Essay Database

"The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka uses the distortions of Gregor Samsa's current state as a vermin, his invaded space, and the abstract use of time to convey the antagonist's alienation, isolation, and conformity causing his inaction as the existential hero. Gregor's transformation absurdly exaggerates his shape, voice, and senses to exemplify how his physical mutation into a vermin and inarticulate struggles represent his alienation from society. "When Gregor Samsa woke up, [...] he found himself changed …

…confinement of futility and transforms into the existential hero after death, the only form of escape. By creating a mirror image of Gregor's alienation and his own endurance of isolation in life, Kafka transcends the amount of the reader's comprehension of the consequences in leading such a life. "The acts of Kafka's real history are his stories and novels, which are at the same time reflections on the act of writing itself" (Intro., Corngold xiii).