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EWRT1C - Sample Analysis Paper #1This is a sample of the type of detailed analysis I'm looking for.
A Chirp for Humanity
by Cheryl Pon
In Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis,” Gregor Samsa, the protagonist, is transmogrified into an insect. Though Gregor may be transformed physically, his thought processes are still undeniably human. While he does not seem emotionally affected, he demonstrates keen abilities to keep his mind level upon his filial duties, seemingly his only awareness before and after his transformation. Gregor fails to perceive his family’s parasitic gluttony and thus his suppression by his family in lieu of his new identity eventually leads him to his own demise. Gregor's progressive mutation represents the course of his increasing alienation from his family and the effects of the inhumane demands from a bourgeois society and in the process, draws out internal suppressed desires of affection and companionship.
Gregor is alienated from his family and society through his occupation and his obligations to his family. As he first awakens, his room is described as "a regular human room, only a little on the small side.” (1) Gregor implies dissatisfaction with the conditions in which he lives. The use of the term "regular human" serves already to distance Gregor from humanity, which depicts that even before he realizes he has been transmogrified, he already feels detached from civilization and humanity. Gregor's entire metamorphosis may be the result, or the metaphorical equivalent, of his alienation. To general society, insects are viewed as unclean and insignificant pests and Gregor's metamorphosis can be seen as his own insignificance. Not only does Gregor's transformation repulse his family and others, but arouses disgust in those who do see him: “It must have been a month since Gregor’s metamorphosis, and there was certainly no particular reason any more for his sister to be astonished at Gregor’s appearance… it would not have surprised Gregor if she had not come in, but not only did she not come in, she even sprang back and locked the door.” (30) Gregor is imprisoned in the family living room, where he is alienated from the rest of the family and is obliged to dwell in a decrepit setting as his sister eventually neglects taking care of him altogether as she undergoes a personality metamorphosis herself, becoming unpleasant and inconsiderate. “The cleaning up of Gregor’s room, which she now always did in the evenings, could not be done more hastily. Streaks of dirt ran along the walls, fluffs of dust and filth lay here and there on the floor.” (43) Gregor's new prison seems even worse than his old one, though this one is unbearable only because of his own need to serve his family, which has essentially ousted him due to his inability to serve them. Crawling around the walls and ceiling symbolizes Gregor's freedom from the responsibility of living as a human. “He especially liked hanging from the ceiling; it was completely different from lying on the floor; one could breathe more freely; a faint swinging sensation went through the body; and in the almost happy absent-mindedness…” (31) As compared to working as before, Gregor recaptures some of that freedom he inwardly yearned for through crawling. But this freedom is an inhuman freedom of his body, since it is a body not even human, and is what sets him apart from his family and from society.
As a traveling salesman, Gregor belongs to a financial system where it is emphasized that his life revolves more around attaining wealth than knowledge or humanity, the consideration of mankind. Gregor introduces this information to the reader with angst: “’Oh God,’ he thought, ‘what a grueling job I’ve picked! Day in, day out – on the road… I’ve got the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate.’” (4). This emphasis shows that he is not proud or happy with what he does but it is also what he has dedicated his entire life to. Gregor transforming into a “useless” creature reverses the role of the breadwinner in the family. Both of his positions as a salesman and an insect relate as equally inadequate and insignificant. Dependent upon Gregor to support the family, his family see his predicament as an outrage. As he is no longer able to provide his family with income, he is shunned and looked upon as a hindrance just as an insect is viewed as an interference and disturbance. The Samsa family withdraws from Gregor entirely because they render him ineffectual in terms of assistance, again as an insect is treated, and begins to alter their lives in the process. Irony plays a role in the sense that his entire family works resignedly to bring in what Gregor alone did. Gregor himself feels remorse not because he’s been transformed, but because he is unfit for work, demonstrating his selflessness to his family as his filial duty. “At first, whenever the conversation turned to the necessity of earning money, Gregor would let go of the door and throw himself down on the cool leather sofa which stood beside it, for he felt hot with shame and grief.” (29) As the roles are reversed and Gregor now remains dependent on his father, his father becomes embittered and injures him. “Gregor stopped dead with fear; further running was useless, for his father was determined to bombard him.” (39) For all his life, not only Gregor has been crushed and restricted by authority and routine from his job as a salesman and by the expectations of his family, he also has been hindered by social and economic burdens, especially directed from his family as they depend on him for their finances.
Because of his high-maintenance occupation, Gregor lacks of affection and consideration and suppresses these emotions only until he is given the time, as an insect, to brood over and express them. As a human, Gregor was never considered except for his income, as given by his distance with his parents. As an insect, Gregor is equally hindered in terms of communicating with his family and thus there lies no real difference in familial familiarity. In the entire household, Gregor only has two pictures, one of himself and one of the lady in furs that he had carefully made a frame for and has hung in his room. It is his inner desire for companionship that he keeps this photograph? He cherishes this picture (he spent several nights making the frame) because for him it symbolizes women apart from his mother and sister. Gregor states that the people he meets while traveling are never more than temporary acquaintances, indicating his loneliness. “’I’ve got the torture of traveling, worrying about changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate.’” (4) When his mother and sister deprive him of his humanity by moving out his “human” furniture against his will, they are essentially reducing him to the bleak possibility that he will not transform back. “They were clearing out his room; depriving him of everything that he loved.” (35) In search of something to salvage, Gregor does not bother to save the desk he had used throughout his education or even the picture of himself in military attire, but instead rushes to defend the “picture of the lady all dressed in furs, hurriedly crawled up on it and pressed himself against the glass, which gave a good surface to stick to and soothed his hot belly.” (35) By saving the picture, he is essentially defending “his woman’s” honor and his pressing his whole body against the glass depicts his one-way intimacy with this picture. The glass of the picture soothing his hot belly reveals the comforting affection he derives from the picture. Because his family gives him no consideration or affection, he is forced to seek it in the inanimate picture of the lady in furs.
Franz Kafka tracks the journey of a young man transformed insect by portraying his neglect and eventual demise in “The Metamorphosis.” A noble son to his family, Gregor goes unappreciated for his good deeds and is severed from communication with his family indefinitely. Gregor's progressive alteration in both mind and body symbolize the route of his increasing isolation from his family in a society lacking both compassion and humanity for Gregor.
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