Kafka

4 Pages 984 Words

Throughout literary history, certain authors are so unique and fresh in their approach to the written word that they come to embody a genre. Franz Kafka is one such author; “The Metamorphosis” is one of his works that helped coin the term “Kafkaesque.” Through this novel, Kafka addresses the timeless theme of people exploiting others as a means to an end. He demonstrates this point through showing that a family’s unhealthy dependence on the main character results in that character’s dependence on the family. Kafka’s unorthodox beginning of “The Metamorphosis” reads as what would seem to be a climactic moment: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” The reader is henceforth bound to the story in search of the reason for and meaning of this hideous metamorphosis. Shortly thereafter, the reader may also notice that although Gregor is quite aware of his condition, given these bizarre circumstances he is not at all in the state of panic one might expect. On the contrary, the insect is frustrated that it cannot get out of bed to go to work! As Gregor tries to rouse himself from bed in his “present condition,” his observation that “he himself wasn't feeling particularly fresh and active” is macabre in its passive acknowledgment of the absurdity of his state. This sets the tone for the remainder of the first chapter of the story. Gregor, a person typically not a hindered by “small aches and pains,” clings to his rational nature as he struggles with the slow-in-coming realization that he is more than “temporarily incapacitated”. The first chapter ends shortly after Gregor reveals his new form. The sight of the insect elicited an expected reaction; its mother understandably retreated aghast and in shock. Correspondingly, the chief clerk that had been sent by Gregor’s employer, scrambled in flight as he “had quite slipped from ...