Parents are known for influencing who their children will become as individuals. Franz Kafka’s father, Hermann, had a forceful personality that frequently overwhelmed the Kafka home (“Franz Kafka Biography”). Hermann was abusive (Stephens), had little appreciation for Franz’s dreams (“Franz Kafka Biography), and caused an abundance of fear to invade Franz’s mind (Popova). These factors of their relationship leads to the question, “Did Franz’s relationship with his father have an effect on his writing?” There is a great deal of evidence to conclude that the answer to this question is yes.
Abuse can take a toll on a human, emotionally and physically. In Kafka’s case, it was both. In The Kafka Project, J. Stephens explains that Franz Kafka and a character from The Metamorphosis, Gregor, are similar in various ways. Gregor’s father abuses him periodically throughout the entire book. The…show more content… Franz Kafka wrote a letter to his father answering the question, “Why are you afraid of me?” In this letter Kafka states, “[...] because, even in writing, this fear and its consequences hamper me in relation to you and because the magnitude of the subject goes far beyond the scope of my memory and power of reasoning.” Kafka gives examples of how his father induced fear into his life (Popova). One example is that Kafka recalls wanting a glass of water while he was in bed and his father getting so angry that he took him to the balcony, in just a nightgown, and left him in the cold (Popova). A correspondence to the fear instilled in Kafka is evident in The Metamorphosis. Kafka shows Gregor’s fear of Mr. Samsa by stating that, “If Gregor had only been able to turn around, he would have been back in his room right away, but he was afraid of making his father impatient by such a time-consuming turn, and at every moment he was threatened by a fatal blow on the back or head from the stick in his father’s hand” (pg