Kafka's "The Metamorphosis"

Discussion question 1: According to Dictionary.com - a metamorphosis is, "a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism--a complete change of form, structure, or substance--a form resulting from any such change."  In considering this definition, what was Gregor's life like before and after his metamorphosis--do you believe his change was literal or metaphoric and why?

Despite Gregor's complete physical transformation, he changes very little mentally. Throughout the entire story he tends to accept his fate without complaining or questioning why he is going through these events. Instead, he takes his transformation like an unfortunate fate that could have happened to anyone and is not out of the ordinary, and tries to adapt to his new life. According to Norton's Anthology, "no allegorical interpretation is finally possible, for all these potential meanings overlap as they expand toward social, philosophical and religious dimensions and constitute the richly allusive texture of seperate tales by a master story teller." If there is no political, religious or social allegorical interpretation, the only interpretation left would be the one that Gregor fall into a permanent insanity that affects his view of the entire world and turns him into the shame of his family and those around him. 

Discussion Question 2: Kafka includes many references to hunger and food--what is the significance of these references? 

The many references to hunger and food could be symbolic for Gregor's desire to be loved and accepted by his family, and simply to exist. When the narrator talks about Gregor's life before the metamorphosis, the reader gets the overall impression that Gregor merely exists to his family through the money and economic benefits he provides them with. He is not truly loved. This feeling is strengthened when, after his metamorphosis, his family turns against his due to his incapacity to go to work and maintain their lifestyle like he used to. Kafka could possibly be identifying himself with the main character. It is stated in Norton's Anthology that Kafka suffered from "his father's overbearing nature and felt deprived of maternal love." The apple scene could also be symbolic of Kafka's sufferings as he grew up in an unloving family. Gregor's father bombards his son with apple's, one of which lodges itself in Gregor's back. No one tends to Gregor or even bothers removing the apple, that ends up creating a permanent injury and causes his death. This could be a figurative interpretation of what Kafka went through in his own family. His bad relationship with his family permanently injured him and affected his life.

  Discussion Question 3: Identify and discuss some of the themes of "The Metamorphosis" - be sure to refer to your notes about what a theme is and in your discussion identify key passages of the text that support the themes you've identified.

The major underlying theme in Kafka's "Metamorphosis" is isolation. After Gregor's transformation, he barely ever leaves his room and when he does he is forced back into it like an animal. This isolation becomes gradually more unbearable for Gregor. At the beginning, Grete, Gregor's sister comes into the room to leave him food, but soon she barely even does that anymore, and uses her feet to shove the food through the door as not to set foot into the room. Gregor's loss of contact with the outside world, and therefor isolation, is also symbolized through his loss of long distance eyesight due to his animalistic condition: "From day to day, even the things that were rather close were growing hazier and hazier; he could no longer even make out the hospital across the street." (p. 2014)

Another major theme is money, as it is at the root of many of Gregor's problems. Money problems define Gregor's life before his metamorphosis and after metamorphosis. Prior to his uncomfortable condition, Gregor's only worry in life was the one of providing his family with a comfortable lifestyle: "Gregor's sole concern at the time had been to do whatever he could to make the family forget as quickly as possible the business catastrophe that had plunged them all into utter despair. And so he had thrown himself into his job with tremendous fervor, working his way up, almost overnight, from minor clerk to traveling salesman, who, naturally, had an altogther different earning potential and whose professional triumphs were instantly translated, by way of commissions, into cash, which could be placed on the table at home in front of the astonished family." (p.2013) Furthermore, right after Gregor's realization of his handicapping condition, his first worry is providing for his family and how they would survive if Gregor would not be able to go back to work.