Free Essays on The Metamorphosis

THE METAMORPHOSIS In the opening lines of German author Franz Kafkas’ short story narrative â€Å"The Metamorphosis†, the protagonist Gregor Samsa a disgruntled traveling salesman who lives with and supports his parents and little sister, awakens from a night of unpleasant dreams to find that he has been metamorphosed into a cockroach he calls a â€Å"monstrous vermin† (Kafka, page 89). This particularly strange opening sets the stage for in my opinion, a very strange and very vague play. I say this because throughout the whole story we never find out much less are given any clue of how or why he managed to be metamorphosed into this insect. Not to mention what the moral of the story is or the fact that this whole book reads like one big nauseating, joke. As the story begins we basically from the get go are introduced to the daily gist of the book which is Gregor’s everyday struggle with his newly acquired body. This is evident when Gregor try’s to crawl out of bed but cannot because he is laid down on his back and as a cockroach does not have the means to get himself up and into a upright poistion. To make things worst when he awakens at half-past six o’clock and is immediately late for the five o’clock train he was destined to be on for his meeting with the porter. Gregor is now running the risk of being unemployed if he doesn’t make his appointed rounds as a traveling salesman. It is right before this point that we find out about Gregor’s utter contempt for not only his job and his boss but his special loan workout wage setup as well. You see Gregor’s parents are in debt to his boss who is only referred to as the â€Å"chief† (Kafka, page 90) of his firm. Gregor himself who is a returning veteran of our country yearns to be free his Indentured like servitude to his chief so that he can feel free to pursue other goals. This to me I find quit e peculiar because it is never stated what he plans on doing after he pays t... Free Essays on The Metamorphosis Free Essays on The Metamorphosis The Metamorphosis By: Franz Kafka Gregor Samsa has gone through a metamorphosis. This change has turned Gregor into a â€Å"monstrous vermin†. The anxieties, inner terrors, and cynicism, which fill Gregor’s life, are expressed by Kafka throughout the novel, metamorphosis. Franz Kafka uses these feelings as an element of Expressionism to convey Gregor’s attitudes towards his life and society. Examples depicting this element of Expressionism used in the novel are Gregor’s feelings towards his job, the effect his job has on his family, and the cruelty that his family displays. The novel opens with Gregor in his monstrous state, late for work. He infers that his job as a traveling salesman is very consequential, yet he is growing tired and frustrated, â€Å"The upset of doing business is much worse than the actual business in the home office, and, besides, I’ve got the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate. To the devil with it all!† (Kafka 12). Gregor has a great amount of fury towards his job, which eventually led to his anger towards society as a whole. The fact that his office manager showed up at Gregor’s house plays an immense role in creating trepidation and anxieties in Gregor’s mind. Gregor feels strangled by his job and is too weak to tolerate the pressure. In addition to the pressure created by his office manager and society, the Samsa’s, especially Gregor’s father, take advantage of him. Gregor earns the basic income to support his family. â€Å"But of course he actually could have paid off more of his father’s debt to the boss with this extra money, and the clay on which he could have gotten rid of his job would have been much closer, but now things were undoubtedly better, the way his father had arranged them.† (Kafka 76). The superficiality of the Samsa’s has put Gregor ... Free Essays on The Metamorphosis THE METAMORPHOSIS In the opening lines of German author Franz Kafkas’ short story narrative â€Å"The Metamorphosis†, the protagonist Gregor Samsa a disgruntled traveling salesman who lives with and supports his parents and little sister, awakens from a night of unpleasant dreams to find that he has been metamorphosed into a cockroach he calls a â€Å"monstrous vermin† (Kafka, page 89). This particularly strange opening sets the stage for in my opinion, a very strange and very vague play. I say this because throughout the whole story we never find out much less are given any clue of how or why he managed to be metamorphosed into this insect. Not to mention what the moral of the story is or the fact that this whole book reads like one big nauseating, joke. As the story begins we basically from the get go are introduced to the daily gist of the book which is Gregor’s everyday struggle with his newly acquired body. This is evident when Gregor try’s to crawl out of bed but cannot because he is laid down on his back and as a cockroach does not have the means to get himself up and into a upright poistion. To make things worst when he awakens at half-past six o’clock and is immediately late for the five o’clock train he was destined to be on for his meeting with the porter. Gregor is now running the risk of being unemployed if he doesn’t make his appointed rounds as a traveling salesman. It is right before this point that we find out about Gregor’s utter contempt for not only his job and his boss but his special loan workout wage setup as well. You see Gregor’s parents are in debt to his boss who is only referred to as the â€Å"chief† (Kafka, page 90) of his firm. Gregor himself who is a returning veteran of our country yearns to be free his Indentured like servitude to his chief so that he can feel free to pursue other goals. This to me I find quit e peculiar because it is never stated what he plans on doing after he pays t...