THE METAMORPHOSIS
Existentialism:
Connection with "L’Etranger" -Camus: story of a man with no extraordinary qualities where extraordinary happenings take place with almost banal reactions. (like story of Metamorphosis).
Kafka wasn’t existentialist in same way as Camus or Sartre, but many of their ideas overlap.
One of main tenants in Existentialism: "existence precedes essence" --> you are born with a certain variety of choice, you can be whatever you want.
- visible through many existentialist authors
- a somewhat liberating concept, more of an atheist idea as opposed to the idea of destiny
- While Gregor doesn’t seem to have this liberating concept of "existence precedes essence", he has more choice than he thinks in the story (could run away, kill others, many different things)
Core ideas of ABSURDISM and EXISTENTIALISM:
Absurdism
-no direct reason for anything happening
-no direct answer to "Why am I?"
-we exist in an irrational world
Existentialism
-attempt to make sense of an irrational/meaningless universe
-term applied to a philosophical/religious/artistic group of thought during and after WWII --> so many writers and artists reacting by pointing to the futility and meaninglessness of life, and showing that humans inherently struggle with this meaninglessness.
-we and other things EXIST but have no meaning unless we act upon ourselves and them to give them meaning.
-like a world where a man is adrift in a sea of chaos and must find his way through (must try to make sense of it all)
-human culture puts meaning into random events after existentialist system of thought is put into place, represented in religion and philosophy.
--> see the Existentialist Primer handout
Kafka bio:
The Metamorphosis
Chapter 1:
-Gregor realizes that he is a bug -> "it wasn’t a dream"
-doesn’t ask why he is transformed into a bug, thinks only of going to work
--> absurdism!: Kafka not explaining nature of the transformation, not exploring why the irrational act has happened
-ironic that his job is as traveling salesman: has to leave home and make contact w/ people he will only meet for a short period of time, relationships based on appearances and façades.
-Family is at at first disgusted. Father reacts violently, shoving Gregor back into his room (p. 19) --> does not want to see Gregor. Now Gregor’s place in the family = thing that should not be visible. It is bad enough that he exists, he must be kept out of sight.
-Despite the fact that he is a bug, Gregor still wants to get to work. Boss comes to Samsa house--> shows Gregor’s tremendous anxiety about work and anything/body work-related. With good reason: he missed the early morning train, and when doesn’t show up at work, the boss comes to his home to verify firsthand where the employee is. Work comes to Gregor when Gregor is not at work.
-connection b/w work and family: Gregor is almost an indentured servant to family. Regarded as an employee, difference than working for oneself. Family never sees him, gone in the morning and comes home late in the night + traveling all the time.
--> family has debt that Gregor needs to pay off, as he is only able bodied member of family.
--> his job dominates both professional and personal life--> boss says "you are you an embarrassment to your family" etc.
--> p. 4, reader finds out that Samsas are indebted to the boss, Gregor’s job is committed to working off the debt.
-Gregor not only working to pay off family’s debt, but also saving up help Grete go to the conservatory of Music to play violin. sole bread winner of the family, yet still wants to work even more for things that are not strictly necessary.
-deeply moved by his sister’s violin playing, wants to give Grete a better life than he had. // b/w Kafka and how he felt obligated to work his family, when he wanted to pursue a writing career.
Ungeziefer.
Download the full text here.
There are many different ways we can read The Metamorphosis:
1. Psychoanalytic: We can read the novella as an expression of the unconscious. Introduction to basic psychoanalytic terms: the id, ego, superego. Focus on anxiety and the discontents that come with modern life. The family plot, fear of and aggression towards the father, competition for the mother, the primal scene. Repressed desire and the Venus in furs.
2. Marxist: We might read the work as an indictment of Capitalism, of the deadening effects of work and the bourgeois lifestyle. (Refer back to Chaplin and Modern Times, perhaps.) The economy of credit and the ‘problem’ of enslavement to debt.
3. Biographical: Look at the narrative of Kafka’s life, particularly his struggle with his father, obligations to the family and the family business, sense of duty to a bourgeois job when the real desire is to be an artist. By extension, then, we might read The Metamorphosis as a representation of the plight of the artist within different structures (family, work) that impede his ability to create. Note Gregor’s focus on Grete’s career as a violinist and the way he is drawn to her music.
4. Feminist: We could focus on the character of Grete and consider whether the book asks us to think critically about the conventional place of women within the family, the obligation of a young woman to marry well, the obstacles to a young woman pursuing an artistic career. A feminist reading might also look at the construct of masculinity operating in the novella. What is a ‘real man’ expected to think and do in Gregor’s world? In what ways does Gregor fall short, and what are the consequences? Among other things, becoming a bug emasculates him. Note also the father’s transformation into a man of authority as Gregor begins to weaken.
5. Existentialist: What is Kafka’s connection with Existentialism? Can we use Existentialism as a kind of lens, even if this novella was not written as self-consciously Existentialist? What would such a reading look like?
