Isolation In The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka

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The novella ‘The Metamorphosis’ was written in 1912 by Franz Kafka and was his first published story. It is about the young man Gregor that has woken up to find himself as a large bug. The novella goes through the struggle and the hardships he faces while his family tries to carry on with a normal life. The later Kafka Novella ‘The Country Doctor’ written in 1919 is about the struggle of a doctor trying to treat a young boy. His third novella ‘The Hunger Artist’ written in 1924 was one of Kafka’s last works. It is about a man who fasts, travelling around Europe. It goes the struggles between what he believes in and what the audience observes. Franz Kafka was a writer born in Prague, Austria-Hungary in July 1883. He was born into a middle…show more content…
This is done mainly through the Samsa family. The views that are reflected in ‘The Metamorphosis’ are ones of isolation, socialism and his scepticism towards modern life. Isolation is one of the biggest impacts on Gregor’s life, which reflect the nature of the jobs people would take so that they would be able to make a living. “Travelling day in and day out. Doing business like this takes much more effort than doing your own businesses at home ...contact with different people all the time so that you can never get to know anyone or become friendly with them.” This quote is the first example within the novella that the readers are able to see not only Greogrs isolationism but the Kafka’s society. Gregor’s isolation and disconnect from the world around him can be seen to be a metaphor for the way that the ‘modern’ society in the early 1900s had inherited the tendency to alienate and isolate individuals. Additionally the added affect of Gregors transformation making it impossible for communication with anyone else takes away Gregors sense of belong. As in the quote above it is Kafka’s subtle way to critique the damage to interpersonal relationships that has came from the quick paced life of the ‘modern societies’. Isolation can also been seen within Kafka’s life, facing it within his own family and also by the people of Prague. He and his family were a part of the Prague…show more content…
The most obvious view that is reflected is isolation of the hunger artist, both psychically and also mentally. A hunger artist is someone who professionally starves himself as a part of an act. The hunger artist in the story isolatates himself in a cage from the spectators displaying the divide in society, and the isolation that comes from the struggle of different views. His act causes misunderstanding between him and the spectators, by them not understanding his reasons behind what he is doing. Kafka experienced this in his own life. His mother was a dedicated homemaker lacking in the intellectual need to understand Kafka’s dream of being a writer, while his father understood his dream but had little appreciation for his writing. The second view is the people’s enjoyment from seeing the suffering of the Hunger Artist. Reflecting Kafka’s view of society pleasure from watching and revealing in peoples struggles of poverty, religion and illness. This is seen with the popularity of freak shows during this time period, where people with deformities, impairments and disabilities where presented to people for entertainment and economical

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