...In the novel, The Metamorphosis, the author, Franz Kafka, reflects the alienation of his life into the story by using Gregor Samsa and other characters to show the struggles he had in his life. Kafka shows his opinions about work and jobs in society by making Gregor share his opinions on this topic. Another aspect of Gregor’s life that is similar to Kafka’s is their relationships with their families, and especially their fathers. The two character’s strangeness and their health are also issues that affects both of their lives. Kafka dislike work and jobs and he reflects that into Gregor Samsa in his novel. Samsa is a hardworking man who works every day for years without missing a single day. Gregor is a traveling salesman, so not many people...
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...certain way, or relieve stress. With regard to Franz Kafka, a playboy life style caused some of his personal life to be paralleled in his works. His fear of corruption in politics was enough inspiration to write numerous books and short stories. However, his overbearing father is the most apparent influence when he writes. Franz Kafka lived a warped life epitomized by his continual commitment of adultery, sensitivity to the corruption of modern political systems, and deep rooted abuse and rage of his father converge together in his novel, The Trial. Throughout The Trial, Kafka eludes to many instances where a character cheats on his or her significant other. The first instance occurs when K. arrives in the courtroom for his second hearing and he begins to talk to a woman who interrupted his initial hearing. The woman says, “The Court are woman chasers… even my husband has to get used to it” (Kafka 35). Kafka was a notorious adulterer, and had several short and long-term...
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...Kafka’s World W. Clement Stone said, “You are a product of your environment.” This theory can be used to understand the meaning behind Franz Kafka’s nonsensical writings. The politics, literature, and science present during Franz Kafka’s lifetime reflects in his stories’ characters. Kafka grew up in a challenging time period at the end of the nineteenth century, in the middle of Prague. At that moment in history, Prague was a part of the Austrian-Hungary Empire before World War I. “Kafka was born into a middle-class, German-speaking Jewish family (Nervi).” The empire was a mix of ethnicities and languages which led to a confused country. For families like Kafka’s, “they faced many special restrictions: they were not free to choose...
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...“. . . All artists’ work is autobiographical. Any writer’s work is a map of their psyche. You can really see what their concerns are, what their obsessions are, and what interests them.” (Kim Addonizio). Franz Kafka was neglected by his family and rejected from society, which in turn influenced many of his works; this may be expressed through the themes and symbols of his short stories. These stories are brought by his political beliefs, his social standing, and his family relationships. Although, not one of Kafka’s renowned works, “A Report for an Academy” is a work that pertains to his life in more ways than one. The story is about an ape’s report, Rotpeter, on how he became human. By the end of the story it is clear that Rotpeter is no...
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...Through much of Franz Kafka’s writing, the reader can see how his personal experiences and viewpoints are clearly worked into his many stories. One of which stands out is his story A Hunger Artist. In this story Kafka speaks through the hunger artist of the alienation and isolation he feels in his own body, as well as the emptiness he feels as a result of the disconnected relationship he and his father share. Ironically this emptiness manifests itself quite literally at the end of Kafka’s life, when he dies as a result of tuberculosis of the larynx, which causes him to literally starve to death, just as the hunger artist in the story. It was said about his writing “the early manifestations of authentic originality were nurtured in solitary confinement, with his readiness to see the world through his own eyes.” (Pawel 160) This comes across clearly in A Hunger Artist as someone who is in a self-imposed solitary confinement seeking meaning to his life, much like the hunger artist being locked in his cage. Thus, Kafka uses A Hunger Artist to speak of himself and his experiences. A Hunger Artist is a short story about a once popular spectacle staged for the entertainment of a pleasure-seeking public: the exhibition of a professional “hunger-artist” performing in a cage of straw, his stunt of fasting. The hunger artist spends his fasting performances, and therefore most of his life, in a cage, on display before a crowd of people. His spectators see him as a trickster and common...
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...The Metamorphosis In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka the main character Gregor Samsa wakes up on a regular day ready to start his daily routine of getting up and going to work so he can support his family. However, on this particular morning when he wakes up and lifts his head he comes to find that he has been transformed into a giant beetle like insect. He notices that the room is normal and everything is the way he left it but the weather is somewhat depressing so he decides to try and go back to sleep and try to forget about it all as if it would go back to normal. When he tries to though he realizes the way he is used to sleeping is impossible in his new state. This isn’t the biggest of his problems however, he now realizes he cannot be seen by anyone because he doesn’t know how they will react but he knows somehow he needs to get to work. He decides to just stay in and hope it goes away but he is never sick so his family and manager begin to suspect something more is going on. Finally he gets the strength to get up as his family and manager are persisting he unlocks his door but realizes maneuvering is a lot more difficult as this bug like thing he now is. Eventually he gets to the door and uses his teeth to unlock it and when his father opens the door and he reveals himself he is suddenly a disgrace to his family. All of them leave his locked in his room and don’t know what to do with him other than his sister, Grete, who occasionally brings him...
