Metamorphosis

METAMORPHOSIS - REVIEW

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kaftka is a short story which depicts a dark and grim episode in the life of the Samsa family in an understated style. Instead of portraying the episode in a horrific light, Kaftka describes it with an element of absurdity and often with a tinge of humour.

The story begins with Gregor Samsa, the protagonist waking up to a harsh reality. He finds himself transformed into a monstrous insect with limited mobility and limited ability to communicate. The thing that stuns the reader most is the way Gregor reacts to this dehumanizing mutation. He seems more baffled than horrified and ponders over petty things like reaching office on time and thereby not annoying his employer. This gives us an insight into what kind of a person Gregor is. He is an exemplary employee and a dutiful son and brother, the sole support of the family since the failure of his father's business. Gregor's transformation invokes different responses from his family members.

Perhaps the most justifiable response comes from his mother who is horrorstruck and remains so for a greater length of the story. The sister on the other hand cares for her brother even in this grotesque form of his and cleans his room regularly and also brings food that suits his buds. The father has the most shocking response, he seems irritated at the metamorphosis of his child and exhibits hostile feelings towards him as exemplified by the episode in which he drives his son into his room by hitting him with apples one of which gets actually stuck in his back leading to an infection.

Gregor's metamorphosis sparks a change in the members of his family.Gregor's father literally has to get off his couch. Prior to Gregor's metamorphosis, the family could not justifiably be called a patriarchy. The reader has the sense that the father looked to the mother upon every decision. Indeed, much of the father's time was spent reading the daily newspaper. After Gregor's change, the father starts to manage the family. He had to take care of his family financially for now there was no source of money. He begins to manage the family by first acknowledging the existence of leftover money from the collapse of his former business. Then he gets a job. In beginning to work again and "bringing in the money," he asserts (or reasserts) himself as the head of the family. Grete also takes on a small job, financially helping in a small way. Hence this episode is shown as a blessing in disguise for the family as they learn to stand up on their own feet and not depend on Gregor. The metamorphosis of Gregor leads to a symbolic metamorphosis of the family.

Inorder to get some money, the family takes on rent 3 lodgers. By listening to the demands of the lodgers the family reaches its lowest point of misfortune.The lingering presence of the insect son, the great burden, holds the family hostage. Only after Gregor's death does the liberation of their spirits occur, self-respect truly bloom, and the future become a bearable thought.

As something which can be clearly seen, The Metamorphosis begins with what should be its climax. The protagonist's great transformation, often the pivotal moment in a work of fiction, gets plopped unceremoniously on our lap in the story's first sentence. No buildup, no tension, just boom: Gregor Samsa is now a bug, and we must all deal with the consequences of this fact. The remainder of the story marks Gregor's drift into oblivion, with very few surprises along the way. Perhaps the most striking point of the story is the narrative's straightforwardness in the light of the horrific metamorphosis of Gregor. Perhaps the greatest mystery shrouding this story is the fact whether Kaftka has talked of the metamorphosis in a symbolic or literal sense. By symbolic we mean has he tried to portray the empty, insignificant, and outcast life that Gregor leads as a traveling salesman or the story is a mere reflection of the strained ties he shared with his father or it simply purtains to the most obvious analysis, that the transformation is for real and the story is simply a work of fiction with a hint of magical realism.

By:

ABHINAV KUMAR

2009CS50231