Life as a Bug
In Franz Kafka’s fanciful novel The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find that he as been transformed into a beetle. As the story progresses, we can see that Gregor’s life as a beetle is not all that different from Gregor’s life while in human form. Because of this we have to ask ourselves “Does Gregor Samsa qualify as a human being?” I believe that Gregor does not qualify as a human being and had stopped being truly human long before his metamorphosis. Writers and philosophers throughout history have pondered on what it means to be human. One of the most famous, Réné Descartes, declared “Cogito, ergo sum” – I think therefore I am. But does Gregor meet this criterion; does he think? From the very beginning of the story Gregor emits a certain perpetual calm, his emotions never straying from a composed tranquility. Instead of being astonished or troubled by his transformation, Gregor wants to “sleep again for a while and forget all this stupidity” (Kafka p.201), as though suddenly turning into a bug doesn’t disturb him at all. He only begins to worry when he realizes he is late for work. Gregor truly hates his job, even admitting that it is
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Réné Descartes, Gregor Samsa, Franz Kafkas, gregors life, story gregor, samsa family, gregors metamorphosis, death gregors, gregor samsa, qualify human,
Approximate Word count = 786
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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