Metamorphosis By Kafka Analysis

In The Metamorphosis, Kafka uses the framed magazine picture of the woman with the fur muff as a symbol of Gregor Samsa’s longing to have a sexual relationship in his life. Kafka places “the picture which he [Gregor] had recently cut out of a glossy magazine and lodged in a pretty gilt frame” (3) as a focal point of Gregor’s otherwise drab room. The phrase “lodged in pretty gilt frame” illustrates the importance the Gregor places on this picture, almost like a “pornographic fetish” (65). However, this photograph does not depict a girlfriend or even someone Gregor knows but merely a picture from “a glossy magazine”, thereby demonstrating that in Gregor’s mundane life as a travelling salesman he has not developed any real sexual relationship with a woman. Once Gregor transforms into a human-insect, he continues to cling to this …show more content…
The phrase “soothed his hot belly” completes the image with a sexual innuendo of a comforting yet stimulating effect that this fantasy produces for Gregor. The diction of “salvage” also illustrates Gregor’s attempts to retain this vestige of his humanity, especially while the women are “depriving him of everything he loved” (33) by clearing out his room. As he suspects that Grete wishes to remove the picture, Gregor reacts like a man protecting his girlfriend as he “squatted on his picture and would not give it up” (34) instead of an insect sticking to a “glossy” magazine photo. Gregor’s willingness to confront his little sister and “fly in Grete’s face” (34) rather than relinquish the object of his sexual desire reinforces the symbolic importance this magazine photo has on Gregor’s attempt to retain his humanity even while his appearance transforms to an insect-like form. Kafka, through his use of diction and descriptive imagery, illustrates that the magazine picture remains an object of Gregor’s sexual desire, and even after Gregor’s metamorphosis to a human-insect, he still clings to the natural human need for a sexual