Gregor Samsa's Physical Transformation example essay topic

Imagine waking up one morning and suddenly you are a bug. Last night, when you went to sleep you were an ordinary man. Today, you " re a bug. Gregor Samsa does just that, and suddenly his life is thrown completely off track.

In Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis" (1912), the transformation of Gregor into a giant vermin is a very apparent metaphor, which can be thought of in more than one way. By thoroughly, examining the author's use of diction, symbolism and signification we are able to make a metaphorical connection between the issues of physical and mental change as well as alienation. We will see that Gregor Samsa's physical transformation is accompanied by a dramatic psychological transformation. The author illustrates the bug form that Gregor takes on, as a metaphor for all the problems and frustrations Gregor has been experiencing in his daily life. Firstly, the fact that his body transforms into a gigantic insect shows us that he is in an uncomfortable position. Not only is he in an uncomfortable position physically is also in an uncomfortable position with his family and with his job as a salesman.

Actually his whole existence is in an uncomfortable state. Gregor's job is oppressive, and he hated going there everyday. It seems as though Kafka is trying to explicate Gregor's body turning into a vermin as a true manifestation of whom Gregor really is; and that is a salesman. What do salesmen do? They go around bugging people trying to get them to buy whatever they are selling.

So in this case the bug represents Gregor's job. Gregor alienating himself with his family and society is another element that Kafka illustrates in this story. The metamorphosis is Kafka's portrayal of the negative mental and physical aspects in his life. "From Gregor's point of view, the tragedy of the "the metamorphosis" consists in the self gradual reduction to its most vital center- its self consciousness. In the two stages- a more superficial change in spatial relation and more central change in the consciousness of time- Gregor is finally reduced to a mere spec of self-awareness which is ultimately extinguished (Garcia, 143)". It is clear that Kafka's low self-esteem stemmed from the lack of acceptance from his family, especially his father (Osborne, 58).

Gregor does not realize until his metamorphosis that he does not have a good relationship with his family, and more so, his father. Gregor is taking over his father's responsibilities and leaving nothing for his father to be responsible for. He is the sole breadwinner for his mother, father and sister. Gregor is making plans to send his sister to a good school, but he fails to discuss the idea with her.

Gregor goes as far as to lock his own bedroom doors at night. The only person that is supposed to lock their room door is the head of household, which is supposed to be the father, not the son. All of these actions exemplify the role reversal between Gregor and his father. Before Gregor's metamorphosis he thought his family was content with what he was doing. Now he realizes that all he accomplishes was alienating himself from his family.

Not only does locking the door cause Gregor to alienate himself from his family; it also causes him physical pain. When he tries to unlock the door for his family and his manager, he realizes that he does not have any real teeth. So he has to grip the key with his jaws, "but in compensation his jaws, of course, were very strong; with their help he actually got the key moving and paid no attention to the fact that he was undoubtedly hurting himself in some way, for a brown liquid came out of his mouth, flowed over the key (Kafka, 2756)". Gregor locking his room door also suggests lack of trust. Why would anyone want to lock the door in there own house? That is an act that should be done if you are staying somewhere else like a hotel.

Speaking of hotel, Gregor goes on many trips for his job as a salesman. Instead of going out to meet people, he stays at the motel and does nothing. For this reason he does not have any friends or a girlfriend. He follows this same routine everyday up until his metamorphosis, and he fails to look ahead into his future. Encased in a narrow and rigid exoskeleton of familial expectations, social class propriety and professional demands, he has no room to grow and no power to move (Madden, 100). He is a small man with small dreams and small satisfactions.

All the heroic and noble within him has died. By secluding himself like this, Gregor's life becomes like the life of a cockroach. This is another reason that Kafka transforms him into this creature. "Gregor Samsa is Franz Kafka's startling portrait of a man who awakens one morning to the truth that he has grown satisfied too soon with too little. Content with an ordinary, mediocre, useless life, and bereft of the capacity to change (Magill, 4128)". The unfortunate thing about this story is how Gregor's family has turned their back on him after his metamorphosis.

