In Franz Kafka's stories "The Metamorphosis", "In The Penal Colony", and "The Fasting-Artist", the protagonists, Gregor Samsa, the officer, and the fasting-artist, each make apparent sacrifices. These characters give their lives for others, but their deeds are unacknowledged by those they should benefit, who neither...
“Each individual in the world lives in three worlds: the world that is, the world that is perceived and the world that is dreamt. Each world is both separate on its own, as well as conjoined and interlinked with the other two (Hudson, 2013). ”...
The first chapter of the Metamorphosis is full of meaningful symbols that contribute through the rest of the book. The tone of the text is set in the very beginning and is recurring in the first chapter. The narrator’s human lonesome life is also explained...
Gregor Samsa’s unconscious can be explained through three important symbols prevalent in The Metamorphosis. According to the Freudian theoretical framework, these three symbols are personified in Samsa’s mother, father and sister. For Samsa, his family members represent his id, superego and his ego. Samsa’s sister...
The Novel Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is describing a fate that befell a young man by the name Gregor Samsa who experience complete change both external and mental. Gregor before becoming a gigantic insect was a dedicated person and a committed worker despite the anxiety...
In Franz Kafka’s short story, “The Metamorphosis”, the character Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning and finds that he has transformed into a bug. Gregor’s metamorphosis into a bug reveals a lot about his relationship with his family. In regards to his relationship with his...
Introduction Nihilism is “the destruction of everything without pity” (Palmieri, 1999, p. 3). A completely different movement that is sometimes lumped together with Nihilism is Existentialism, which is a belief that “the world is without meaning or purpose.” It also states “existence itself – all...
The modern crisis of authority revolves around the recognition that current versions of traditional authority are no longer credible or reliable. Such a dramatic shift in perception cannot be effectively realized in the safe, florid writing of La Belle Epoch. When Franz Kafka and T....
References to food are a recurring theme in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. The food that Gregor eats to strengthen his physical body reflects the attention that he receives from his family to satiate his emotional appetite. As the story progresses, the family grows more distant,...
The relationship shared between Georg Bendemann and his father had always been unstable and toxic. Georg’s father had total control over him both psychologically and professionally up until the passing of the mother. As a result of the power held over Georg by his father,...
Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis is as a disturbing look at the absurdity of life-and is literature at its most unsettling and most introspective. Throughout much of his life, Kafka suffered from insecurity and internal torment. An overweening, aggressive father with highly unattainable expectations exacerbated...
The Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary defines existentialism, in part, as “a philosophical theory that…emphasizes the existence of the individual person… determining their own development through acts of the will.” Existentialist work stresses the importance of the individual often denying the “existence of objective values.” Existentialism...
Since its original date of publication in 1925, Franz Kafka’s The Trial has resisted interpretation. At first glance, the novel’s seemingly simple and serial sequence of events poses no problem for the reader. Though the incidents that involve Joseph K. are themselves particularly odd and...
In The Trial, Franz Kafka tells the story of Joseph K., a man under persecution of the law. The novel begins with the arrest of K., which inducts him into a seemingly bizarre legal system. The arrest proves peculiar, as K. is never told what...
The Trial is the most well-known novel of Franz Kafka, published in Berlin in 1926. The original manuscripts were collected and prepared fo publishing by Max Brod, Kafka’s closest friend, two years after the author’s death. Brod says that the manuscript didn’t have a title,...
“It was a machine like no other.” Made-to-order essay as fast as you need it Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences + experts online Get my essay The opening lines of Franz Kafka’s work ‘In the Penal Colony’ puts forward a...
The human mind is so active that an individual experiences approximately 70,000 thoughts each day. These thoughts are often conflicting in their nature, as the stream of consciousness does not readily divide thoughts into categories, and thoughts enter and exit the mind freely. The novella...
Because essentially all faiths propose a set of moral and behavioral laws upon which one is expected to base one’s life decisions, religion and criminality are inexorably linked. While today in our society we aim to separate the two controversial subjects as much as possible,...
Lu Xun and Kafka’s utilization of the physical body allows for the presentation of personal criticisms towards aspects of modernity and the social, political and economic changes of the movement. Modernity, due to its nature of bringing about change, encourages the development of thoughts and...
Whether it be a gender hierarchy or a power system organized by income, human society has frequently fallen back on some form of an unequal power dynamic. Unfortunately, this type of structure can be extremely damaging to those at the bottom of the hierarchy as...
In order to address the paradoxes of eroticism and human desire for intimacy in The Trial, it is important to recognize the ongoing theme of bondage (in the classic master/slave sense). Without this undercurrent of power and servitude, it is impossible to pin down Joseph...
Naguib Mahfouz and Franz Kafka both use setting as an important literary feature in their respective works, Midaq Alley and The Metamorphosis. Mahfouz’s Midaq Alley takes place in the back streets of Cairo, Egypt during the Second World War, specifically in Midaq Alley. The alley...
Metamorphosis begins with Gregor, a travelling salesman, waking up one morning before he has to report to his miserable job, as a beetle. Throughout the short story, Franz Kafka, the author, showcases the many changes that occur from the day Gregor wakes up as a...
Looking at literature in a general sense, it can be seen that some pieces which use a distorted literary style, instead of the straightforward directness of realism, can, when written effectively, be very useful and highly informative, if for no other reason than the higher...
The Metamorphosis is a novel written by Franz Kafka and was published in 1915. The novel tells a story of a family that struggles with insect transformation of the main character and the breadwinner of the family Gregor Samsa. While the book has different themes,...
Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, in its continuously dissected and heavily studied narrative, details a transformation from man to creature but hides the true meaning of what it means to change form, both in mind and body. From the onset, it is made clear that something...
The nature of existence; and more precisely, the nature of humans and animals is one of selfish survival. In literature, we see this idea through novels such as Heart of Darkness that takes a historical, realistic approach to the concept, and also The Road which...
Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis contains direct biographical references to Kafka and his family’s lives. Gregor’s father’s dishonest actions stem from Kafka’s hatred against own his father for his relentless disapproval of Kafka’s writing. Kafka depicts Gregor as a lonely, insignificant failure, because that is how...
Introduction The political context of any novel is crucial to understanding relationships between characters, the exploration of significant themes, and the way the reader draws their own meaning from the text. Furthermore, they create a set of conditions with which authors can explore the significance...
Dehumanization of the protagonist is a common thematic element in both Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and O’Connor’s “A Late Encounter of the Enemy,” although the various aspects of dehumanization differ between the two works. Dehumanization plays a role in the deaths of both Gregor and General...
“A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”
“I am a cage, in search of a bird.”
“Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.”
“I am free and that is why I am lost.”
Date
3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924
Activity
Franz Kafka was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature.
Works
The Metamorphosis, The Trial, The Judgment, The Castle, Contemplation, A Hunger Artist, Letters to Felice
Themes
Kafka's works typically feature isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. It has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity.
Style
"Kafkaesque" got its name from Kafka's very own style. “Kafkaesque” style of writing is defined as the treatment of grotesque and anxiety-producing social conditions in literature. Kafka's style is seen by many as a surreal. His stories are strange, symbolize and show absurdity of life.
Quotes
“A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”
“I am a cage, in search of a bird.”
“Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”
