Writers are never short of topics just like musicians who never miss a note. They have a strange inner quality of separating truth from fiction through the depths of depravity. That is why all the novels, biographies and short stories are interconnected. They grab readers from the start and if the topic is catchy, the audience will take a vocal journey within the pages. Hacks have that kind of influence on their readers.
You must be familiar with Kafka’s ‘METAMORPHOSIS’. It is an amazing story with a creepy beginning and a dangerous ending. What if one day you get out of bed and find yourself transformed into a tiny insect? A cockroach for example? Isn’t that a precarious and strange thought? This is what Kafka does with his readers here. It takes a subject that doesn’t fit into the ordinary universe and makes it psychologically engaging and very intense to believe.
Protagonist Gregor Samsa rules the book through his vile form. The writer has not shown much difference between the first and third person. The focus is on the world Gregor experiences through his cockroach form and how miserable his life is. His family doesn’t consider him important and treats him below his dignity despite everything. The setting is within the four walls of the house excluding the last episode. Kafka portrays the daily life of his family connected with the mundane. A combination of real and illusory events makes this piece exceptionally interesting. The whole story is called ‘Absurd’ and its themes are used in plays.
We all have that little animal instinct in us. This impulse is symbolized by the lowest form of humiliation felt by a human being. The man thinks that he is so unworthy of living that he should be thrown into the spider webs or should hide under the bed or the sofa forever. Why is he so upset with his presence? What is unbearable about him that makes him feel worthless in love? Let us walk his path and understand his condition.
Kafka’s portrayal of his pitiful protagonist becomes striking when, even in the form of an insect, he tries to prepare himself for office or tries to sit down with his mother. It’s a tearful situation for readers, as they think he hasn’t given up hope of returning to normal. He believes that this situation is a mere hallucination and it will pass but it does not pass and he falls into the depths of nothingness until everything is lost and he dies.
Gregor is a subjugated person. His family does not accept his lack of punctuality even in this condition. His father constantly examines his actions and feels as if he is a puppet that dances to his melodies. He doesn’t bother them about his existence, they only care about his salary.
As we progress through the story, we witness his desperate attempts to make himself appear important to his parents. Gregor is happy when his sister comes to clean his room and looks at him with a strange face. She chews on the leftovers and it’s a bloody description. That’s how bugs feed themselves and no matter how hard Gregor tries, he never gets beyond ordinary.
A small but significant part is shown when the office worker comes home because Gregor missed his train. He is polite at first, but loses his temper when Gregor doesn’t answer his questions. This is truly a human-inhuman situation where Gregor tries to stay civil by lowering his voice and being modest as he communicates. He wants to speak out loud, but is afraid it will sound too harsh for his superior. He is heartbreaking and flouts false codes of civility. Even as a transformed insect, the protagonist doesn’t lose a courtesy trail of him. Kafka appears here as a brilliant writer. He mixes the vile with the human and succeeds.
His family doesn’t understand Gregor’s miserable condition but he senses everything. He can hear the creasing of fabric as his sister Greta changes her dress. This insect man can sense and feel the slightest change around him and, suffering from this condition, he desperately tries to fight for his family’s plight. We can see the pitiful condition of our protagonist when he screams and pleads with the office manager for him. The saddest part is his father, without even trying to understand his motive, throws him back into the room and is defeated.
Gregor loves the accessories in his room. He wants to stay in the same conditions, but his most beloved sister appears, takes everything and leaves him and his room empty and lifeless. This hurts the hell out of him, since he loved his sister more than anyone else.
Greta kept him connected to his family when he was leading a normal life. However, circumstances changed and so did his sister. He loves her and she vehemently despises him. He is clearly symbolized through his actions. The last episode shows a gulf in their relationship.
Gregor cannot bear this vehemence and decides to die in the end. In a peaceful and serene environment when the clock struck three and symbolized the time of dawn, our beloved protagonist entered the light in his soul. He fell to the ground, broke his head and went to heaven.
Was over.
I’m not sure I’ve been able to do this summary of this great novel justice, but if you read it for yourself, you’ll go through that “Gregory’s bloody state” phase.
Metamorphosis is truly a legendary book in terms of portraying the humility, pain, and miserable condition of a living human being. So painful that he wishes to be transformed into an insect to save himself and desperately craves some attention. Directly or indirectly, the novelist has reflected the psychological condition of people who suffer from an inferiority complex and instead of loving them, their relatives deprave and disgust them to a level where they have no choice but to leave for the final exit.
