Metamorphosis

Book: The Metamorphosis and other stories
By: Franz Kafka

“He thought back on his family with deep emotion and love. His conviction that he would have to disappear was, if possible, even firmer than his sister's. He remained in this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three in the morning. He still saw that outside the window everything was beginning to grow light. Then, without his consent, his head sank down to the floor, and from his nostrils streamed his last weak breath.”
― Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka was a writer whose work was mostly published after his death because many of his works were not entirely finished or to his expectations. The Metamorphosis  is quite possibly his most popular story and it is a thought provoking, introspective maze of Kafka's view of his role in his family through the use of allegories and symbolism.



Plot/Summary: Gregor Samsa is a traveling salesman who finds himself as an insect one morning. He attempts to go back to sleep and sleep off his transformation as a dream and must eventually cope with the fact that he is no longer a man, dealing with isolation and fear from his family who do not understand what happened to Gregor, but are more concerned with their financial means than Gregor's state due to Gregor's ceased income. It leads to the eventual death of Gregor and how it allows the family to grasp their own independence because of their ceased inability to rely on Gregor for financial report.

Review: The first time that I read The Metamorphosis all I took out of it was that a poor man was left to die as an insect while his family found a way to be financially stable by deciding to marry off Gregor's younger sister after his death. While that can be a layman's analysis, there is a lot more that The Metamorphosis gives its readers.

It uses a lack of logic and fantasy to explain Gregor's transformation, in the idea that it obviously can never happen, but that it can be a metaphorical transformation. Gregor is no longer able to provide for his family and they cannot come to terms with his lack of contribution for them, despite that they are unemployed themselves--- and Gregor's boss is aware of his absence at work only five minutes after Gregor should have started, which is an impossibility because of the means of transportation and timing in which his boss appears.

The Metamorphosis  has an ending that is, for me, extremely depressing. No matter how often I read it, the decisions and heavy reliance of his family always shocks me, but it is a short story that I always look forward to reading.  

Author's Writing Technique: Kafka, in all of his writings, used a lot of heavy symbolism and allegories to define a connection between life and obligations. He used fantasy and metaphors to define his life and the views of society in simplistic language that is thought provoking and unnerving.

Writer's Tip: Write simplistically with the use of a metaphor as the basis for a story. Have a connection between the metaphor in life that a reader can easily interpret.