Vermin In 1984 And Kafka's Metamorphosis

1984 and Metamorphosis Comparison Essay A vermin is a creature that, wreck havoc upon homes, crops, and other things. This, however, is the very literal definition of vermin. Vermin-like traits that people may possess are, that they work in a group or work continuously, with little thought to what they are doing. The work that they do is just repetitive, basic tasks, yet still, they depend on their work as it defines their purpose. A termite wouldn’t be a termite if it didn’t eat wood. In Orwell’s 1984 and Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Winston illustrates how his society turns its citizens into vermin, by describing his own, and other people’s mundane jobs they do, that allow the society to function, and Gregor illustrates this similarly, by becoming …show more content…
This same idea, in 1984, that one’s work defines the purpose of one’s life. Gregor expresses from the beginning that he couldn’t live without his work, foreshadowing his death towards the end of the novella: “Will you let me go? You see sir, I’m not obstinate, and I’m willing to work; traveling life is a hard life, but I couldn’t live without it.” (82, Metamorphosis) Even though he has been transformed into a colossal insect, and his entire family is in shock, Gregor is unphased by this, because his identity lies within his work. His appearance doesn’t matter to him; even the fact that he doesn’t enjoy his work doesn’t matter, because his work defines him as a person. He even says so he that “(he) couldn’t live without it”. On the other hand, his father had been wasting his life away for years since he had been out of work, “Now his father was still hale but an old man, and he had done no work for the past five years and could not be expected to do much; during these five years, the first years of leisure in his laborious though unsuccessful life, he had become fat and sluggish.” (96-97, Metamorphosis). It’s shown here that his father has become useless since he has stopped working. When he starts to work in order to care for the family, the father becomes healthier, and his life starts to hold purpose again. His family begins to love him more, and Gregor less, and of course this is because he is the one providing for them. The way society is portrayed as making people “vermin” in this book, is by showing that one will become useless one doesn’t work and that if a person isn’t working there is no need for them anymore, just like in an insect can’t work it is abandoned by its fellow