Term Paper on Criticism on Kafka’s Metamorphosis
(First 2 Pages)
Introduction:
Franz Kafka was born in Prague on July 3, 1883, in a middle-class Jewish family.
He was the first surviving child, after the deaths of two infant sons, of
Hermann Kafka, a businessman whose father was a butcher in a Jewish village in
South Bohemia, and Julie Kafka, the daughter of a Prague brewer. Kafka strongly
identified with his maternal ancestors by reason of their spirituality,
intellectual distinction, piety, rabbinical learning, peculiarity, melancholy
disposition, and elegant physical and mental make-up.
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Kafka, though not a philosophers, had a major influence on the twentieth century
philosophical movement that came to be known as Existentialism. He explored
themes, which are central to existentialist thought. “Metamorphosis” begins with
this eccentric event reported in a quietly matter-of-fact tone, and this tale.
The astonishing ability of Kafka's imagination as he convincingly explicate the
sheer physical reality of being a giant insect, the nightmarish expressionism
through which Gregor Samsa's inner fears and fantasies are projected into his
obvious fact. The psychological shrewdness of Kafka's portrayal of Gregor's
passive-aggressive relationship with his family, and the extreme desolation of
the recital of Gregor's last days is wonderful.
Kafka wrote ‘The Metamorphosis’ in 1912, the year he felt his proficiency
ultimately taking a positive form. It was one of fairly few works Kafka was to
publish in his life span. In 1913 he turned down a suggestion to publish the
story, perhaps since he was saving it for a book he was planning called Sons. A
year later he sent the book to a friend who was anticipating from publishing it
by his conservative editors. Finally, The Metamorphosis come into sight in print
in 1915, after Kafka asked a publisher to put it out in a very strange display
of concern for publication.
Kafka's views of humanity found their origins in his peculiar religious views,
lying somewhere outside the traditions of Judaism. Kafka once explained that he
thought human beings were God's revolutionary contemplation. The theme of family
and the duties of family members to each other drive the connection between
Gregor and the others. His thoughts are almost completely of the need to put up
with his parents and sending his sister to the Conservatory. Though Gregor
dislike his job, he follows the call of duty to his family and goes far after
simple duty. The family, on the other hand, takes care of Gregor after his
metamorphosis only so far as duty sound to oblige. Alone in his room, Gregor
tries to transform the self-identity that he had lost by living exclusively for
others and ignoring his own needs. He cannot, however, escape from what he sees
as his family duty, and carry through to act only to serve his family by doing
his best not to bother them.
“Franz Kafka, like Gregor Samsa, worked a routine job. He existed just to
support himself. Kafka’s life was totally committed to writing. When he caught
tuberculosis his purpose in life and his health slowly deteriorated. Kafka was
one of the most influential existentialist writers of his time. Existentialism
stressed the idea of individual existence. Existentialist writers believed that
one must choose his own way without consideration of societal norms.
Existentialism discussed the monotony, uncertainty and absurdity of the purpose
of life. The individual’s response to their situation must be to live a totally
committed life. The individual who has made it can only understand this
commitment. Gregor’s story much parallels the life of Franz Kafka and in an
eerie way foretells Kafka’s own death. Gregor eventually died much like Kafka’s
death, a slow deterioration in health. The apple lodged in Gregor’s back was
much like the tuberculosis that eventually killed Kafka. “The Metamorphosis” is
a sound example of how authors express feelings they have in their own lives and
transform them into different characters and situations to tell an intriguing
story.” (Franz Kafka)
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