A Critical Analysis of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis

A Critical Analysis of Metamorphosis
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A Critical Analysis of Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis is an allegorical novella targeting the conflicting relationship between man and society. The protagonist, Samsa Gregor, representing the personality and views of the author, passes through a severe social crisis after suddenly getting up like an insect in the morning. With his changing perceptions about himself and society and his ultimate efforts to adjust to his new physique and mentality, he explores the bitter truths of relationships. He discovers that loneliness and alienation from the community are his fate when he is useless to other people. Instead of excellent care and love, he becomes a source of shame and offense for his weird, insect body. Thereby, he realizes that relationships and love are conditional in his society, and everyone is alone in the crow, which is a timeless reality. Gregor exhibits Kafka's perceptions about man and society through his character, questioning the existence of unconditional relationships and love and ensuring the loneliness and internal and social conflict of everybody in the world, which is a universal fact.
Throughout the story, Gregor represents Kafka's understanding and clash with society. The author projects extreme difficulty for the protagonist to adopt a personality that people accept. He also shows his inability to communicate and share his ideas and problems when he is different from others. Gregor repeatedly mirrors his struggle to gain strength and independence to get close to people and maintain relationships. However, he is constantly frustrated to get parallel to others due to his unacceptable and absurd appearance (Kafka, 1915). Kafka uses his main character to release his frustrations due to lack of communication and alienation from society. The author himself could never make friends and feel free to enjoy others' company as being a similar type of person among them.
Moreover, the author makes Gregor the medium to convey his regret for a forced career that he had to pick up to feed others, not please himself. We see that the protagonist has to do a salesman's job, which he dislikes as a 'demanding Job' (Kafka, 1915, p.4). Similarly, the author was least interested in the job that he had to do as a compulsion. He worked for an insurance company while having a deep interest in law. Both Kafka and Gregor appear to despise their jobs while doing them punctually to fulfill their familial responsibilities (Kafka, 1915). Hence, it is apparent that the author makes the protagonist his depiction. Gregor's despair, alienation from society, and lack of freedom and strength signify Kafka's individual struggle to adjust to a community that he finds different from his ideals.
Metamorphosis draws a conflict between man and society through Gregor's new insect body set between ordinary people who are not ready to accept him as a loved one. When the protagonist wakes up a morning with an insect body, it is clear to note that he begins his struggle to adjust to this new situation from the very minute. He tries to communicate with his family and join them by unlocking the door between them (Kafka, 1915). The door symbolizes the gap between the people of a similar group who live together but cannot approach one another, leaving everybody alone behind the door.
Gregor's struggle specifies his inner conflict with society and his endeavor to become a part of the people around him without any obstacle. He says that he cannot explain to anyone the "dull pain" inside him (Kafka, 1915, p.4). It is also apparent that his insect body begins to overshadow his human mentality, which increases the nature of conflict inside him. For example, he craves crawling now and then. He feels at peace when he gets beneath the sofa, although his giant body does not fit the place.
Similarly, his thinking becomes similar to a vermin when he desires a room without furniture, so he may easily crawl here and t...