The Metaphors of the Metamorphosis
In her critical essay “Transforming Franz Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’”, Nina Pelikan Straus criticizes Kafka’s ambiguity and brings forth what she believes to be the true takeaway of “The Metamorphosis”: life combated with the rearrangement of gender roles. According to Straus, Gregor is the metaphorical representation of any working man stuck in a bureaucracy. He goes to work and comes home each day like clockwork, until one day he finds himself transformed into a grotesque insect, which, according to Straus, represents “the burdens of patriarchal obligations.” This alludes to the traditional gender roles for men: the one that financially takes care of his family and the head of the household. However, these titles disappear along with Gregor’s metamorphosis. Although largely abandoned in his time of need, Grete, Gregor’s sister, attempts to make Gregor’s situation more comfortable, succumbing to the traditional gender roles of women by giving him food and cleaning his room. However, these duties are taken a step further because the woman is no longer just cleaning the house, but tending to what used to be the man of the household. Straus identifies this point as where gender roles start to blur, as Gregor (the metaphorical representation of man) finds the shame in being completely taken care of by the woman, Grete. The gender roles are further reversed as Straus observed that the more Gregor deteriorated, the more Grete bloomed. The story begins with Gregor’s metamorphosis into a grotesque insect while it ends with Grete’s metamorphosis into a beautiful, independent young woman. Straus criticizes Kafka’s ambiguity throughout the story, claiming his main arguments about a bureaucratic society was not delivered clearly. The question remains, is there a clear, singular meaning behind Kafka’s novella or is it better left up to interpretation?
Overall, I agree with Straus’s analysis of “The Metamorphosis”. Although the true meaning of his story is arguably ambiguous and multivalent, Kafka clearly portrays a reversal of gender roles. Gregor fit the traditional, masculine mold perfectly until his metamorphosis stripped away his job and family, leaving him crippled and helpless. Kafka uses Samsa’s transformation into an amorphous insect as a metaphor for him being crushed by his “patriarchal obligations.” Gregor’s situation in itself defines the term “kafkaesque” as his entire life up until his metamorphosis has been a spiral into the dark hands of bureaucracy, as shown by the way he deals with his transformation. Kafka also entertains a psychoanalytical relationship between Gregor and his father as well as an ironic twist of events shown through the connection between the progressive deterioration of Gregor and the growth of his sister, Grete.
When Gregor first transforms into an insect, his first clear thought is one of terror. However, the fear was not fed by his metamorphosis but rather the fact that he had slept through his alarm and missed his usual train to work. Although he has already identified the fact that he has turned into a grotesque insect, he is overtaken with the worry that he is not going to be able to make it into the office. In fact, he even thinks, “the next train was at seven o’clock; to catch it, he would have to rush like a madman…“ (5). He has not yet stopped to consider that he is nearly incapable of getting out of bed- much less going down to the train station to head to work. He is so focused on trying to earn money to fulfill his “patriarchal obligation” but in the end, no matter how hard he tries, success is futile. Gregor’s metamorphosis depicts the struggles of a kafkaesque society: that no matter how hard one tries, success remains out of reach.
In her essay, Strays briefly touches upon Kafka’s use of psychoanalysis when defining the relationship between Gregor and his dad. I agree with this argument in the sens that the Oedipus complex is one of the motivating factors behind Herr Samsa’s disownment of his son. However, instead of using the more common definition of Oedipus where the father and son vie for the affection of the mother, Kafka twists the definition around so that Herr and Gregor Samsa vie for the affection of young Grete, who proves her affections lie with the primary caretaker of the family. For the longest time, Gregor was the breadwinner- the one who kept clothes on their backs and food on the table. So for the longest time, Grete’s love resided with him. However, the more Gregor deteriorated and the more Herr was forced to step up as the patriarch, the more Grete’s attentions shifted, leaving Gregor as a literal shell of a man. This relationship is shown when Gregor sneaks into the living room admiring Grete’s music and painfully pining for her, and Herr catches him. In response, Gregor’s father attacks Gregor and forces him back into confinement. Once Gregor is reduced to a decaying heap confined to his room, Grete declares her complete change of heart away from Gregor and towards her father when she says, “‘It has to go… that’s the only way, Father. You just have to try to let go of the notion that this thing is Gregor. The real disaster is that we believed this for so long’” (42). Gregor may have been the only one who underwent a physical change, but his incapacitation caused a metamorphosis for both Grete and Herr Samsa.
As Straus stated in her essay, as Gregor deteriorated Grete rose from his ashes. She started off meek and quiet, subject to duties forced upon her by her gender. She took Gregor under her wing and cared for him when nobody else would, even if tentatively. However, when it became clear Gregor would not recover from his grotesque state, her attitude towards him shifted. As Gregor sank further into his shell, Grete emerged from hers. While at the beginning of the story she was regarded as a quiet girl, her transformation at the end of the story was described when Kafka wrote, “their daughter… was growing ever more vivacious… she had recently blossomed into a beautiful, voluptuous girl” (47). All memories of Gregor were buried in the ashes as he ended up being the chain shackling his family to a life stuck in a bureaucracy. Once he was taken out of the picture, Grete got her chance to shine. However, Grete was not the only one forced to change due to Gregor’s metamorphosis. Their father, Herr Samsa, underwent a change of his own. With their main breadwinner down, Herr had to go back to work to support his family. From there, we see him transform from a weak old father to a strong businessman especially through the description, “[His father] was holding himself very erect, dressed in a tight-fitting blue uniform with gold buttons, the kind worn by messengers at banking concerns… under his bushy eyebrows his black eyes darted bright, piercing glances; his usually rumpled white hair was combed flat, with a scrupulously exact, gleaming part” (23). As Grete grows out of her devotion to Gregor, her father blooms into the powerful figure Gregor used to be and replaces him in Grete’s heart.
“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka tells many tales. There is the main storyline about a man disowned by his family due to a gruesome transformation, but there is also the story of gender roles, bureaucracy, the psychoanalytic, and family dynamics. Overall, Straus’ essay touches on most of these key ideas portrayed by Kafka, but as stated above there are many more interpretations she failed to touch upon. However, for the most part, I agree with Straus’ interpretation of the novel– of Kafka’s ambiguity and multivalency. But unlike Straus, I believe it makes the story even more powerful. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to one’s perception of Gregor Samsa, but rather a plethora of metaphors and interpretations available for the reader’s dissection.