In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, Kafka writes in a way that connects his own life to that of Gregor Samsa, the main character in his novella, by illustrating that both suffer from alienation imposed from an outside source. The Metamorphosis explains the difficulties of living in a modern society along with the struggle for acceptance. This leads the main character, Gregor Samsa, to isolate himself from the world, dropping his self-worth leading to his depression. Franz Kafka also experienced isolation and depression in his own life. Both Gregor Samsa and Franz Kafka are alienated without their control. This alienation is not brought about with their own intentions, but results from outside sources. Outside sources that are uncontrollable, leading to Gregor and Franz’s confinement.
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Beginning with Samsa, he wakes up one morning and morphs into a “monstrous vermin” (Kafka 3). The isolation begins the slow deterioration of Gregor and is seen when he gradually starts to lose his eyesight. Kafka writes, “From day to day he saw things even a short distance away less and less distinctly” (Kafka 28). Gregor, from the time after his transformation, always spent time looking at the hospital across the street, but now it was out of his range of vision. Gregor is horrified to show himself to society, never mind his own family, locking himself in his room. Gregor is suffering every day of his life in alienation and is alone, dying a slow, painful death. Worst of all, his decrease of health is unnoticeable to the other members of his family. This is seen when Grete says to his dead corpse, “Look how thin he is” (Kafka 52). They admire his shape for amusement, but never really think about how cruel they were for not taking care of him properly. Gregor’s job is even in jeopardy simply for waking up a bug, something that just happened all of a
Beginning with Samsa, he wakes up one morning and morphs into a “monstrous vermin” (Kafka 3). The isolation begins the slow deterioration of Gregor and is seen when he gradually starts to lose his eyesight. Kafka writes, “From day to day he saw things even a short distance away less and less distinctly” (Kafka 28). Gregor, from the time after his transformation, always spent time looking at the hospital across the street, but now it was out of his range of vision. Gregor is horrified to show himself to society, never mind his own family, locking himself in his room. Gregor is suffering every day of his life in alienation and is alone, dying a slow, painful death. Worst of all, his decrease of health is unnoticeable to the other members of his family. This is seen when Grete says to his dead corpse, “Look how thin he is” (Kafka 52). They admire his shape for amusement, but never really think about how cruel they were for not taking care of him properly. Gregor’s job is even in jeopardy simply for waking up a bug, something that just happened all of a