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...One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in his bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug. He lay on his armour-hard back and saw, as he lifted his head up a little, his brown, arched abdomen divided up into rigid bow-like sections. From this height the blanket, just about ready to slide off completely, could hardly stay in place. His numerous legs, pitifully thin in comparison to the rest of his circumference, flickered helplessly before his eyes. “What’s happened to me,” he thought. It was no dream. His room, a proper room for a human being, only somewhat too small, lay quietly between the four well-known walls. Above the table, on which an unpacked collection of sample cloth goods was spread out—Samsa was a travelling salesman—hung the picture which he had cut out of an illustrated magazine a little while ago and set in a pretty gilt frame. It was a picture of a woman with a fur hat and a fur boa. She sat erect there, lifting up in the direction of the viewer a solid fur muff into which her entire forearm had disappeared. Gregor’s glance then turned to the window. The dreary weather—the rain drops were falling audibly down on the metal window ledge—made him quite melancholy. “Why don’t I keep sleeping for a little while longer and forget all this foolishness,” he thought. But this was entirely impractical, for he was used to sleeping on his right side, but in his present state he could not get himself into this position...
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...Kean Nicole Nagui Master Ho English 116-602 4/8/2014 Essay 1, prompt 2 Common grounds of “The Trial” and “The Metamorphosis” Works from the one of the most influential author, Franz Kafka, is like trying to read hieroglyphics. Unless, of course you are Egyptian. It is difficult to comprehend someone that comes from a total different era or background. Usually an author, relates their theme of their works with simple and easy literary devices, such as symbolism. So does Franz Kafka, but on a greater scale. All of the aspects and elements of his works seem unimportant, because of the different interpretations of his works. Most of his works , depicts his own thoughts and dreams. Like some authors, Kafka focuses on a single character symbolizing himself or his life. To fully recognized and understand this method , the audience must study his background and just basic history to understand his motive. He stands out against all these other authors because he goes against the flow of the writing norms. Some of the genre's found in his works are Kafkaesque, Magic Realism,Dystopia,Fantasy,Science Fiction,Modernism,Post Modernism and Existentialism. First time reading one of Kafka's predominant novel, "The Trial" was pretty overwhelming. Personally, I have nothing to compare his works to, other than his own work, in particular, "The Metamorphosis." While these two have some obvious similarities, there are some hidden and usually inconspicuous ones that readers, like myself, don’t...
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...The setting of a story often helps a reader to feel as if he were actually a part of the story. Franz Kafka and Herman Melville are two authors who chose specific settings for their stories. The settings they chose help to place their characters into perspective and to understand the problems they face. Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Herman Melville’s Billy Budd take place at different points in time and in different settings; Metamorphosis in an apartment in the early 1900’s, and Billy Budd on a ship in the late 18th Century. These settings help to identify the mood of each story. Metamorphosis takes place in the early 1900’s in the apartment of Gregor Samsa. Kafka does not provide a geographical setting for Metamorphosis, however, the significance of the story taking place on land is the ability of the characters to escape at their own will. Metamorphosis begins with Gregor unable to get out of his bed for work, later succumbing to the fact that he has morphed into an insect. Gregor’s extreme tardiness for work causes upheaval and chaos in the Samsa home; The father is screaming, Gregor’s boss comes to the house to find his employee, Gregor’s mother and sister are crying because they are scared, and there are guests in the home. The setting of the entire Samsa family being confined into a small apartment makes the the turmoil that arises a much larger issue than it really is. At a certain point, the Samsa family, led by their father, decides to isolate Gregor into...
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...In Franz Kafka’s novel ,The Metamorphosis, the author pertains to his character, Gregor Samsa,with uncontrollable circumstances such as isolation caused by outside forces. Gregor Samsa, upon waking one morning finds himself transformed into what he already feels like, an insect. His parents deem him unworthy of their love and throw him away like the rest of their junk. Gregor’s father chooses a job for him that dismisses all hopes of forming human connections because of its time consuming nature. Experiences such as theses parallel with Kafka. Born into an anti Semitic community, along with a very opinionated father Kafka’s life is filled with people pushing him away. Kafka truly lives through his characters, especially Gregor, in this short...
