Metamorphosis and Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - Essay Example

? Comparison: Metamorphosis and Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Metamorphosis by Frank Kafka is a story based on the transformation of the life of one man called Gregor Samsa, as well as his family. Samsa wakes up one day to discover that he no longer can work as he used, because he has been turned into a monstrous insect. Thus, he becomes a parasite attached to closed places, a claustrophile and, worst of all, he cannot go out, thus, spends his entire life in hiding. At the same time, the tables are turned, and he depends on his family and assistance and care from his sister while it used to be the other way round; hence, the family which was dependent on him has to start working again. The play Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe follows the life of a young boy who is caught robbing a bakery by the law enforcers, and this lands him a place at the prison school at Ruxton Towers. The living conditions at the Borstal are tough and Smith seeks solace in long-distance running to escape from these circumstances. He attracts the attention of the school authorities who promise early to release from the brutality of Borstal if he wins an important cross-country championship. Smith has all the reasons and the powers to win the competition, but on an interesting turn of events, he deliberately loses the race to the dismay of spectators and school authorities. The two stories seek to present the social problems faced by the society, which are social and emotional alienation, loneliness as demonstrated by the main characters. Both authors, Kafka and Sillitoe explore effective use of metaphor to address these issues and present them to the audience. While Kafka uses vermin, Sillitoe uses running. Both are demonstrated throughout the respective stories in examining major obstacles faced by the characters. Therefore, the metaphors are used to convey the actions of the characters, Samsa and Smith, and how they interact with them to achieve the purpose of the stories. Kafka is one of the greatest German writers, famous for writing technique that unites concrete and figurative language in order to demonstrate purpose and idea. As such, amazing use of metaphor in writing is one of the significant elements of his writing techniques. In the story Metamorphosis, he does not fail short of this technique, which he uses to convey the social problems in the society through the main character. Kafka uses metaphor to represent or reveal the relationship between people or characters in the story, in which he uses vermin. The first metaphor in this story is metamorphosis itself whereby Samsa suddenly changes to a monstrous insect one morning. Samsa contributes a great deal to the enhancement of the metaphor of metamorphosis because, despite unusual transformation, he does not stop to question why and how it could be possible. Metamorphosis is a metaphor because it is unrealistic for human beings to transform into insects, but Samsa accepts this situation fairly, readily without questioning the reality or logic behind this matter. This direction taken by the main character is peculiar because normal human nature would seek inquiry to explain the transformation. This lack of query is unusual, and one could argue that the transformation occurred mentally and not physically. The transformation into a beetle represents the life in Samsa’s family, as well as a reflection of his own life. Samsa provides for his family the same way an insect would provide for the rest of the members; thus, the transformation represents his role in the family. He is so much concerned with work and provision for his family that he does not even have hobbies or real friends, let alone a good friendship with his own family. This behavior can be compared to that of an insect, and thus, Samsa successfully delivers the purpose of the story with the aid of the metaphor. Another metaphor in this story is communication in the Samsa family. Kafka uses metaphor to reveal the relationship between members of an ordinary low class family, in particular, lack of communication. For instance, Samsa’s character explicitly displays this lack of communication. He wakes up one day to find himself transformed into an insect. As a consequence, the family members do not want to associate with him (Franz, 1996, p.20). Literally, communication between an insect and a human being is impossible; thus, the relationship or situation itself is a metaphor. As a result, he also tries to keep out of the family’s way making him stay in his room all the time, and find solace in hiding away. However, he does not easily accept that his family is rejecting him just because of his physical transformation since his mental status remains the same. This shows loneliness, social and emotional alienation that the main character is battling with. Lack of communication is also witnessed before Samsa’s transformation, and this is revealed when his mother comes to wake him up to go to work. She does not stop to think that maybe something could be wrong with him, and that is why he has delayed in waking up. Samsa himself states, “Quiet life his family has been leading”, which illustrates the lack of communication between the family members (Franz, 1996, p.18). Perhaps, that is why he alienates himself from the family using work and business trips, which have made his family see him as a worker rather than a member of the family. He finds it hard to communicate with his family and even grandparents, a relationship similar to that between beetles and human beings. Similarly, in the story, Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Sillitoe put into effective use his expertise of metaphor technique to bring out the purpose and idea of the story. The author uses running as a metaphor, which is the film’s central device for rebellion, freedom and alienation. Smith is the central character of this story, and he carries along the metaphor successfully to the end of the story. Smith has lived under rough life since he was a child, and he believes that running is the only solution to everything in life. He even remarks, “Running's always been a big thing in our family, especially running away from the police” (Daniels, 2008, p.24). In reality, it is unrealistic that running would solve any problem such as loneliness, alienation among other social problems because, at the end of the race, one goes back to the usual life and circumstances or situations. At the juvenile school, he is tormented and mocked by his fellow inmates, which makes him suffer a creepy arrogance from Stevens. This clearly shows how he is lonely in that place because of incapability to associate with the fellow inmates. As a result, he tries to alienate himself through long distance running, which to him is the solution to the problems. Running not only represents alienation and loneliness, but also rebellion and freedom (Daniels, 2008, p.26). This is clearly and successfully demonstrated by the main character, Smith, who is presented with a chance for freedom if he wins a running competition. However, he rebels against the school authorities by deliberately losing the race. Perhaps, he feels that getting away from the Borstal is not the solution to his problems as the situation is worse when he comes back home. He believes that he will be running for the rest of his life, whether he is given freedom or not. In conclusion, the two stories use the main characters to bring out their feelings to the audience, which are social and emotional alienation, loneliness, freedom and rebellion. Samsa successfully delivers what is conveyed by the metaphor by accepting his situation without objection and bringing out the alienation, loneliness and lack of communication in ordinary families. Likewise, Smith delivers the metaphor of running as conveyed to reveal loneliness, alienation, rebellion and freedom in the society. References Daniels, A. (2008). Lessons of the Long-Distance Runner. The New Criterion. Retrieved from http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Lessons-of-the-long-distance-runner-3885 Kafka, Franz. (1996). Selected Short Stories: The Metamorphosis and Other Stories. US: Courier Dover Publications Read More