The Absurd In Kafka's Metamorphosis

In the early 20th century there were a lot of social and societal changes happening, and in Metamorphosis Kafka uses the absurd to explore and highlight different social themes ranging from work to the roles of women in society. One of the main things that Kafka uses the absurd to explore is the life of working people.

When Gregor first wakes up and he realizes that he is infact a bug, He 's not terribly concerned by it. He is infact more concerned by the fact that he is late for work that that he is a bug:” ‘Good God!’ he thought. It was half past six, and the hands were going quietly on.” (Kafka 15) This along with “‘Oh God,’ he thought ‘what a strenuous occupation I have chosen’!” (Kafka 16) are the only times that he makes an exclamation in the beginning of the book, and both of the time is not about the dramatic change in his being, it is about his work. Kafka is using this …show more content…
So it 's when you have the divorcement from what the expected outcomes are and what is actually happening, that is where people are able to look at things. It is in this abnormal view that we are able to clearly see the things in our own life. Things that we might not have notices or thought about before. The absurd is a hard theme to use, some people push it away as being weird, others because it is inaccessible, and Kafka’s use of it in Metamorphosis is no different. This is to be expected when the premise of the novella is a man turning into a bug, but in his use of the absurd you are granted the ability to take a different perspective on many different situations. One way that it is visible is in the sheer amount of people who identify with a character in the book, especially Gregor. People identifying with a man turning into a bug shows how through the absurd we are able to look at our own