The Existential Framework as it relates to The Metamorphosis
Themes:
- Existence precedes essence: an existentialist would define existence from the inside, out; and focus was shifted from the world at large to the individual’s experience inside the confines of that world.
–In The Metamorphosis, it can be said that Gregor’s primary failure is his neglect of self-definition; or in other terms, his spinelessness, which is manifested symbolically in his insect form.
–He is passive; he seeks to define his existence, not by searching within himself, but by the world around him: his family and his job, society at large and its views.
–Inside the Existential framework, Gregor is a total failure, and he becomes a victim to forces in the world around him.
- The Look: This is central to Existentialist thought. This idea is centered on the idea that something as simple as being conscious of being observed by another creature, whether human or animal, has a profound effect on the way the receiver of that look perceives his or her environment.
–The sister’s affection that Gregor covets almost more than anything else can be considered a look of approval.
–Through the look, roles of power are established.
- Gregor is always the one to look away.
–It has been suggested that the idea of social judgment is central to the entire story—that Gregor’s change was only a symbolic manifestation of the way society made him feel, as though the eyes of social judgment.
- Beyond Good and Evil (beyone rationalism and moralizing): The idea that there is NO absolute good or NO absolute evil in the world. All was relative, created by human beings in their attempts to rationalize and make sense of the world.
–This notion is manifested in the novella by Kafka’s lack of judgment of his characters.
–There is no guilt placed upon the characters for turning their backs on Gregor.
- Existential Angst: Describes the internal conflict experienced by every conscious individual due to the fact that the world is not a rational place and existence can be maintained only by constant struggle.
- The Difficulties of Communication: Communication is a prime source of Existential angst because that communication always involves struggle.
–There is no pure communication. In every instance, something is inherently lost because the tolls of communication are imperfect.
–Gregor is unable to communicate; his words become intelligible
- The Irrational World: Central to the framework is the notion that at any moment, everything could change. There are no givens in life. There are no universal truths. There is no certainty.
–Gregor’s transformation—coming out of sleep to find that things were far from the way he had left them—is a powerful illustration of this idea, this fear of the existentialist thinker.
- The Grotesque (also the absurd, or bizarre): A reaction against Romantic writing that presented an ordered and benevolent world, where things worked out in the end and all loose ends tired together neatly.
–Gregor needed his family to give his life a purpose. They, in turn, relied on him for their sustenance. When he could no longer provide for them, he became repulsive, or grotesque. Kafka’s turning Gregor into an insect to illustrate this idea is an example of his bizarre sense of humor and irony.
GregorSamsa represents a specific type of behavior—the fear of being alive with all of its risks/rewards and the embrace of an inauthentic code of behavior—which, in the end, is transformed into the acceptance of life with all of its vicissitudes.
The Inward Passage: The Real Metamorphosis
•This is a novel about GregorSamsa who learns about who he really is through an overwhelming psychological experience that turns him inward.
•His first step in this journey is disobedience:
–Refuses to go to work
–Refuses to follow the rules of etiquette
•In his new condition, Gregor begins his soul searching:
–Accepts that he has conformed to his family’s and employer’s demands
–Realizes the inauthenticity and meaninglessness of his life
•Once he sheds his previous self, Gregor begins to delve into his own unconscious and confront the truth of his life.
•Gregor evolves from psychological immaturity to the courage of self responsibility.
•For the very first time in his life, Gregor becomes blissful and becomes a mature person.
•Gregor dies with this realization, a transformed human being
Central Symbol of the Beetle/Vermin:
•A subjective fantasy that best describes Gregor’s self-loathing:
–Worthlessness
–Uselessness
–Meaninglessness
–Awkwardness
–Ugliness
Other Symbols:
- The Apple: a religious symbol, said to represent a fall from grace, a dystopian symbol.
- The Hospital: an interface between society and the individual, a place to which Gregor could have gone for help, so near for Gregor—just across the street—and yet so far, because what stood between him and the hospital was the faceless bureaucracy of society. Note how the building is described as austere and ominous, unwelcoming.
- Blindness, nearsightedness: Gregor’s increasing alienation from society, preventing him from even seeing the hospital where he might have been helped.
- Music: universal communication. When Gregor tries to reach out to his sister(the source of the music), his efforts are misinterpreted and he is chased away.
- The lodgers: Society’s control over the middle and lower classes, which are beholden to the upper classes and must live lives governed by the pursuit of money within the pre-established channels of the system. In this case, the lodgers have control even in the Samsa household, showing the extent of this oppression.
- The Charwoman: the outsider, or the savage, who—unlike the maids—is not affected by society and lives outside its rules. The charwoman is able to deal with Gregor on an almost animal level, being somewhat crude and animal-like herself. In this way, she is able to communicate with Gregor in a more natural way than the rest of them. She also represents the departure from social judgments—beyond good and evil.
- Marriage: Grete’s maturation into womanhood, and a foreshadowing of the endless cycle of domestication. By entering into the folds of society, Grete will give up the independence she has achieved throughout the story, and Gregor’s life and death both will have truly been meaningless.
- The doors to Gregor’s room: originally locked from the inside, representing Gregor’s desire to isolate himself, they eventually come to be locked from the outside, representing his being stripped of free-will or choice. Society has locked him out.
- The rooms of the house: the interior and exterior realms of human existence. Gregor’s room comes to represent his internal state, which, as he depends upon others, becomes more and more neglected, until it is in a state of utter dereliction. On the outside, the family, engaged in society, goes on about its business.
- The number (3) three: three doors, three lodgers, etc. The number three had deeply religious connotations, and it is suggested that this was an extension of a religious metaphor in the story.
The Form of The Metamorphosis: Parable
•Uses this literary form as a neutral, detached point of view from which to examine human behavior
•Conveys truth in a less offensive, more engaging form than a direct assertion
•Appeals to the understanding, the emotions, and the imagination—to the whole person
•The Plot is almost HUMDRUM in its realistic description of family tensions and economic worries.
•At its simplest, a parable is a metaphor or similedrawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought."(C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1961, p. 5)
•The meaning of most parables is not so obvious, or at least it shouldn't be.
•Most parables contain some element that is strange or unusual.
•Parables do not define things precisely but, rather, use comparisons.
•Takes the familiar and applies it to the unfamiliar
•Makes the unfamiliar more comprehensible