Kafka - The Metamorphosis

A detailed Summary of Kafka - The Metamorphosis

In Kafka's The Metamorphosis, the transformation of Gregor into a giant vermin is a very apparent metaphor, which can be thought of in more than one way. Kafka brings about change with the use of metaphors in the story.

In two ways, change is brought about in The Metamorphosis. The first is by allowing time and circumstances determine one's decisions. The next way is by using courage and conviction to make one's own decisions. Kafka's crafty use of metaphors throughout his story includes many uses of different items. Finding the hidden and direct metaphors gives one a sense of adventure and challenge. One may be inclined to associate "this man turned bug" as a grotesque display representing one of the lowest forms of life. Gregor's manager and family are repulsed by his unexplainable physical appearance. Stunned, the manager retreats out of the house in horror, the mother falls to the floor in grief and the father, in an attempt to get Gregor out of sight, forces him into the doorway of his room. Gregor's beetle body is too large for the doorway and he finds himself stuck and unable to move, "when from behind his father gave him a strong push, which was a truly liberating one, and bleeding profusely, [Gregor] sailed far i

Throughout Kafka's strange and disturbing story are two more metaphors that are repeatedly used: food and newspapers. Kafka's reference to food and newspapers serve as a metaphor for the need for sustenance. Sustenance is apparently something that the whole family is in need of. Gregor describes the dining room table as having "The breakfast dishes laid out lavishly on the table, since for his father breakfast was the most important meal of the day, which he would prolong for hours while reading a number of newspapers (Kafka 20)." The sister brings Gregor his food, or sustenance, and to find out what he might like, "she brought him a big selection, all spread out on an old newspaper..." (Kafka 26). The food is significant in such that they both provide one with some sort of sustenance. The newspaper provides one with news of the outside world. This in turn educates and fills the void one might feel by being cut off from the world. The food, of course, fills the belly and is literally sustenance for physical requirements to remain alive. When thought about it, the same could be said of newspapers. By providing the mind with the information and text, one is also fulfilling a physi

Some common words found in the essay are:
Kafka's Metamorphosis, Throughout Kafka's, Gregor Gregor, Adam Eve, kafka 38, food newspapers, fulfilling physical, one's own, outside world, world family,

Approximate Word count = 804
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Kafka - The Metamorphosis

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