The Metamorphosis (1915)

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The Metamorphosis (1915)

• Franz Kafka

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Biographical, Historical, and Conceptual Contexts
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Franz Kafka

• Born in 1883 into a middle-class, German-speaking
  Jewish family in Prague
• Studied law
• Worked at an insurance company in order to
  support his parents
• Developed an inferiority complex partly due to
  his difficult, neurotic relationship with his
  tyrannical father
• Had very little time to devote to his writing
• Contracted tuberculosis in 1917 and was supported
  by his sister and parents
• Feared being perceived as both physically and
  mentally repulsive
• Developed an intense relationship with Czech
  journalist and writer Milena Jesenska and later
  became Dora Diamants lover
• Suffered from clinical depression, social
  anxiety, and several other illnesses triggered by
  stress
• Died in 1924 from starvation when his
  tuberculosis worsened and could not swallowed

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Kafkas Alienation

• Felt he was an outsider
• Jewish in Catholic Prague
• Sickly
• Lonely
• Perceived human beings as
• being trapped by authority in
• a hopeless world
• Became frustrated at having
• to support his family
• Had to work in a meaningless
• bureaucratic job where he was
• just another pencil pusher
• Took time away from his writing

Franz Kafka
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Modern Alienation Fragmentation

• The city
• Dehumanization
• Modern means of productiondivision of labor
• Sense of worthlessness
• Acceleration of life and travel
• Mechanization
• Class stratification

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Prague

• Part of the Germanic Austro-Hungarian Empire
• Catholic city where Czech was spoken
• Segregated its Jewish population into a
  German-speaking ghetto
• Founded on seven hills and dominated by The
  Castle, looming high over the city as a symbol
  of authority
• Highly dense city, with narrow, labyrinth-like
  streets
• Associated with the traditions of magic and
  mysticism

The Jewish Ghetto
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Expressionist Literature

• Seeks to reproduce not objective reality but the
  subjective reality which people, objects, and
  events arouse in us
• Depicts a psychological or spiritual reality
  through distortion and/or exaggeration
• Presents the distorted, exaggerated situation as
  if it were completely real
• Emphasizes visionary experience
• Pierces the surface of things to reveal essences
• Explores how to transcend the material world
• Replaces concrete particulars with allegorical
  forms

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Meaning of The Metamorphosis
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Gregor Samsa represents a specific type of
behaviorthe fear of being alive with all of its
risks/rewards and the embrace of an inauthentic
code of behaviorwhich, in the end, is
transformed into the acceptance of life with all
of its vicissitudes.
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The Inward Passage The Real Metamorphosis

• This is a novel about Gregor Samsa who learns
  about who he really is through an overwhelming
  psychological experience that turns him inward.
• His first step in this journey is disobedience
• Refuses to go to work
• Refuses to follow the rules of etiquette
• In his new condition, Gregor begins his soul
  searching
• Accepts that he has conformed to his familys and
  employers demands
• Realizes the inauthenticity and meaninglessness
  of his life
• Once he sheds his previous self, Gregor begins to
  delve into his own unconscious and confront the
  truth of his life.
• Gregor evolves from psychological immaturity to
  the courage of self responsibility.
• For the very first time in his life, Gregor
  becomes blissful and becomes a mature person.
• Gregor dies with this realization, a transformed
  human being

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Thematic Contexts
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Mythic Ovid

• Ovids Metamorphoses is a collection of Greek and
  Roman myths written in narrative poetic form.
• Each of the stories that Ovid presents contains
  some sort of transformation or metamorphosis.
• Probably written between 2 and 8 CE
• The work emphasizes tales of transformation in
  which a person or lesser deity is permanently
  transformed into an animal or plant.
• Kafkas story, however, explores the life and
  destiny of Gregor Samsa while Ovid only depicts
  the act of the metamorphosis itself

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Biological Metamorphosis

• Takes place in distinct stages
• larval stage
• then enter an inactive state called pupa or
  chrysalis
• finally emerge as adults
• Gregors transformation parallels this
  metamorphosis.

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Psychological Depression

• Illness that can challenge the ability to perform
  even routine daily activities, characterized by
  the following
• Loss of interest or pleasure
• Sustained fatigue without physical exertion
• Lack of energy and motivation
• Feelings of guilt or hopelessness
• Self-centeredness
• Psychosis, a more extreme case of depression, is
  characterized by the loss of contact with
  reality
• Having visions
• Hearing voices
• Feeling sensations that have no basis in fact
• Gregors behavior parallels all of these
  descriptors.

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Form of The Metamorphosis
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The Form of The Metamorphosis Parable

• Uses this literary form as a neutral, detached
  point of view from which to examine human
  behavior
• Conveys truth in a less offensive, more engaging
  form than a direct assertion
• Appeals to the understanding, the emotions, and
  the imaginationto the whole person

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Definition of Parable

• At its simplest, a parable is a metaphor or
  simile  drawn from nature or common life, 
  arresting the hearer by its vividness or
  strangeness,  and leaving the mind in sufficient
  doubt about its precise application  to tease it
  into active thought."  (C. H. Dodd, The Parables
  of the Kingdom, New York Charles Scribner's
  Sons, 1961, p. 5)

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Parable The Complexity of Life

• The meaning of most parables is not so obvious,
  or at least it shouldn't be.
• Most parables contain some element that is
  strange or unusual.
• Parables do not define things precisely but,
  rather, use comparisons.
• Takes the familiar and applies it to the
  unfamiliar
• Makes the unfamiliar more comprehensible

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Central Symbol of the Beetle/Vermin

• A subjective fantasy that best describes
  Gregors self-loathing
• Worthlessness
• Uselessness
• Meaninglessness
• Awkwardness
• Ugliness

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Difficulties in Reading Kafka Paradox and
Ambiguity

• Not a systematic philosopher or religious man
• Is so convincing in his matter-of-factness and
  use of details to the point of negating the
  absurdity of a situation
• Does not use metaphors yet his stories are
  parables
• Uses distortion to reveal truths
• Suggests various levels of meanings
• Is quirky