Book Review: 'The Metamorphosis' by Franz Kafka

It is a fictional novel by the Czech novelist Franz Kafka, first published in 1915 in the German language. It is considered to be one of Kafka's most famous and important works, which absurdly deals with the story of the young Gregor Samsa who woke up one morning to find himself transformed into a huge disgusting insect!

A photo by Ben Jones

Kafka revolts against the usual and the familiar in this novel, he revolts against domination, exploitation, and intrusion, against the deteriorating and worn-out reality, as he revolts against the soul of man itself! This novel puts you in the midst of the struggle of the self within modern societies where everything cheers to support itself, family, work, and the community.

The events of the novel revolve around the phenomenon of alienation that may affect a person as a result of experiencing conditions and circumstances that are completely contrary to his desires and ambitions. Events capable of transforming him from a human being has feelings -feelings are worthy of appreciation- into a programmed machine according to an infinite cycle of repeated events, and may simply transform him into an insect that everyone repels, that has no weight or importance.

Here one must stand in front of two options, either submitting to this unfair reality, which leads to self-loss and alienation from itself and those around it or rejecting reality and unacceptable laws and rebelling against them, both of which have a price!

Gregor Samsa, Kafka's main character, was living under the control and cynicism of various social institutions. He was working in a sales company to support his family -which consisted of a father, a mother, and a sister- and to pay off his father's debts. By tracing the events of the novel, the nature of the destabilizing relationship between him and his family, which lives intrusively on his meager salary, becomes apparent to us. He is the 'good son' as long as he performs his duty to the fullest, and any change or failure in this duty is accompanied by anger, rejection, and neglect.

As for his workplace, which he found himself forced to live with, the state of domination and control by the chief of staff is evident on the one hand, to be matched on the other hand, by submissiveness and acquiescence by 'Samsa'. In fact, he has an unconscious desire to be fired from his job, but he fears for his family! Hence, a case of schizophrenia clearly arises, as the two models of the cruel father and the cruel boss represent the controlling authoritarian principle which raises in him a clear confusion between submission and the desire to rebel together.

Therefore, Samsa tried to follow the rules, to be a good boy, and stay rational as described once by his boss at work, but among all these sincere attempts, he begins to completely lose himself and live in a surprising existential crisis. Here he wakes up from his nightmares one day to find that he has turned into a disgusting insect, he thought at first glance that he was still dreaming, and within the chaos and absurdity of the event he needed a shred of conclusive evidence to confirm the authenticity of the event, and this is what he obtained when he found his family dumbfounded and terrified by the horror of the incident. Then he realized the reality of the event and exclaimed: "It was no dream!".

A photo by Izmir Game Collective

Kafka later depicts the feeling of loneliness that afflicts 'Samsa' in this form, a feeling that may seem to us to be a mere resumption of an old feeling that he has always lived and immersed in his human form. He used to close his room door behind him, preventing himself and others from communicating or talking to live in his own world for which he made many dreams, wishes, and fantasies, but now he keeps the door open hoping that someone will come to comfort him and stand by him.. but no one has entered!

'Samsa' realizes that the change includes his voice as well. No matter how much he tried to explain his words, his voice still sounded like the sound of a terrifying insect, and this means that it is impossible to communicate with anyone by talking as well, and when the father’s eyes fell on his mutated son, he tried to communicate in an animal way, as he made hisses to expelle 'Samsa' to his room... What! Has the human circle turned into an animal one now? Is it necessary to emphasize the seriousness of the event?

By following the conversations that Samsa made with himself, which indicated a deep connection to his consciousness, researchers made a match between Samsa and Kafka himself. They found an original match between the personality of the novelist and the personality of his hero, which leads us to ask the following question: Where do we find Kafka in his novel?

Many researchers assert that Kafka was speaking only about himself in this novel, about many aspects of his life that troubled him. He was known to hate his job as it built an obstacle to his desire to write, and he was not understood by his family, especially his father, and this appears in many of his writings, not only this novel. Even the two names give the same sound during the pronunciation since the number of letters is the same and the two vowels are located in the same place.

What really distinguishes this novel also is the use of symbolism to express ideas. Hence, we can see that 'the insect' that Samsa has become represents the inhuman and degrading aspects of his life and work in modern society. It is a manifestation of the pure misery that he feels because of his work for others without the motivation or ability to develop a closer relationship with colleagues or clients, or even to develop himself and forge his own path.

As for the picture of the woman in furs, many thinkers and writers argue that it symbolizes 'Gregor Samsa' the human being who can enjoy a provocative image of an elitist woman, that is why he hastened to save her from his mother and sister -who began removing his furniture and possessions from the room- as if he was guarding his last remaining hope in stay a human.

In one of the scenes, Gregor's father fills his pockets with apples and begins throwing them at him - as a result of the rage that erupted after his son's appearance in his strange look caused his mother to faint - so that one of them settles in his back and begins to rot, causing a great infection.

Some scholars have dropped the symbolism of using the apples on that forbidden apple of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Bible, through which Adam and Eve gained knowledge, but in return, they also committed a sin and were expelled from heaven. It is the same apple that defeated Gregor, that poor man who only aspired to live as an artist, but his only sin is that he was found in a society that determines the value of an individual only according to the material benefit he derives, and when he became unable to provide any help, everything changed.

A photo by Barely Sparrow

Kafka said once: “We need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply [...] A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is my belief.” this is what Kafka tried to do through this novel, which shed the light on the rigidity of modern societies and the alienation and isolation imposed on humans.

Book information

Book: The Metamorphosis

Author: Franz Kafka

Release date: 1915

Number of pages: 95

Genres: Short story, Novella, Allegory, Fantasy Fiction, Absurdist fiction