The Metamorphosis

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It's a hit!

Supposedly I read Kafka's classic in high school, but didn't remember much about it. I returned to it on the Classics app for iPhone and found a su... (show more)

Supposedly I read Kafka's classic in high school, but didn't remember much about it. I returned to it on the Classics app for iPhone and found a surprisingly moving novella.

This time through, The Metamorphosis seemed to me to be ultimately about the destructive power of bitterness and how self-righteousness can poison our internal selves and our external relationships. Gregor's external condition seems to mirror the internal issues of resentment and bitterness that work to alienate him from his family.

Though Gregor is the sole financial provider for his family, he hates his life and his job. His resentment for his family grows, while he simultaneously sets himself up on the moral (though self-righteous) high ground as the unappreciated hard working core of the family. One part of him hates the burden his family's financial dependency has put on him; another part of him thrives on it and builds a sick sense of identity from it. We find out in the end that the other family members are actually capable of work and seem to grow and thrive when given the opportunity to do so.

Conversely, the Samsa family initially resents the fact that Gregor can no longer provide the safe and comfortable life they've grown accustom to. Gregor becomes a creature that is no longer son and brother to them - only a nuisance, embarrassment and financial liability.

It's actually upon Gregor's death that the Samsa family discovers they have more strength than they once realized. We see an act of courage from Gregor's father when he had previously only played the ingratiating coward. When before they seemed to be bound to the role of victim, responding to the capricious desires of faceless bosses and bearded tenants, in the end the family discovers that they are not as financially shackled as they once thought and they actually do have a life outside of their constricting apartment.

Finally, its the depiction of the power of art and music in an otherwise monotonous, dreary, and utilitarian world that I found most memorable. I'll carry Gregor's reaction to his sister's violin with me for a time to come: "Was he an animal if music could captivate him so? It seemed to him that he was being shown the way to the unknown nourishment he had been yearning for." I'm grateful for Kafka and nourishment that is found in surprising places. (show less)

 

 

by Jonathan McIntosh

No, it's a flop!

I listened to this as an audio recording in the car today. I think of The Metamorphosis as kind of a second-tier classic, in that I managed to get ... (show more)

I listened to this as an audio recording in the car today. I think of The Metamorphosis as kind of a second-tier classic, in that I managed to get through all of my education as a literature specialist without having read it, but after all that education was familiar with the title, author, and could have given you a one sentence synopsis.

The story reminded me of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which I listened to earlier this year. It had the same type of premise--something odd happens to a character and the story partially explores the ramifications but ignores some aspects of the likely consequences entirely (such as ensuing scientific investigation into why the situation occurred). In both cases I didn't feel like the entirety of the story added much thought-provokingness or entertainment beyond a two sentence description of the premise. Fitzgerald at least had some stylistic things going for him, but I'll give Kafka a pass since it was a translation.

I guess I'm glad that I can now say that I've read it, but I spent much of the story wishing it would move faster or be over.

Also, throughout the story I couldn't get a sense of how big Gregor was supposed to be as an insect (also, what kind of insect was he). From the discussion of his shell I was picturing a beetle, but on occasion that seemed inconsistent with other parts of the description. And originally I was assuming he was the same size as a beetle that he had been as a human, but then that was hard to reconcile with his interaction with furniture and constant hiding under the couch. (show less)

 

 

by Sara TerMaat

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  I really loved this story! I confess that I was not familiar with Kafka or his work before I picked this up, but the salient thematic points came sharply into view shortly after I began this delightful read. Subsequent readings of some of Kafka's other work confirmed this author's constant concern with isolation, loneliness and the father-son dynamic. What struck me most about "The Metamorphosis" was the complete absurdity of the opening (waking up to find oneself transformed into a... (show more)

  I really loved this story! I confess that I was not familiar with Kafka or his work before I picked this up, but the salient thematic points came sharply into view shortly after I began this delightful read. Subsequent readings of some of Kafka's other work confirmed this author's constant concern with isolation, loneliness and the father-son dynamic. What struck me most about "The Metamorphosis" was the complete absurdity of the opening (waking up to find oneself transformed into a giant bug is a prospect that makes me want to laugh out loud) as it contrasted starkly with the tremendous sadness of the conclusion. Kafka really does a fine job of evoking the tragedy out of the absurdity. Of course, as I found with most of Kafka's work I've read, it all comes down to the ascendancy of the father. Very few authors have turned Oedipus so completely on his head to such spectacular effect. (show less)

   

  by Andrew Troth on Aug 02, 2009 at 02:54AM

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  Who doesn't love a story that begins with a man being turned in to a big bug? Plot: He was a salesman supporting his family, but wakes up as a bug. His family becomes horrified and take on different roles until all begin to see this bug/person as a burden and something less than human. Eventually, he dies unloved and in despair. The story is filled with symbolism that can be interpreted in many ways. Indeed, I suspect he got the story from a vivid dream...here are a few points I see:

  As a sa... (show more)

  Who doesn't love a story that begins with a man being turned in to a big bug? Plot: He was a salesman supporting his family, but wakes up as a bug. His family becomes horrified and take on different roles until all begin to see this bug/person as a burden and something less than human. Eventually, he dies unloved and in despair. The story is filled with symbolism that can be interpreted in many ways. Indeed, I suspect he got the story from a vivid dream...here are a few points I see:

  As a salesman, he feels like a bug. His profession/life is rather humorous, but also despairing, meaningless, boring. There is an alienation that arises in doing what is contradictory to human nature which Kafka captures well. The bureaucratic government and business like nature of early 20th C world makes one like a bug, alienated from meaning and one's true nature. This alienation has only continued and been taken up by many 20th C authors.

  The family is supposed to be the place of love, but if you cannot even accomplish the task of loving those close to you, how do you expect world peace to arise? That is, Gregor finds alienation even within the family. As the story progresses, each family member becomes more independent and responsible and, in valuing these things too much, they fail to see the humanity of their bug brother/son. That is, the cruelty and meaninglessness of life permeates all, including the family. ( it reminds me of ideologues who can no longer look at anything without thinking of some point to prove; or cannot see anything but their 'truth' because they put it there. They miss the irreducible humanity of each person, though they may intellectually accept such) Kafka, of course, was in a somewhat dysfunctional family.

  When even his sister undergoes metamorphosis and begins to see him as a burden (due to the conformist house guests), he can no longer bear the meaningless of life in which nobody can truly love him and all reduce him to shit... or to a bug in this case. Thus, he chooses to die and does so.... but the narration continues as if to note that this is an ordinary matter.

  He identifies an undefined anguish underneath the 'system' and one also finds warnings of the calamity that is to come.

  Though Kafka dies before the holocaust, his sisters are killed in it. His story is sometimes interpreted as not only reacting against the antisemitism, but also the dehumanizing nature of politics/gov, society, family, profit at all cost, etc. These and other forces converge to create the holocaust.

  He touched on perennial truths, for one could argue we are still doing it today. That is, there is a pervasive banality of evil and the constant reduction of people to shit, stupidity, evilness, or animalness continues (especially through media, humor, entertainment... but it also occurs in the most familial of places). (show less)

   

   

  by Paul Stearns on Mar 13, 2009 at 06:12PM

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