The Novel Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - Book Report/Review Example

Essay about the novel "Metamorphosis" Franz Kafka’s novel Metamorphosis intrigues humanity in a number of ways. It questions the respect given to a person who was once the breadwinner of the family. The transformation of Gregor into a vermin physically but continuing to have the mental thoughts and memories of a human being is a confusing condition. The human mental condition of Gregor is evident from his yearning to go to work and his worry that may get late. He worries that “The next train went at seven; to catch it he must hurry madly, and his collection of samples was not packed”. He is even more worried when the chief clerk reaches home to enquire why he has not turned up to work when he is required to complete some important task. Gregor’s family is not sure whether the vermin is their son. The family has tried to provide food and shelter for the vermin though the aspect of comfort is not given to him. He is not allowed out of his room to mingle with the members of the family and continue to have the good life he earlier had. Despite his physical condition, Gregor wants to complete his assignments for the day and wonders how his family will live without his earning because his father was already in debt. He is also worried that his mother cannot work due to her illness. He thinks "of his family with emotion and love." He also learns that in the absence of his earnings, all the members of the family have taken up work and they have also lent out room for lodgers. Gregor’s sister Grete used to serve him food and clean up his room. The maid of the house is fired and is replaced by a charwoman. The charwoman is the only woman who sympathizes with Gregor and talks to him. The human mental condition of Gregor is further revealed when he get’s out of his room following his sister to find medicine for their mother, who collapses seeing the vermin. Gregor is badly punished by his father for getting out of his room by throwing an apple and Gregor gets hurt, unable to move. This also reveals that Gregor’s father has reached a good financial position and wants to get rid of Gregor to maintain authority on the family. The sight of Gregor is fearsome for his mother, though his sister feeds him with his favorite food for which he has no penchant now. Though Gregor yearns to talk to their family and spent time with them, he is not allowed to get out of his room. But the music played by Grete takes him out of his room to teach his sister to play the right notes. The lodgers are astonished seethe creature and cries out to leave without paying for their stay. They also cry out "Was he an animal if music could captivate him so? It seemed to him that he was being shown the way to the unknown nourishment he had been yearning for." Gregor was deeply upset after this incident and when he was pushed into his room. The next morning, the charwoman came out of his room and said “He’s lying there, absolutely dead as a doornail.” This comes as a comforting news to the family and the father says “We can thank God for that!” (Kafka & Appelbaum) It has become the culture of the society to treat sick people indifferently. On diagnosing a person with infectious disease, it is a matter of survival for the patient to avail treatment and lead a normal life. It is a fact that everybody cannot be saved especially if they have terminal illness, but there is always a chance for survival if there is a will among the people who surround the patient. Patients are sometimes turned into victims of a particular disease because they are usually hidden from the normal people and the disease is kept a secret. In this case, the patient does not have the power to come out and request for treatment, to return to normal life. These patients have to suffer a silent death though the violence created by the society in terms of covering up the disease is not blatant. The covering up of the disease and the deprivation of treatment becomes invisible due to the social landscape of the society for which there are a number of social excuses. The society is unable to distinguish the necessities of these hidden victims but rather allow them to die. A report by World Health Organization reveals that more people die of AIDS even when these people could have availed either curative (antimicrobial) or preventive treatments. The constituents of the society that decide whether these treatments should reach patients are the pharmaceutical industry, doctors and politicians. In the year 2000, the price of drugs used to cure a patient with AIDS ran to thousands of dollar per year making it inaccessible for a majority of AIDS patients. The high price is not due to the high cost of production; it was merely due to the pressure created by lobbying parties (Jean-HervÃ). The society decides the fate of sick people by withholding treatments through high price. It may be concluded that Gregor was not treated kindly by his family and are finally relieved to find that their son is died. The respect and love he earned during his life as a traveling salesman faded away when he failed to provide the luxury and the family also did not bother to find a way to avail external help to get their son back. This may be associated to the terminally sick patients in this world who do not receive due respect and care when their worth is reduced in the society (Summary 2009). Works Cited Jean-Hervà “Invisible: Do sick people with no money need to become rich before we see that we can keep them alive?” 2003 Available: http://doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/ar/report_print.cfm?id=1027 Accessed on July 27, 2009 Kafka, Franz & Appelbaum, Stanley “The metamorphosis and other stories” New York: Dover Publications 1996 Summary 2009 Available: http://www.novelguide.com/TheMetamorphosis/summaries/Section3.html Accessed on July 27, 2009 Read More