Marxist Theory in Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis Book and Guy De Maupassant's The Necklace - Essay Example

Marxist Theory In the world over big sectors of the economy are now controlled by one class of people. Most of this is the leading class in the country called the high class. They control the means of production in the country. They determine the path the economy is to take. This is what capitalist is all about. Capitalist is the system where private owners control the means of production and other sectors of the economy. The middle class and the lower class work for the higher class for a wage to sustain their livelihood. These are all factors that constitute a capitalist economy. Marxism focuses on the relations between different social classes and the societal conflict. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are the intellectual tenets of Marxism in the mid to late 19th century. Many writers have endeavored to talk and elaborate more on this as Marxism has taken a key root in the economies and societal relationships of many countries. Among them are Franz Kafka in the book Metamorphosis and Guy De Maupassant in the book The Necklace. In our following essay, we shall be seeking to associate the two novels and capitalism. Metamorphosis warns of the effects of capitalism. Those human beings are held up in a cocoon of labor and labor and the inevitable end where human beings will be lonely and live a life of horror. It also creates a notion that in the end women will rule over men. The Novella revolves around Gregor who is a salesperson hawking fabric so that he can be able to support his mother and sister. He works so hard like an insect to find anything he can survive with. He becomes exhausted with this race and he oversleeps and later wakes up and wakes up as a monstrous vermin. Gregor is trapped by his job that makes him like a machine that can be replaced any minute. Entangled by his parents debt and his will to provide for his family he is left with no way out but becoming an alcoholic and this makes him not to work anymore. Grete no becomes the only one who can take over the role of Gregor. In time, he lives him little food and this leads to his premature death. Gregor’s death. This death is caused by lack of love. The only people who Gregor worked hard for are the people who caused his death. Grete being one of them as he takes over the role of bringing food to him but over time he brings less and less food and eventually he lives the work to the maid to give him food. His parents who he worked so hard to provide for them also have deserted him they even want his sister to be married to a rich family so that they can link the Samsas to richness. The workers at the lodges also celebrate his death instead of mourning for his death. Gregor dies a poor man not because he does not have material things but because he lacks love. Love that he gave preciously by toiling day in day out to provide for his family. This novella prophecies the disadvantage of the capitalist society. The middle class and the higher class are forced to work for the rich. They toil day and night to provide for their families. They must work to eat. It has become a world of work for the poor and food for the rich. The poor are not able to eat properly because they are not able to earn enough to enable them acquire a balanced diet although. Therefore, their health is at risk. They are not able to afford the basics, as what they earn cannot be divisible by all their needs. They are left to only Endeavour to satisfy their only pressing needs. A capitalist society is therefore seen a disadvantage to these society. It depicts a class that is not ready to associate with the other class. In precise the ruling class depicts others as insects who are supposed to go on a metamorphosis to be of use and if they can no longer go to a metamorphosis, they are useless and their death is a relief rather than a loss. Lastly, capitalism in this novella shoes the relationship between the selfless and the selfish. The selfish depend on the selfless to satisfy their unsatifiable needs. The Samsas always waited for Gregor to provide them with food and to meet their other needs. It comes to a point where Gregor has gone to a complete metamorphosis and cannot work anymore. Instead of Grete taking care of Gregor as He once took care o him, he starts lowering the quantity of food that he gives to him and eventually leaves the work to the house cleaner without follow up. The death of Gregor is a celebration to many rather than a day of mourning. Today this has become like a prophecy where work related stress and malnutrition has taken centre stage. Many people are dying of work related cancers and suicides. No one has come out there to help and no one has taken keen interest in this. The Samsas want to marry their daughter off to a rich family because of the high dowry that will be paid among other benefits, which is tantamount to selling off their daughter for money. This is not a new thing in the world we live and according to Charles Darwin; it is a world of Survival for the fittest. In a political sense, this cannot be considered as a revolution because his body does not revolt but it conforms to an insect (Krasny 21). In the next story of The Necklace, a story of a woman so obsessed with climbing the ladder to a higher class, a class of gold and silver is told. In this short story, the woman is invited to a party and she wants to look as the who is who in the society. She and her husband belong to a lesser group where they struggle to survive. The husband cannot afford all that she wants for the party. She completely declines to attend the ball party to which the husband is invited. The husband does not want to leave her behind therefore accepts to purchase the expensive dress she wants but cannot afford to purchase the expensive necklace for her and therefore allows Madame Mathilde to borrow the necklace from her friend. In the party, she associates with the people of the higher class rather than her own class. This is a characteristic story of a capitalistic society today. A society that is characterized by different societal class. The lower class aiming to be as if the middle and the higher class while the middle class desires to be like the leading class. Madame Mathilde represents a capitalistic division that is greedy in nature and does not want to settle with what is theirs. A greedy upper class that wants always to remain there and wealthy for more wealth. They do not care about the means of getting it but having it. They do not want to fit in their class and be contented with what they have. The middle class who do not want to own what is theirs they rather borrow from the ruling class rather than being contented with what they have. They do not want to associate with what they have. This story also is significant of the political cycle. The politics of today is characterized by greed. Politicians who are not able to bow down to the same people who elected them and serve them like they are supposed to. They use their positions to acquire more wealth to their name, to gain more power and to control the means of production in their country. The end of the story is symbolic where Madame Losses the gold necklace and she is forced to repay it. This causes them a life of poverty and struggle. They are struggling to pay for what could be avoided. This is symbolic of the capitalist society, that they are doomed to an undesirable end. An end that is doomed. Countries that will be in debt, economies that cannot stand for themselves. This is what the necklace is trying to show. In conclusion, Marxist theory in the two novels is trying to show the kind of harm capitalism is going to bring. It suggests that though it may be good when implemented, care should be taken. Work Cited Krasny, Michael. Masterpieces of Short Fiction. Teaching Company, 2008. Read More