Alienation in Franz Kafkas The Metamorphosis - Essay Example

Alienation in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa is not better off asa beetle than he had been as a person. Kafka's purpose in Gregor's transformation was to enable the character to have a cathartic emotional release from his imprisonment as a capitalist's worker. (Railey 232). We read that Gregor was not surprised to see his own transformation. Kafka's purpose was to include absurdity as a normal way of life, to open our eyes to the responses of Gregor's predicament.

If Gregor thought; 'Why don't I keep sleeping for a little while longer and forget all this foolishness,' (Johnston 2). In this, we realize that this metamorphosis might be due to Gregor's emotional state of anxiety, as we have read in the novel's opening line; 'One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered.' (Johnston 1).Kafka parodied the relentless demands of the heartless employer when he narrated Gregor's thoughts; 'Must the manager himself come, and in the process must it be demonstrated to the entire innocent family that the investigation of this suspicious circumstance could be entrusted only to the intelligence of the manager' (Johnston 11).

Gregor the beetle had to struggle to get out of bed to face the Manager. Gregor was not better off as a beetle. He still experienced anxiety; 'He was keen to witness what the others now asking about him would say when they saw him. If they were startled, then Gregor had no more responsibility and could be calm. But if they accepted everything quietly, then he would have no reason to get excited and, if he got a move on, could really be at the station around eight o'clock.' (Johnston 17). Gregor still had to report to work.

In his beetle form, Gregor suffered when he struggled to hold the key in his jaws; 'He didn't notice that he was obviously inflicting some damage on himself, for a brown fluid came out of his mouth, flowed over the key, and dripped onto the floor.' (Johnston 19). The beetle Gregor suffered rejection by his family. Kafka's purpose of portraying alienation and rejection was made known when; 'His father clenched his fist with a hostile expression, as if he wished to push Gregor back into his room' (Johnston 21).

Gregor realized his alienation from them; '"Now," said Gregor, well aware that he was the only one who had kept his composure.' He felt alienated. (Johnston 22). Grete, Gregor's sister, rejected him when he became a beetle. Kafka's purpose was to show us how fickle human emotions were. Grete 'walked in on her tiptoes, as if she was in the presence of a serious invalid or a total stranger.' (Johnston 33). Kafka showed us how Gregor gradually rejected himself when his alienation with his human form became more; '"Am I now going to be less sensitive," he thought, already sucking greedily on the cheese' (Johnston 35).

He was eating like a beetle. In the third and final scene, Gregor rejected even himself. He gave up caring for himself and we read that; 'But the extensive dampness made Gregor sick and he lay supine, embittered and immobile on the couch.' (Johnston 66). He suffered physically and emotionally. Kafka's purpose was to reveal that when one experienced total rejection of oneself, one gave up living; 'He remembered his family with deep feelings of love. In this business, his own thought that he had to disappear was, if possible, even more decisive than his sister's.

' (Johnston 83). Gregor, as a beetle, had experienced great mental, physical and emotional rejection; maybe far more than he had when he was a human. Gregor was not better off as a beetle.