Metamorphosis free essay sample

Franz Kafka’s 20th century short fiction story, â€Å"The Metamorphosis† is a story about a man’s overnight transformation into a vermin. Kafka was a very influential writer during his time. He used many different feelings and emotions such as comedy and horror in much of his writing. â€Å"The Metamorphosis† is a great example of Kafka’s work that exemplifies both a horror and comedy within the same story. After reading â€Å"The Metamorphosis† and reading articles from F. D.Luke and Jean Collingnon, both scholarly writers on Kafka’s â€Å"The Metamorphosis,† I realized that this story can be classified as both a horror story and a comedy. Kafka offers many different concepts and situations which allows the reader to classify â€Å"The Metamorphosis† as a horror story and a comedy. While analyzing â€Å"The Metamorphosis† for the first time, I found it incredibly disturbing and depressing, however after seeing the film and reading what Collingnon and Luke had to say about the story I found humor in many of the situations that I once thought were depressing. We will write a custom essay sample on Metamorphosis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In Jean Collingnon’s â€Å"Kafka’s Humor,† Collingnon mentions several different examples of Kafka’s humor and how much of it comes about. In her writing she asserts that Kafka’s humor is both â€Å"oppressed and depressed,† Kafka makes a point to make light of the hardships Gregor faced (Collingnon 53). Much of Kafka’s humor comes from past life experiences that he experienced, such as his experience with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and tedious work (Collingnon 53). According to Collingnon, Kafka creates heroic characters in horrific situations through humor.Initially Collignon claims that Kafka’s Humor â€Å"is the humor of a man both oppressed and depressed who smiles not in order to forget but to assert his independence, and makes plain his determination not be overwhelmed by hardships,† showing where his humor is coming from (Collignon 53-54). Collignon’s writing shows that many of Kafka’s stories focus on how to make the best out of a bad situation. This is clearly shown when Gregor is transformed into an vermin and when he wakes up. Gregor’s primary concern is how he can get up and get to work.He did not sit around and dwell on the fact the he was no longer human; he took actions and tried to make the best out of his situation. He tried to get up and overcome the initial shock of waking up and finding himself a vermin. This brings about a great example of humor to the situation. This humor is expressed throughout â€Å"The Metamorphosis,† as mentioned by Collingnon and Luke. Collingnon also suggests the whereabouts of Kafka’s humor. She suggests that Kafka’s humor comes from much of his past life experiences both good and bad. According to research done by Collingnon, Kafka had suffered under the Austro-Hungarian Empire.He also suffered â€Å"from the tedious routine of clerical work in an insurance company† (Collingnon 56). Kafka’s hardships are expressed in a humorous way in many of his writings such as; â€Å"The Metamorphosis† and â€Å"The Castle. † In these Kafka relates his life experiences, such as his dealing with his father expressed in Luke’s â€Å"Die Verwandlung,† and turns them into humor by expressing it in different ways, such as Gregor’s transforming into a vermin. This resulted in his powerless demeanor showing much of how Kafka felt during this time in his life. Another scholar F. D. Luke, who wrote â€Å"Die Verwandlung,† agrees with Collingnon’s thoughts on Kafka’s humor, considering his work a comedy. He also believes that some events in â€Å"The Metamorphosis† lead to it becoming a horror story. In â€Å"The Metamorphosis,† Kafka has created a central point that Luke finds as both comic and horror aspects to Kafka’s story. Many effects occur from the physical and mental behavior of Gregor after the metamorphosis that is mind boggling. For example when Gregor losses his human faculty of speech, in Gregor’s reaction to metamorphosis, and Gregor’s â€Å"flat† reaction to what has happened to him.This is seen as horrific to Luke because of its ‘uncanny’ psychotic character (Luke 238). According to Luke the metamorphosis casts a dreadful and tragic light on human incapability to appreciate disaster. As mentioned by both Luke and Collingnon, Kafka’s stories have often been compared to dreams and nightmares. Luke acclaims that Metamorphosis is intended to be taken as a real event and not as a symbol of illness or as a dream, as many people believe. The fact that this is intended as a real event adds horror to the story.Metamorphosis is concluded as a reaction to a dream in Luke’s, â€Å"Die Verwandlung. † He claims that â€Å"This Metamorphosis is intended to be taken literally, as a real (objective) event,† however many relate Kafka’s work to a dream or as a symbol (Luke 234). The transformation of Gregor into and insect has different meanings to different readers; however the argument lies in Kafka’s meaning behind the Metamorphosis itself. According to Luke, â€Å"[t]he function of the metamorphosis within the story is to be distinguished from the fantasy in Kafka’s mind† (Luke 234). Next, F. D.Luke suggest the comic effects in Kafka’s â€Å"Metamorphosis† occur from the physical and mental behavior of Gregor after the transformation, when Gregor losses his human faculty of speech, and in Gregor’s reaction to the metamorphosis. An example of this comic is found when Gregor first wakes up to find that he is not human anymore, but that he has been transformed into an insect. This also leads into the comic derived from his loss of his human ability of speech. In