Essay Database

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychology created a theory of personality called psychoanalysis, which attributes our thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts (Myers 504). In this theory, he describes three levels of the personality called the id, ego, and superego. Many literary works have these levels contained within them, if analyzed from a figurative psychological standpoint. One story that presented many similar traits from this viewpoint is Kafka’s, The Metamorphosis. In this story …

…from his family, particularly his father. Kafka uses symbolism to allow the reader to try and figure out what was going on in his head. So, in a sense, everything about Gregor is Kafka’s self-portrait, from the description of his body as an insect; to his angry father who was relatively distant from the family; and even his over-loving mother, who ironically could not stand to see her own son’s face without fainting.