The Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka is best known for this book, though he has written many others, including The Trial. The novel explores social and political topics through the use of the fantastic, in this case, a man who wakes up one morning and finds he has turned into a gigantic cockroach.

I am drawn to books that explore things in ways that have not been explored before and books that make one think. I read this one in college; it has stuck with me and influenced me through my writing career.

His physicality transformed, Gregor awakes no longer a man, but instead, a giant grotesque creature.

As I read this masterpiece, I too understood how it is, to appear not how I desire. To sound different, to look different, to appear different than the paragon of myself I have created in my mind. And to strive to be more than this body I inhabit can give. But is this not the condition of us all?

A truly brilliant Kafka, this book created a world that is my own, yet unreal, and my reality yet a waking dream.

If there’s one thing human societies tend to fear to the point of hatred, it’s a stark departure from what is considered normal in terms of physical appearance.

Most people prefer rules and routine; they prefer order even if that order is nonsensical or illogical. Anything that breaks with this routine—even in terms of its appearance—is a source of stress and thereafter banishment. Kafka best describes this bizarre reality when Gregor Samsa wakes up and realizes he’s transformed into a massive bug.

I think most teens probably, at some point in their life, feel similarly to Gregor.  

Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find that he has been transformed into a beetle. This awkward situation is exacerbated when Gregor’s boss turns up at his house seeking an explanation for his non-attendance at work that day. Gregor’s family only ever valued him for his earning ability. Now they can see no use for him.

This bleak, unsettling, existentialist, and nihilist narrative comments on the human condition and the futility of life. Readers down the years have regaled in this symbolic and dark, humorous story. I am no exception.

"One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking from troubling dreams, he discovered he had been changed into a monstrous verminous insect."

What an opening sentence! In my teens I was captivated by the strangeness, the absurdity, the sense of sacrifice, and the surreal, deeply unsettling nature of this tale, and re-reading it again now, I still am.
Gregor loathes his dull job – something so many of us can relate to – but is bound to support his debt-ridden family. Transformed into something monstrous, he is freed of family obligations but has now become a burden.

Despite his… show more.

There are so many layers to The Metamorphosis. At first glance, it is a tale of the main character’s physical transformation into a bug. The real terror is how his family turns into monsters of their own when he becomes a burden to them. After he dies, his family is relieved and moves on to happier places. 

This is one of the only books I have in my library (11 in total). I have several copies of The Metamorphosis, the oldest copy from high school. I hope to buy the illustrated copy next. 

This text, by Franz Kafka, can be interpreted in many ways – some of which can be referred to as existential whereas others can just be interpreted as eye-opening. The Metamorphosis provides an in-depth analysis of our lives in the eyes of those around us, with the example being of a man who works to provide for his family. This book made me realize that for me to be a provider for those around me, I need to first be there for myself and become comfortable with whom I am. Whereas the main character was unhappy in his life, and… show more.

Given to me by my sister – who in truth was the person who supplied all the books I read in my teens. I quite simply believed that Gregor had become a beetle and accepted it as a straightforward story - and then as I became older, I started to unpick it as something more complex than that. I think a lot of people know about this story but many never read it. It is relatively short (a long short story?). I really believed Gregor’s plight and the emotions of his family. I have since read a lot more by… show more.