Conflict and Alienation in Kafkas Metamorphosis - 2651 Words

In Franz Kafkas novella, The Metamorphosis, the protagonist (Gregor Samsa), is engaged in a struggle against his oppressors, while at the same time he tries to accommodate the very social structure that is ruining his life. Gregors family is abusive, yet he constantly forgives them. He is truly altruisticÂâ€"he works like an animal in order to maintain his familys material comfort. His only dream is to send his beloved sister to the music Conservatory. Gregor is constantly hungry, but not for these things (Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis, hereafter known as KM). He longs for nourishment other than food, for an emotional sustenance derived from an active involvement with his family (Sweeney 152). Simultaneously, he rebels against†¦show more content†¦His sense of duty to his parents is the cause of his banal existence. He works not for himself, but so his family can maintain their comfortable existence. Gregor never seeks to rebel against this familial order. Before h is metamorphosis, his everyday animalistic routine barely distinguished him from vermin. When he is home, he sits... at the table.... studying train schedules (KM 8). Rules and systems dominate his lifeÂâ€"and he is profoundly unhappy and isolated. Gregors alienation corresponds with Marxs definition of the externalization of the worker under capitalism: ‘his work is external to the workers, i.e., it does not form part of his essential being so that instead of feeling well in his work, he feels unhappy, instead of developing his free physical and mental energy, he abuses his body and ruins his mind (Sokel 149). Gregor does not work for himself, he works to pay off his fathers debt. In turn, his father exploits him. When Gregor finds out that his father actually had money hidden away, he [nods] emphatically, delighted at this unexpected foresight and thrift (KM 21). He, however does realize that [o]f course he actually could have paid off more of his fathers debt to the boss with this extra money, and the day on which he could have gotten rid of his job would have been much closer, but now things were undoubtedly better the way his fatherShow MoreRelatedThe Existential Isolation And Biopsychological Change1519 Words   |  7 Pagesin The Metamorphosis and â€Å"Letter to my Father† by Franz Kafka and Unwelcome Visitors† by Tessa Farmer This literary and art analysis will define the correlation between the writings of Kafka and the installation art of Tessa Farmer’s in relation to the themes of existential isolation and biopsychological change. Gregor’s anxiety in The Metamorphosis is partially due to the alienation of society, which cases an existential period of isolation in which he transforms into a bug. 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