Introduction
In Kafka’s short story, a traveling salesman awakens one morning to discover that he has been changed into an insect. In the tale, the author highlights various aspects of his life, including his father, his family, and his plans for the future. He expressed his affection for the people in his life using analogies. Many claim that Kafka’s life and the Metamorphosis story are remarkably similar. Therefore, his story may be regarded as autobiographical. The story covers that time’s social, cultural, and historical aspects. These aspects are related to the Marxism of the 20th century, the sense of alienation and women’s rights development, and societal change accordingly.
Social aspects
Materialization and the Marxist movement defined the 20th century. Following the Marxist theory, Gregor’s inability to work makes him useless to his family, who wants to achieve a higher social class (Mir 131). Samsa’s economic condition is the primary example of class conflict in the Metamorphosis, representing Marxism. Samsa’s family is not well off; Gregor has to pay his father’s debt, and after his inability to work, his family pays off their debt (Kafka 10). This makes the novella an example of a capitalist society (Mir 131). After Gregor’s transformation, and due to his incapacity to work, he passed away. As Mir argued, the main purpose of a Marxist society was to provide for one’s family and be useful.
He argues that after being transformed, Gregor was unable to feed himself. Hence, his future depended on the family’s charity, which eventually became so little food that he starved to death. Housekeeper found his dead body one morning and informed the household. After hearing the news, they opted not to grieve with sadness but relief. Mr. Samsa’s comment was, “Well… now we can thank God!” (Kafka 45). According to Mir, he was relieved of the financial responsibility of sustaining his son, which again indicates the Marxist approach (131). The family chose to visit the memorial service instead of grieving. Remembering their dead son, they talked about the financial gains after his passing, underlying his worth to the family (Mir 133). Thus, Kafka demonstrated one of the key aspects of his time in the story.
Cultural Aspects
Alienation was another topic discussed when analyzing Metamorphosis by Kafka. Prakash argued that Marxism and Existentialism are credited with developing the idea of alienation (Prakash 183). In other words, alienation is essentially the dissimilated relationship between man and society and between people, involving the inner relationships between self and others (Prakash 183). Gregor was alienated in his room as soon as he ceased contributing to his family financially and by working. This demonstrates that his family utterly disregarded Gregor as anything other than a means of obtaining material gain. Prakash also finds a correlation between the character’s alienation and the writer. Kafka struggled with alienation being a German speaker in the Czech Republic, making him a minority. Moreover, he was a Jew, which made him a minority within a minority.
Many researchers focused on the notion of alienation in Kafka’s work. Furthermore, questions of alienation and culture were also raised by Saperstein (12). Ovid repeatedly emphasizes the value of art in the Metamorphosis and that the story covers a difficult relationship between a father and a son, which was inspired by Kafka’s work. Although, in this case, the dilemma between the characters revolved around art. Rather than have Phaeton admire the art, Ovid has the narrator describe it. This underlined the main issue when Phaeton, much like Gregor, did not feel any support from Ovid, feeling lost and alienated, much like Kafka himself.
Historical Aspects
Joshi studied Kafka’s work with a gender-based concern that has been central to the study of the author’s text ever since the evolution of gender studies. Mr. Samsa, who employs physical force, represents Kafka’s father and serves as an example of his manliness every time he drives Gregor back to his room in all three parts of the Metamorphosis (Joshi 65). After transformation, Gregor is treated like a non-masculine identity; he is faced with discrimination, marginalization, and degradation, as he is put away from his previous state further and further (Joshi 71). His masculinity, in a way, is being neutered and even infantilized.
Kafka began writing at a time of significant and rapid cultural changes, amongst which one of the most pivotal ones was women’s liberation movements (Joshi 72). The right to vote, working rights, and inclusion in universities for women started changing the world for them and, consequently, for men. Grete becomes his caretaker, a reversal of what is shown in Gregor’s memories, where he takes care of Grete’s needs (Joshi 72). This reflected the actual events at that time, where women became more empowered.
Conclusion
Kafka did a wonderful job underlying all the important aspects of his time in the Metamorphosis. As it has been stated numerous times, this work is almost autobiographical. Kafka discussed his family issues and troubles, focusing on his relationships with his father and sisters and on key moments of that time. He implied a Marxist approach to the characters’ relationships and talked about a familiar sense of alienation and the rise of women’s liberation movements. The story is a reflection of Kafka’s life and the society of that time.
Works Cited
Joshi, Shubham. “A Gender Study of Franz Kafka and His Work The Metamorphosis.” Contemporary Literary Review India 8.2, 2021, pp. 57–90. Web.
Kafka, Frank. “The Metamorphosis.” Sirius, 2018. Web.
Mir, Shabir Ahmad. “Explicating Kafka’s Metamorphosis within the ambit of Marxism.” International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences 4, 2019, pp. 128–133. Web.
Prakash, Divyam. “The Comparative Study on the Theme of Alienation and Self Deception in “The Metamorphosis” and “I – Not I.” Assonance, 2018, pp. 182-192. Web.
Saperstein, David. “Metamorphosis: Book II: The Cocoon Story Continues.” Talos, 2018