Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

The turn of the twentieth century sparked the change of European culture as people experienced the power struggle between nations. As World War I heightened in the early 1900s, devastation was brought to many families when the men were sent to battle, while the remaining working class struggled to control their own lives at home. Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis exemplifies the constraints wrapped around the working class as World War I was underway beginning in 1914. Gregor Samsa’s bug transformation depicts his isolation from his world and his family since he is not able to work. While this is apparent, we can see through various poems developed about the horrors of World War I that instilled fear upon the people that their freedom was at …show more content…
In his Doctrine of Fascism, Mussolini attempts to justify Fascism as the way to create a better Italian nation. However, this authoritarian democratic government interferes with the freedom of the citizen. For example, fascism describes the control of both material and spiritual aspects, of which is for the better of the nation. But a higher power that controls every aspect of human life tears away any sense of liberty they hope to have. Mussolini affirms that the state is the most important aspect of the fascist ideology. For example, Mussolini states that fascism “stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with those of the State, which stands for the conscience and the universal, will of man as a historic entity” (Doctrine of Fascism). As a statist, Mussolini is saying that the individual is only accepted in the state if he or she contributes to the betterment of the state. Mussolini is affirming that the people should be self-sacrificing to their state in order to be protected by the state. He refers back to Hegel in the sense that humans have rational will as a right and that liberty in law refers to the state in order for protection of that state and the people within it (Lecture). However, to be self-sacrificing and to only be accepted …show more content…
For this reason it can be described as "ethical"” (Doctrine of Fascism). Mussolini describes fascism as ethical. However, if ethical, then that would mean controlling every aspect of human life to ensure everyone is contributing to the state through the basis of fear is acceptable. He manipulates the idea of ethics to reiterate the importance of the state. While the state is very important to the success of a country, we can the flaw of a similar ideology used in Nazi controlled Germany. In Occupational Disease, a story from Brecht’s “Fear and Misery of the Third Reich”, ethics are criticized with use of a doctor. As a doctor, it is their job to take care of the sick and to make sure you practice ethical and equal performance on every patient. However, in Nazi controlled Germany, the doctor is forced to question the patient’s life in order to assure he can provide assistance. If the doctor does not comply and treats a patient who does not deserve to be treated, that doctor will be apprehended for such actions. We can see the relation here with regard to Gregor in The Metamorphosis: if a man does not do what he is told on the job, the company will find someone else who does. Fear of being fired is brought back into Occupational Disease; of which is not ethical to control a person with a basis of fear that he or she has done wrong to