Luke’s writing it exclaims that Gregor remains able to understand his family as they talk down upon him, however they are not aware of this fact adding humor to the situation.After the initial shock when Gregor awoke to find that he had turned into an insect his response was not on what had happened to him as a person but he focused on how he could get up and go to work. â€Å"His reaction shows the typical Bergsonian comic ‘radeur’; and it is comic because empathy is first stimulated, then rendered superfluous† thus bringing out Kafka’s comic writing in the story (Luke 238). Comic is found all throughout Metamorphosis in many different situations regarding Gregor and his personal effects and reaction to the formation. F. D. Luke offers a horrific side to Kafka’s writing as well. Metamorphosis free essay sample I am now a writer. I think. I have learned what I need to be a writer; I enjoy it now. I like to sit and wonder – and write. It all seems clearer: where I want to go and who I want to be. It is all much easier now. It is hard to imagine my life without this pivotal junior year in which I have turned into a butterfly, a male butterfly free to roam the winds created by Aeolos – and to rest when dusk falls. And only at that break of twilight, will I be unfocused, because the rest is just transparent. I have learned to see things, not as they are, or how they appear, but how their existence molds my life. Not by their color, or their scent, but by the way my breath touches their surface. They do not have a meaning, but rather a purpose that I am destined to decipher. We will write a custom essay sample on Metamorphosis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But what I have already found is my mission, my quest for happiness and peace, and my reason to believe – to believe that life is composed of tiny atoms, like the element of gold. And to learn the importance of every particle involved in playing a vital role in the existence of such natural beauty. I am not exactly sure where I am at this moment, but I know where I would have been if I had not taken the challenge: nowhere – no place of importance. Somehow, the skills I learned in my junior year English class went beyond my paper and pen and caused a permutation in my perception of life. A change that has almost given me power. And not power like God’s, but power to know and account for what is around me. Just enough power to know that I emptied myself in order to obtain it. I gained the power to learn, and perhaps, in another realm of existence, the power to teach. I hope one day to escape my reveries and bring with me the virtues of becoming a great mentor, for that will show the master skill of learning as well as the truth in knowing to proceed, and then to prevail. The world appeared so enigmatic, and now it seems to have worsened. However, it has become a puzzle I am eager to work out, and not a blurred vision of a mournful morning where I find nothing but questions that seem to have no answers. Now I wake with the moon, every morning I can, in order to get the most out of life and every moment. I never waste a minute, much less a breath, for my life is the most important thing to me. And you, pedagogue – had the power to alter it. This journey through the world of art has been unforgettable. I have surpassed my fears of writing, and I am no longer scared to read some of the world’s most amazing literature. It was at the end of this odyssey that I learned the importance of connecting my mind with the minds of others. It has given me the combination to the safe of life. Metamorphosis free essay sample Metamorphosis In the novella Metamorphosis the main character Gregor is morphed into a cockroach. It never states how it is that this change occurred. I believe that it happened as a way to save Gregor’s family from the confinements of his job. Gregor Samsa is a traveling salesman. It just so happened that Gregor’s father owed a lot of money to his boss. Mr. Samsa had owned a business in the past. Unfortunately the business was lost and this left Gregor’s father unemployed. He never got back into the work world leaving it up to Gregor to provide for the family. Gregor hated his job and thought it was a tiresome burden. Although he despised his career, he was very devoted to it. He was determined to provide in the best way possible for his family. He was always absorbed in his work â€Å"The lad only ever thinks about the business†, exclaims his mother in the first chapter before he is revealed as a giant roach to the family. We will write a custom essay sample on Metamorphosis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Because his father was in debt to Gregors boss they had no way of leaving the city in which they lived. At the time I don’t think anybody in the Samsa family realized that how they were living wasn’t beneficial. Once Gregor’s horrible plight was revealed the family’s well-being went downhill. The sister became overworked, the father was abusive to Gregor, everybody was unhappy. Gregor’s father had to get a job to support the family seeing as Gregor no longer could. Alas the Samsa family was now stuck in a worse position than they previously had been. That is until one morning Gregor was found dead. By this point in the novella the family stopped treating Gregor as if he were their son. After all he was a cockroach! As soon as it was clear that they were free of their bug infestation the mood was instantly brightened. The family drew closer together, mourned the loss of their son and brother, but most importantly moved on. They were free from the li fe they lead before Gregor’s transformation. They moved out to the open country with anticipation for a happy future