Themes in Kafkas Essay Example for Free

Themes in Kafkas turn outThemes in Frank Kafkas Metamorphosis Franz Kafkas Metamorphosis is a story about a man who awakes one(a) morning to find himself transformed into a giant bug. This metamorphosis causes a clash between the main(prenominal) character Gregor Samsa and his family which in turn creates major changes in all characters. Kafka utilizes many groups in the story including change, isolation, force play and money. These themes aid in making the story vague, while retaining a sense of lucidity. One main theme in the story is change. Gregor Samsas reality changes only mildly, despite his radical physical transformation.Prior to his mutation, Gregors disembodied spirit was consumed with his work as a traveling salesman in addition to taking care of his family. A windy animation, dominated by providing for his family, much like a bug provides for his nest or hive. He describes his life as the plague of traveling the anxieties of changing trains, the irregular, i nferior meals, the ever changing faces, never to be seen again, batch with whom one has no chance to be friendly (Kafka 13). The real metamorphosis occurs when he realizes his present detail, and his occasion in his household.Gregor does non change into a bug he simply recognizes that he has been one for sort of more or less time. This sudden epiphany could certainly send him into a shock that causes a mental sickness, level(p)tually lede to his death. From the very beginning the setting creates an atmosphere of isolation, a major theme in the story. Gregors room is at the center of the Samsa familys apartment, with one wall facing the away, the opposite wall bordering on the alert room, and the two side walls shared with the bedroom of Gregors parents and his sister respectively.Each of these walls has an egress onto the world the outside wall has a window, and the other walls have doors leading to the adjacent rooms. These doors, however and in particular the double-do or that opens into the brio room are non simple entranceways into the communal realm of the family rather, they symbolize precisely that contradictory knotty of merger with and separation from the family that each section of the narrative enacts. These doors function not only as passageways alone also as barriers indeed, ultimately they are impenetrable barriers. (Gray 286) After his transformation, Gregor is completely isolated. He realizes that its not much different than his life previous life, as the job to which he has been so dedicated, shows their disloyalty to him. Moreover, it turns out that Gregor plant for a firm that does not trust its employees at all because he is late this one day, the primary(prenominal) clerk shows up to check on him and begins hinting that he is suspected of embezzling funds and may very head be fired (Smith 193). His family alienates him as well.Grete, his jr. sister, is the only one who dish ups him. She was scared but managed to put he r apprehensions aside, even getting angry with others for trying to help. After her acceptance as role of caretaker, the other members of Gregors family do not associate with him. No one attempted to understand him, no one, not even his sister, imagined that she could understand him(Kafka 45). As an insect, he can still hear, however, so he knows what others want, but they cannot know what he wants.This seems an apt situation for Gregor to end up in, because his life even before his transformation seems to have been one of catering to others ineluctably while suppressing his own. forwards long, Gregor settles on the fact that throughout his metamorphosis he has neither lost nor gained anything. even his unsettling dreams the morning of his mutation symbolize a troubled life before his metamorphosis. He is expressing his feelings of a wishing of fulfillment and it shows a layer of him otherwise hidden. The actual metamorphosis symbolizes a rebellion assertion of unconscious mind desires and energies (Eggenschwiler 203).His mother and capture treat him as a monster, instead of their son who is in need of help and support, just like they neglected their parental roles before his transformation, allowing him to take on all of their responsibilities. Although in most ways the transformation reinforces Gregors alienation from the world, in other ways becoming an insect is a way for him to escape his unhappy life. No agelong will he have to work at his burdensome job, or care for his family who do not pass the same care or respect. Gregor is not the only one to go through a drastic change in the story.His mother, sister and father also transform in ways not easily defined by outward appearance. This leads to the consequence major theme of the book, power. Power is both gained and surrendered by all members of the Samsa family at different points in the story. Before his transformation, Gregor holds the power as the man of the house. He earns the money to pay rent, provide food, and dig his family out of the provoke debt his mother and father have gotten into. After his transformation, Gregor loses this authority, basically imprisoned in his room, unable to attend to the responsibilities he once had. Gregors humanity, to the extent that his parents and sister acknowledge it, is inextricably tied to his function as scotch provider (Bloom 60). His father, however, gains power as he takes on the role as head of household. He is consumed by the familys financial burden from the first day after Gregors mutation. He now finds the military force to find employment, something he was too ill to do while Gregor provided for the family. Interestingly, he can only be cured _or_ healed his power after Gregor himself, the self-sacrificing, downtrodden one, is dead.This suggests that the presence of a self-sacrificing person drains those around him. Gregor sees his father after some time has passed since his transformation and asks, Was this the s ame man who in the old days used to lie tiredly buried in bed when Gregor left on a business trip who greeted him on his return in the evening, sitting in his bathrobe in the armchair, who actually had obstruction getting to his feet (Kafka 36)? Although Gregor has the most obvious transformation, it seems Grete, his younger sister, changes the most throughout the story, many of these changes involving her own power and standing in the family.At first she takes on the role as his caretaker, bringing him food, cleaning his room and trying to make him as comfortable as possible in his room. She is his only tie to his family and really his only link to humanity. She gains the consideration of her parents, who once considered her preferably useless. Often he heard them say how much they appreciated his sisters work, whereas until now they had oftentimes been annoyed with her (Kafka 29). She however takes on her own transformation, from girl to woman. With this change, her pity for Gr egor diminishes.When at first she had helped Gregor out of kindness, ultimately she comes to regard the job as a chore. She doesnt always enjoy it, but it serves to define her linear perspective in the family, and she becomes territorial about this power she has gained, not wanting her mother to be involved. As she matures and takes on more adult responsibilities, most notably getting a job to help provide for her family financially, her shipment to Gregor diminishes. Grete tells her parents, We must try to get rid of it (Kafka 49). Eventually she comes to resent the burden of what Gregor has become and it s Grete who decides they must get rid of it. While not as prominent as the other themes, but in correlation with power, the theme of money weaves a path through the story. Gregor is enslaved to his family because he is the only one who makes money. With the censure of his sister, the family seems to treat him not as a son, but as a source of income. When Gregor is no longer a ble to work after his metamorphosis, he is treated with revulsion and neglect. Once the family begins working, they also find difficulty communicating with each other, eating dinner in silence and fighting amongst themselves.The exhaustion brought on by dehumanizing jobs and the recognition that people are only valuable so long as they earn a salary keeps them isolated from one another and unable to create real connections. This story has limited discretion if the reader only takes it for its literal meaning and fails to read between the lines to discover the themes included. The reader must drudge deeper into the story in order to understand it completely. Kafka kept this story compelling with the inclusion of these themes and other symbolism.