Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

*Hey you, watch out for spoilers !

So listen, you go to sleep at night and the next morning you find yourself with a couple of more feet (which arguably look like an insect's). What's your reaction?

Well, whatever you do,(or assume you'd do) Gregor Samsa is surely not you ,so he just wants to go to work as he always does at that time of the day.

The above anecdote introduces the first pages of Franz Kafka's novella Metamorphosis. Set in the small apartment of a low- income family the author narrates the story of Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman, who wakes up one morning and finds himself transformed into an ambiguous creature (which within the literary world it is mostly perceived as an insect). Although the book is very small in pages, its content is very ambiguous, and for this reason it can be analyzed extensively. When I finished reading it I was left with a bizarre feeling , for I didn't know what to make of it. I am still unsure of its overall symbolism, but in this post I will write about one of the themes that intrigued me the most, and that is the economical value of the Samsa children to the parents.

Starting from the end of the book, the author writes,

Mr. and Mrs. Samsa were struck, almost simultaneously, with the thought of how their daughter was blossoming into a well built and beautiful young lady. They became quieter. Just from each other's glance and almost without knowing it they agreed that it would soon be time to find a good man for her. And, as if in confirmation of their new dreams and good intentions, as soon as they reached their destination Grete was the first to get up and stretch out her young body.

For me this passage reddens the two parents as conspirators winking at each other, while musing over the exchange of their daughter to money (= wealthy man). It seems that the daughter's beauty is seen by the parents as a means of economical advancement for the whole family. The parents seem to have a money relation with their children, as this was the case with Gregor before he became a useless vermin (and mostly due to this transformation, he was left to die by his own family). This economical dependency of the parents towards their children, can partly explain Gregor's reaction to his bodily transformation. Going back to the beginning of the novella, the salesman seems unable to grasp the gravity of his metamorphosis. In fact, he acts as if he just woken up with a flue, and nothing strange has happened to him. However, the only reason he regards his situation as threatening, is due to the possibility of losing his job. With this in mind, it seems that money is above anything else in this family, since they are in a restricted financial state. Moreover, Gregor admits that the only reason he goes to that job is to provide for his parents and sister. The extract below illustrates this money relation within the family,

Gregor had later earned so much that he was in a position to bear the costs of the whole family, and did bear them. They had even got used to it, both Gregor and the family, they took the money with gratitude and he was glad to provide it, although there was no longer much warm affection given in return.

Regarding the main theme of Kafka's work, which is metamorphosis, it seems that all of the family members and their environment undergo a transformation process. For example, his sister 'became touchy in a way that was quite new for her'. Also, his room becomes a storage space and his presence is forgotten behind the clutter. Finally, and most importantly, Gregor is deprived of his identity within the family context and he is re-constructed as an outsider, a parasite. Notably, the sister exclaims,

Father, Mother (...) we can't carry on like this. Maybe you can't see it, but I can. I don't want to call this monster my brother, all I can say is: we have to get rid of it. '

And the father replies, She's absolutely right,

All these various transformations are consequences of the initial metamorphosis of the salesman. Therefore, it is clear how metamorphosis applies both to Gregor and to his family. Intriguingly, by the end of the book the family is thankful for the death of their son (if he could be regarded as such). The paradox here is that even though Gregor physically altered, mentally and emotionally he maintained the same affectionate feelings towards his family. In contrast, his family, even though they were physically the same, mentally and emotionally they disposed their love for their son and brother.

Summing up, I think that this multi-personal metamorphosis occurred primarily due to Gregor's inability to financially provide for his family. Specifically, he became a 'useless' member of society with nothing to offer. In contrast, had to provide for him this time (irony?). This could be a book about the economical enslavement of people and its affects regarding their emotional aptitudes. Having said this, Metamorphosis, is a literary piece that offers multitudes of analyses on various topics. In this post I have chosen to study the theme of money in the context of family relationships, because I find it a problematic topic that can open a room for a lot of discussion.

What's your interpretation of the book?

*Drawing by Odilon Redon, The Crying Spiderman

#books