Hello everyone! I am back from my honeymoon and had a wonderful time in Kona and Oahu and now have time to turn my thoughts back to all things literal. I would, once again, (I know this is becoming a bad habit) ask all to excuse me for any delays. I am sure you understand with all of the rigamarole associated with getting married. I actually finished Metamorphosis prior to the wedding but did not have much time to write about it. I did, however, still have a few evenings to read so I got a "head start" on The Idiot which is an interesting but slow read. As I write this I am hoping that my thoughts on Kafka are still fresh and assembled well enough to say anything of interest!
Metamorphosis tells the story of a man named Gregor Samsa who lives in a small flat with his mother, father, and younger sister. They live on the poorer side of town, the father has become an invalid, and the sister is a little young to work. The family is fairly in debt and Gregor works studiously in a thankless job as a traveling salesman under a very domineering boss (apparently to whom the parents owe money and the reason he works there in the first place.) Despite this effort to support the family, he is not well respected by anyone other than his younger sister Grete. He continues on amiably however, even making plans to pay for his sister to play the violin at the conservatory at great expense to himself. His plans come to naught when he wakes up one morning in the form of an insect resembling a cockroach. His transformation sends alternating shockwaves of horror, revulsion, disdain, curiosity, apathy, and hatred through the family. He, of course, loses his job when his is late for the first time in five years, which sends the family into increased poverty. This forces the family to seek employment and even take on boarders, cruel ones at that. Ultimately, they blame their dire situation on him, which is true, at least, from their point of view. In the end, he dies alone in his room without ever being able to communicate his love or sorrow and with his family finally hating his very existence.
This, of course is a gross oversimplification of the story line covering only the most basic plot elements for the sake of a summary. The real meat of the story, I feel, exists in two parts, both occurring simultaneously. On the one hand, I feel the story is dedicated to Gregor's exploration of his new "self", his surroundings, and others' reactions to him. And on the other hand, I feel we have the allegorical/metaphorical representations of how or why Gregor's life and love has somehow suppressed his family by his very existence and how by his transformation and death he has brought his family into life and freedom.
As for the the first part, I think that his early explorations of his room are most important. He is eventually left in his room with a bed to hide under, a desk, and a picture on the wall and one window and that is now his whole world for the most part. I think this is, perhaps, Gregor's whole existence he has come to realize. It seems as he is trapped in his little room, slowly starving, moving along the walls and ceiling, he is actually exploring the inside of his own head, maybe even finding a new sense of freedom in his limited situation.
As for the second part, I feel that this is showing two transformations. The first one being his transformation into an insect. The transformation into a soft disgusting bug is really a transformation into his true state, just not one he realized. He loved his family and worked hard to support them and their debts in a horrible job but they did not love him for it and perhaps demanded and even resented him for it as they took the money they needed quietly as he slaved his life away with all of his good intentions. The second "metamorphosis" is of the family. The father lazed about seeming an invalid, but as we are to learn later, quite capable of supporting himself. As Gregor comes into his new state, we soon learn how quickly resentment and hatred is fostered in his family's hearts. Even his patient and loving sister soon gives out and doesn't bother to feed him. His father pelts him with an apple when he moves to slowly back to his small room which imbeds in his soft back and eventually festers and kills him. As Gregor weakens his family moves into independence, they look for jobs and also take boarders for extra money. The father gets a nice job and gains confidence again, the sister finds work and the family tires of the abusive boarders and commands them to leave showing more signs of power and independence. They decide that if Gregor loved them, then he would have left already and that he must have evil intentions for staying. Gregor eventually dies and the family is happy, independent, and all is right with the world!
The work of Franz Kafka, of which, I have at least a superficial familiarity, tends to follow this general state with the protagonist having a weak meaningless existence. These seem to reflect Kafka's own life, at least his opinion of himself. In his other famous work "The Trial" the protagonist is a victim of unending bureaucracy for an unknown crime and is executed like a dog after a long meaning less trial that he never understands. In the book we just finished, the Metamorphosis, the world seems to be literally better off with him dead. I definitely found this to be an enjoaybale and fascinating read the second time around and look forward to exploring his other works one day, but I will sure need to be in a somber mood to handle them!
Thanks!
Joe
Info on The Idiot coming up!
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