace. Kafka claims, "All the casual acquaintances never become intimate friends" (Kafka 2). In fact if it was not for his parents owning the chief, Gregor would have stopped working for the chief earlier ago. However, he was too weak to stop working with the chief.

One would expect that any person who went through a situation as that of Gregor to have untold anguish but Gregor is very calm in the situation he is in. However, his father act in a surprising manner. He acts in a way he expects Gregor to go through such a predicament. The maid who works for the family treats Gregor like a pet while the lodger Gregor's look at the situation in a hilarious way instead of being terrified. This different views of people in Gregor's situation show how individuaals comprehend disaster. This shows they are not different from anything he goes through.

Gregor calm reaction shows how Kafka has the ability to explain funny occurrences effectively. He uses Gregor in the story a predicament with irony and humour. For instance, Kafka explains how Gregor climbs the wall and how the dirt delights him. Kafka represents them as something normal despite it being the opposite. Gregor is represented as a common mentality of people in a contemporary world. Despite being irritated by his existence, he never does anything to solve his situation. He says that when he has enough money in the world he would quit his job but he never had any idea of what to do with it thereafter. He never knows his own self, Gregor is surrounded by emptiness.

Gregor's identity is the focos of the story. Kafka poses if Gregor was really an insect since he enjoyed music. Therefore, it can be claimed that Gregor was not fully human since there is no insect that enjoyed music by listening and responding when his sister Grete played the violing. When Grete was playing the violing his mind was always focused on her. These raises a question as to if Gregor wants to do music as a career or guilty for not sending her to conservatory. However what is evident is it shows gregor's emptiness.

Conclusion

In conclusion,it is very hard to know Gregor's identity reaction. His reactions are those of an animal but his abilities of human are impared and also vise vas is true. The physical appearance of Gregor bothers the human element. However, Gregor enjoys dirt, which is an element of the animal condition. This shows that despite being an insect, Gregor transceds his physical condition. Gregor in the story has both animal and human cravings. When he was working as a salesman Gregor could never archieve the innate desires. Therefore, by Gregor becoming an insect he was able to be intouch with his identity. Hoever he could not communicate with his family since he had transformed into an insect. By listening to music, it enebled him to be in touch with the human aspect. By thus it definitely enables Gregor to die in piece. Grete's music he listened provided him with peace of mind, that enabled him to connect with his family and himself before dying.

Work Cited

Kafka, Franz. The metamorphosis. Modern Library Classics, 2013.

Kafka, Franz. Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" and Other Writings: Franz Kafka. New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2002. Print.