Metamorphosis: Kafka's Seminal Work on a Man's Transformation

First published in 1915, Metamorphosis is an absurd novella written by Kafka. It begins with Gregor Samsa waking up as a monstrous vermin. There is no possible sense to how this can happen but within the Kafkaesque world, the protagonist functions in a chaotic and surreal society. The text deals with several questions that Gregor contemplates as a proletariat: who would earn a living now that he cannot go outside his room? Who will feed his family? As Kafka weaves his text with dark humour, his focus remains on the lack of sympathy directed towards Gregor by his own family members who are concerned more about the scandal that he may present to the world than his well-being. Their shock comes not at the suddenness with which Gregor’s metamorphosis occurs, but at the idea of him coming into the public eye. The depravity that Gregor experiences only increases throughout the novel. Stripped off of his speech, mobility, dignity and his human body, Gregor grows increasingly alienated from the family, and society at large. The novella is a deep study of what it takes to live in a modern society, and how people struggle for acceptance, often from their own people in a time of great need.

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