Franz Kafka's the Metamorphosis

Literature throughout history has tried to exemplify the personal identity of human beings, but none has done it so creatively and as hilariously as Franz Kafka's masterful novella, "The Metamorphosis". Kafka has created the most absurd situation; a traveling salesman wakes up one morning to find that he has turned into a giant dung beetle. Yet Kafka uses the absurdity of this premise to exemplify how the unfortunate Gregor Samsa (the man-bug) frees himself from a life of servitude and monotony, to assert his own personal identity through his metamorphosis. Franz Kafka uses brilliant symbolism, hilarious tone, and unique characterizations to exemplify the plight and transformation of this unfortunate salesman and it is through these tools that Kafka creates an absurd experience that any reader can relate to. The use of symbolism throughout this story is what truly allows the reader to understand and appreciate Gregor's push towards independence. Gregor was transformed into a bug, but Kafka uses this transformation as a symbol for Gregor's metamorphosis towards humanity. Before Gregor's transformation, he only lived life to serve others, but through his metamorphosis Gregor slowly comes to meet his own desires, seeking a more personal independence and even coming to appreciate music and art. But most importantly, it is through Gregor's final understanding of love that Kafka truly exemplifies how human the insect truly is. Kafka uses the symbolism of Gregor becoming a bug to represent the tragedy of the life that Gregor was leading, and his metamorphosis symbolizes a more gradual metamorphosis towards an individual humanity. By physically disassociating Gregor from humanity, Kafka perfectly exemplifies how human Gregor has really become. Kafka's use of symbolism is what truly makes the reader's experience relatable to the tale. Although nobody could ever experience what it feels like to wake up as a giant insect, Gregor's struggle for an identity is a trial that is real and relatable to all of us. Kafka represents independence as what truly makes Gregor human, and this same truth exists within all of us. It is through the symbolism of the metamorphosis that Kafka relates this to us, the readers, and he does this brilliantly. The tragedy and emotional connection that Kafka elicits to the reader is of true merit, but the book's success lies in its ability to tie this tragic tale with such a humorous tone. "The Metamorphosis" is an obvious tragedy and it expresses a very serious message. Kafka leaves us no choice but to pity Gregor for the eventual state of his life, but despite all of this, Kafka has written one twisted and hilarious story. The dark, humorous tone that Kafka injects into his words is apparent from the very first sentence, as the story begins with an immediate shock: "One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous, verminous bug

This is a great story but very short, just 55 pages long. There is a cottage industry of sorts that has grown up trying to interpret the meaning of the story. I will skip that in my review and leave that to others. First things first. The present book is ISBN 0553213695 and it was reissued in 2004 with the same ISBN number. If you look carefully at the "product details" listed above you will see a description for the old book published in 1972 with the same ISBN number. It has been replaced, and I received and read the newer version. It is a bit shorter than the original, just 195 versus 224 pages. It is translated by Stanley Corngold. This is a famous and brilliant short story. For example, Nabokov selected this story as one of seven novels in his 1950s European literature course that he taught at Cornell (see Nabakov: "Lectures on Literature"). This is not a novel, but just a short story. He thinks that the aims of Kafka were relatively modest here and it is primarily an entertaining story and probably free of any Freudian interpretations. However, he does spend about 34 pages analyzing the story, the style, and the structure; he tries to explain what it means. Also, Nabokov thinks that some of the translator's words are not properly selected or are slightly confusing and those suggestions still apply to the current translation - as I checked this version against Nabokov's notes - and it is probably a better book in German. As a general reader, I was disappointed with this particular version of the book. "The Metamorphosis" story itself is just 55 pages long and one in retrospect I thought that it was probably a bad buy for the avergae buyer. The rest of the 194 pages is given over to analysis and similar. If you want a better value, you should look at some of the collected works such as: "The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and Other Stories" (Schocken Kafka Library), ISBN 0805210571, or "The Transformation (Metamorphosis) and Other Stories : Works Published During Kafka's Lifetime," 0140184783. Also, "The Great Short Works of Franz Kafka" ISBN: 0684800705. In any case, this is a brilliant story and it will not disappoint the reader.

Kafka knew so well how to make us feel trapped, estranged and lonely like the characters in his stories. He struggled with anxiety and feelings of inferiority in his own life, and his writing expresses the passive realization that life is a dark and confusing nightmare where we in no way are masters of our destinies. A young travelling salesman, Gregor Samsa, wakes up one morning and realizes that he has been transformed into a giant bug. Having been the provider for his elderly parents and his adolescent sister, he is now forced to crawl around in his room all day, hiding his hideous self from the sister who brings him food, unable to communicate and barred from the world outside. It is a story about being dehumanized and alienated, of being useless and unwanted, of becoming a burden to oneself as well as to others. Kafka is such a phenomenal writer that the mere absurdity of the plot is completely overshadowed by the vivid and somehow realistic descriptions of the emotional and behavioral responses of Gregor and his family to the unreal situation. It is as if Kafka is telling us that this circumstance is no more strange or hopeless than the predicaments faced by the average family.

I enjoyed this book so much i read it one sitting. Kafka's writing is fluid and easy-to-understand, yet after finishing the story it left me in a state of wonderment, and made me question whether Gregor Samsa actually turned into a cockroach or was just neurotic or in a state of psychosis. The Metamorphosis is different from other books i've read because of its element of the fantastic yet, in a sense, it seems so painfully real.

"When Gregor Samsa got up in the morning, he found himself transformed into a gigantic insect..." begins Kafka's famous Metamorphosis. I believe this is the most famous first opening sentence in twentieth century literature. In the whole story, Kafka took no interest in explaning why Gregor was transformed into a gigantic insect. Instead, there are detail descriptions of the change of his life, his circumstances and relationship between him and the external world after his transformation: how he regressed into an insectile existence and how he alienated himself from his family. His sister brought food scrapes on a piece of newspaper, he was bound in his room and his father even threw apples at him after he ventured out of his room resulting in his fatal injury. Can anyone criticize Gregor's family of the way they treat him? Whether it is right or not,I believe one of the main themes in the story is when you become a gigantic insect, you do behave like a gigantic insect and the world will treat you as a gigantic insect. The full horror of this story sinks in when nearly everyone can be transformed into a gigantic insect at anytime; like phyical and mental illnesses, accidents and injuries, degenerative and terminal illnesses, etc. There will be no explanation given no matter how unfair this transformation is done to an individual person. Finally, Gregor believed that it was reasonable for him to die for the best interest of his family. I felt so sad after I finished the book. Is everyone undergoing a process of metamorphosis either slowly or quickly?