Gross
The best way to learn a lesson is to experience it. If a small child touches a hot stove in neglect of
his mother's warning, he will quickly learn never to do it again. Sometimes it takes more than a verbal warning to make something stick in a human's brain. In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa never quite understands this. The Metamorphosis is a story of a traveling salesman who awakes one morning to find that he has transformed into a bug-like creature. Samsa is immediately outcast and mistreated in wake of his condition and must deal with constant tormenting and oppression until his inevitable yet anti-climatic death. Although Gregor Samsa never learns his, many lessons are exemplified in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.
One tool that Kafka uses to teach a lesson is modernism. Kafka uses Samsa's story to bring the alienation and oppression that became a large part of the modernist society to light. "But how can it be Gregor? If it were Gregor he would have long ago realized that a communal life among human beings is not possible with such a creature..." (Kafka 24). This quote from Gregor's sister Grete shows just how his family is viewing him. They see Samsa as something not worthy to live among them in society, so they oppress him. Kafka uses this theme to prove the people of the real modernist society that the alienation they show is a real problem. In David Foster Wallace's Laughing with Kafka he describes how Kafka's humor is very hard to explain yet incredibly impactful."...consider what is really being expressed when we refer to someone as 'creepy' or 'gross'..." (Wallace 2). Gregor Samsa is relentlessly described or called these things in The Metamorphosis without any remorse. Oppression does not have to be the driving out of a person or peoples, it can be as simple as verbally abusing someone because we think they are "gross." Only once does Kafka seem to prelude to Samsa's coming segregation. "The dreary weather—the rain drops were falling audibly down on the metal window ledge— made him quite melancholy." (Kafka 2). The rain fall and cloudy skies makes his visibility very limited. The overcast skies and heavy rain symbolize the "overcasting" treatment he is soon to receive. Kafka recognized in the early 1920's that society was not moving in a direction of peace and tranquiltiy but rather a movement towards alienation and oppression. He uses Gregor Samsa and The Metamorphosis to explain this modernist concept and warn the people of the era.
Existentialism is another common theme in The Metamorphosis that Kafka uses to provide lessons of morals and ethics. Although existentialism has no common definition, it is usually agreed that it has to do with the primal human instinct of searching for meaning. Even from the beginning of the story, Samsa never seems to understand his real meaning and doesn't mention anything that he truly enjoys. “What a demanding job I’ve chosen! Day in, day out, on the road. The stresses of selling are much greater than the actual work going on at head office... To hell with it all!” (Kafka 1). Even after all of this complaining, Samsa never questions his choices; he simply describes why they are so poor. Most people would try and find meaning to all this nonsense, yet Gregor simply moves on. Samsa's motives for working are revealed later, however they are far from selfish and will never help him figure out his own life. Rather than searching for the meaning or goal of his life, Gregor focuses only on helping others. In many ways, this is a better way to search for life's meaning than by doing selfish deeds. intensely. "I am really so indebted to Mr. Chief—you know that perfectly well. On the other hand, I am concerned about my parents and my sister," (Kafka 7). Kafka uses this idea to explain the idea that helping others and being selfless is the best way to find yourself. Finding oneself can also be done ignorantly or with menace. "You can ask them to imagine his art as a kind of door, that we approach and pound on this door, seeking admission desperate to enter, we pound and pound…finally, the door opens...and it opens outward: we've been inside what we wanted all along." (Wallace 3). Unfortunately, people like Samsa's father do pound on the door to Gregor's heart, however not to get inside and heal it. Mr. Samsa tries to find his own meaning by stripping away Gregor's. A theme commonly known as vampirism.
Eating is a part of life often overlooked and taken for granted. The acts of eating things and eating together are described in Thomas C. Foster's How to Read Literature Like a Professor - Nice to Eat With You: Acts of Communion and Nice to Eat You: Acts of Vampires. Vampires are famous for physically sucking the life out of victims; but what about every day vampires? Gregor Samsa's father was just that; a (sort of) everyday vampire. "But it's (vampirism) also about things other than literal vampires: selfishness, exploitation, a refusal to respect the autonomy of other people, just for starters," (Foster 7 or 16). Mr. Samsa is the personification of all of these traits. He forces Gregor to stay away from the family and publicly embarrasses him. Through the process of all this, Mr. Samsa seems to grow stronger. "But now he (Mr. Samsa) was standing up really straight," (Kafka 17). Samsa's father grew stronger from Gregor's weakness. The more he tormented his son, the stronger and more confident he became. Kafka understood that vampirism does not only exist in fiction but stands out in everyday life; as well as to be aware or perhaps beware of it. The act of communion also is very apparent in The Metamorphosis. Communion is not only the religious act, but can also be when people gather to eat and what that symbolizes. Samsa's death not only came from the apple lodged in his back but also starvation of some form. After Gregor's transformation, he was no longer able to eat with the family. This separation from the major form of gathering in human life could have only made Gregor weaker. "He does this for a very simple, very profound reason; we need to be part of that communion," (Foster 4 or 16). Foster describes communion as something we need. Usually when people describe necessity, eating with other people is not a common choice. Kafka uses Samsa's absence and breakdown from this imperative part of human culture to explain the lesson of communion and its significance in life.
In conclusion, Franz Kafka uses The Metamorphosis to give lessons of life and death, communion and vampirisim, and the meanings of our perceivable lives. The world today is swamped with lessons that are shoved down the throats of the youth; Kafka makes it easier to decipher these empty opinions and choose the ones that will really make a difference. Unfortunately, Gregor Samsa was unable to learn the lessons necessary to avoid the outcome he faced after being transformed into an insect. He was the victim of vampires and was pushed out of communion. Just as the small child who burned his hand won't touch the hot stove again, readers of Kafka's works will have a much better chance of mental stability and happiness than those who ignore Kafka's lessons. Lessons, however, that could just as easily be interpreted as warnings.
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