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Background history of Franz Kafka on Metamorphosis:
The Metamorphosis can be pursued as an autobiographical piece of writing, and find that parts of the story reflect Kafka's own life. It is well known that Kafka felt like an insect in his father's authoritative presence. |
"...from day to day he perceived things with less and less clarity, even those a short distance away: the hospital across the street." This quote describes how every time he looks at the window and sees with less clarity, he is further away from humanity both metaphorically and literally.
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Kafka wrote ‘The Metamorphosis’ in 1912, the year he felt his creativity finally taking a definite form. It was one of fairly few works Kafka was to publish in his lifetime. Kafka's views of humanity found their origins in his distinctive religious views, lying somewhere outside the mainstream of Judaism.
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Also, as human, gregor was able to see a hospital from the window, but not as his new self. "The hospital opposite, which he used to curse because he saw so much of it, was now completely beyond his range of vision". A hospital symbolises health care and the disappearance of it from Gregor’s view may represent his deterioration.
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Speaking with his friend Max Brod, Kafka once explained that he thought human beings were God's nihilistic thoughts. Brod asked whether there was hope elsewhere in the universe. To this, Kafka replied, "plenty of hope, for God? only not for us."
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Lady in fur:
The framed picture of a woman covered in fur may signify the wealth Gregor wished to have as human as fur is an expensive good. The reason to why he wanted to hold on to it might have been because it represented what his missed of his past such as woman and sexual interaction. It is quite ironic how he uses his new insect abilities to hold on to his human past. |
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This vision of human beings trapped in a hopeless world never leaves Kafka's writing, and it is present in The Metamorphosis, where Gregor's only option, in the end, is to die.
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Gregor’s transformation itself:
I believe that Franz Kafka’s health condition contributes significantly to Gregor Samsa’s transformation. Tuberculosis is highly contagious without the correct treatment which did not exist during that time. TB patients in the late 19th and early 20th century were kept quarantined in sanatoriums. The use of a bug appearance might have been influenced of the revulsion towards the disease. |
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Title: Dictionary definition of metamorphosis: a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism.
There are two kinds of metamorphosis. |
Window:
Gregor’s first view outside the window is rainy, grey and dark; his view may represent his new life (after the transformation). |
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A complete metamorphosis which consists of 4 stages and an incomplete consists of 3. 3 is a quite consistent number throughout the novella, 3 doors, 3 family members,3 tenants, 3 chapters and 3’o clock is the time he dies.
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Doors could have also been a protection, which set Gregor a safe boundary. It warrants privacy but also the fact he is unloved by those who should love him. The word ‘door’ is mentioned 108 times thru the novella.
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Apple:
In the bible, it is said: “by the apple, your eyes should be opened”. This is relevant since when Gregor is attacked by his father with apples, he comes to unquestionable the painful truth. He has been dishonoured by his family. When he dies “no one ventures to remove it”. This shows how Gregor will remain forever with his new self, created by his family. |
Doors represent the family segregation. The doors are a way for the family to separate themselves from Gregor in their disgust. Gregor will exist and cease to exist in his own little world, while what goes on outside his room is not shared with Gregor.
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Doors:
Before Gregor’s transformation he isolated himself from others by locking his doors (from the inside of his room), however after occurrence his family isolates him from locking the door from the outside. |
In my opinion, Gregor Samsa’s transformation shows what humanity truly is but also what is shouldn’t be
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