Gregor's mother and father utterly reject their newly transformed son. They feel he is now a burden to them. When before his transformation they were the burden to him. The family is now faced with the problem of the lack of money since Gregor was the only member of the family that worked.

He indeed aided his family in a critical time of need; they hardly acknowledge this fact after his transformation. Surprisingly, the father had saved some money, which the family would be able to live off of for about a year. And also each member of the family got a job. But why didn't they all work before. Why was the burden put all on Gregor? Maybe if there weren't so much stress put on him, he would have not transformed into a vermin.

Gregor's sister was the only one who helped poor Gregor, in his time of transformation. She was frightened but manage to put her fears aside, and provide him with food that he liked to eat and also helped clean his room. All this came to and end and she too, seek to destroy the monstrous insect that her brother has become. Kafka also illustrates how un supportive his family was to him. Firstly, when Gregor tried to unlock the door with the key the morning his manager was there all he wanted was some encouragement. He wanted his parents to cheer him on, "Go Gregor, they should have called, keep going, at that lock, harder, harder!" Both his mother and father turned their back on him once they finally saw his physical state.

They abandoned him and kept him locked in his room. Each time he tried to come out he was forced back in the room by a physical object. The first time he got out his father took a broom and swept him back in the room. The next time he attempted to get out he was hit with an apple by his father, which ultimately killed him.

Kafka uses a few objects that suggest meanings beyond its literal meaning. Firstly the fact that he mentions a hospital in this story symbolizes help, which was so near for Gregor and yet so far. The music that Gregor's sister plays symbolizes the universal communication that Gregor could have had with his sister. He wishes that he would of told her about his plans to pay for her school. He wanted to tell he how much he appreciated the music she was playing. "He was determined to force himself on until he reached his sister, to pluck at her skirt, and to let her know in this way that she should bring her violin into his room, for no one here appreciated her playing the way he would appreciate it (Kafka, 2778).

The disrespectful lodgers that rented rooms in the Samsa's house symbolize the lack of control that the family had over the situation. Gregor's mother and father clearly let the lodgers disrespect their daughter while she played her violin. The lodgers showed absolutely no interest in what she was doing. The parents should have asked them to leave right then and there. Also, when the lodgers caught sight of Gregor, his father, pushed them back into their room and out of sight of Gregor. The lodgers threatened to leave without paying, and the father begged them to stay.

This shows the family's lack of control. How can you allow someone to come into your home and disrespect both of your children? Everyone in the Samsa family experienced changes brought on by Gregor's metamorphosis. Because Gregor's physical change renders him from being able to work everyone in the family had to get jobs. Gregor turning into a bug causes lack of harmony among the family members. They keep away from and will not even look at him.

Now, because they are afraid of Gregor, at least two people stay home together. Lifestyles that the family was used to have suddenly changed. They later decided to leave after Gregor's death and moved into a new, more manageable home, in which they can find relief. "In a psychoanalytic interpretation, The Metamorphosis prevents the imminent rebellion of the son against the father, Gregor had become strong as a result of his father's failure. He crippled his father's self-esteem and took over the father's position in the family. After the catastrophe, the same sequence takes place in reverse: son becomes weak, and father kills him (Madden, 97)".

Work Cited Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. The Norton Anthology World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack. New York: Norton & Co., 1997.2749-2784.

Madden, William A. Short Story Criticism. Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Short Fiction Writers. Thomas Votteler. MI: Gale Research Inc., 1951.

Magill, Frank N., Kohler, Dayton., Maz zeno, Laurence W. Master Plots. New Jersey: Salem Press, 1987. Marquez-Lawrence, Garcia. "World Literature Criticism 1500 to Present". (1989): 139-56. Rpt. in Literary Criticism.

Ed. Robyn V. Young. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1991.332-33. Osborne, Franz. Kafka.

New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1967.