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...Absurdity in Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” This title is in the reference of the novella “The Metamorphosis” (“Die Verwandlung”) by Franz Kafka (first published in 1915). One day Gregor Samsa woke up to find himself turned into a monstrous insect. And thus begins the story of the Samsa family. Wrapped in a very descriptive narration of Gregor Samsa as an insect and his family adjusting to their new lives, Kafka wove a tale that seem absurd and surrealistic in nature but is soberly realistic. It is the tragedy of Gregor Samsa in which everyone else lives happily ever after. The structure of this novella is a very unique than the standard structure of exposition, complication, climax, and unravelling as Kafka...
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...Tyler De Jesus Barry Webster Metamorphosis 12 October 2012 Grete’s Metamorphosis Franz Kafka’s intriguing literary work, “The Metamorphosis,” details the physical change a man experiences and its subsequent effect on those around him. Within the novella, Gregor Samsa’s unexplained transformation into a monstrous vermin affects his entire family, and in particular his sister, Grete. This change leaves the family distraught, but allows Grete the liberty to flourish into her own person. The pressures of a metamorphosis, as seen through Grete’s example, force people to change accordingly to the one being metamorphosed. This theme is illustrated through her relationship with her brother, her emerging role in the family, and her development into womanhood. The diminishing pity Grete has for her brother’s dire predicament is a strong indicator of her metamorphosis into self-sufficiency, which she achieves by maturing in their relationship, from being his caregiver to wanting him eradicated. Initially, she is the only member of the Samsa family to care for Gregor: “[H]e could never have guessed what his sister in her kindness actually did. In order to test his likings, she brought him a big selection.” (Kafka 26). The sincerity in Grete’s actions towards her brother is evident, especially because their parents refused to even enter his room. Her behaviour is undoubtedly a sign of the close relationship they shared before his metamorphosis, a time in which...
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...Bryant English 1302 Spring 2012 Kafka’s Dream World In his short story “The Metamorphosis,” Franz Kafka tells the story of Gregor Samsa, a traveling sales clerk whom one day awakens to find himself transformed into a giant insect. His state prevents him immediately from living the type of life he would otherwise have been leading, causing a series of reactions from himself and his family that would eventually lead to his demise. Not only is the this short story a precisely worded, tense modern fairy tale that shows Kafka’s imagination, but it also acts as a vessel of analysis of not only Kafka’s personal life, but how he felt about his life and the times that he lived in. In “The Metamorphosis,” Kafka creates a dreamlike parallel between the world he has created and his own reality, historically and symbolically, and uses this to criticize himself and the world around him. Kafka connects the reality of his life to the fiction of his story to create a sense of reality in the dreamy feel created by the text of “The Metamorphosis.” Dr. Ianc Lulian writes about the many of the commonalities between Kafka and the character Samsa, especially around the time of Kafka’s life in which he wrote this particular story. (424) Kafka worked a job that he considered a waste of time, much like he describes the dead-end sales clerk position Samsa worked, according to Lulian. (424) Kafka works at the sacrifice of himself, much like Samsa, to provide for his family that he even lived in...
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...Samson Abdurachmanov An Existential Crisis Existential crisis is a moment at which an individual questions the very foundations of their life: whether their life has any meaning, purpose, or value. Sometimes there are men who will accept their fate graciously. Two works that depict these ideas are “The Death of Ivan Ilych” by Leo Tolstoy and “The Metamorphosis” by Kafka. In both works by Tolstoy and Kafka, the main characters at some point question their lives’ and what life means to them. In order to question one’s life, it would be necessary that one evaluate the decisions they make. A person’s life can change in any event that has happened to them. Moreover, the decisions ones made in those events can create a ripple effect of what happens to them in the future. In Tolstoy, we have Ivan Ilych, a dying man looking back into his life. In Kafka, we have Gregor Samsa, a man transformed into a vermin watching his life change and witnessing his family learning to live without him. The main characters here now have an existential crisis and are going to have to make a choice. Both accept their fates in a similar fashion, acceptance. Both works have a similar theme of seclusion. In Kafka's work, Gregor transforms into an insect. His entire family and employer immediately reject him. His father locks him in his room; his mother faints at the mere sight of him. They worry more about who will provide for them...
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...The story by Franz Kafka is one that captivates your attention just from its title “The Metamorphosis.” It is centered on the major character Gregor’s transformation from human to cockroach. Kafka delivers this story through an anonymous narrator. The narrator has a couple of similar and different roles from Gregor that makes him his own special character. One of the first things that jump at you as you’re reading the story is the fact that that narrator of the story is not Gregor Samsa. Due to the fact that the narrator is anonymous, it is safe to say he either has a third person point of view or a limited omniscient point of view. This leads me to say that the narrator is and isn’t Gregor Samsa. The story is told through Gregor’s perspective,...
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