A Man’s Nightmare (Gregor Samsa)

          

                                                                                    

                                                                                                                          

Nightmares are usually unpleasant dreams that cause strong negative emotional responds from the mind, which could be fear, despair, or sadness. Kafka’s story “The metamorphosis” is an example of a nightmare that happened to Gregor. It all started when Gregor woke up one morning, and realized that he had been transformed into a giant insect. He did not know what led to his monstrous nature, but he thought silently, “What has happened to me?” (Kafka 335). His question could neither be answered by him nor his family because his condition was rare in the history of mankind and in his generation. Gregor’s metamorphosis frightens many readers, and many ponder why Kafka could have imagined that this actually happened. Thus, in order for researchers to understand what triggered Kafka to write this story, his family background was taken into consideration. Kafka was born in 1883 into a Jewish, middle-class family in New Prague, which was a German speaking society (Breckman). According to Breckman, Kafka’s tormented relationship with his father, his sense of failure, his conflict with his Jewish identity, and his nature of job influenced his decision to write this story. In addition, Kafka suffered from tuberculosis, and died in 1924. He died at the age of 41, which shows that she was still young at his time of death. Kafka’s psychological struggle with his father, his society, and his sickness may have caused his to picture himself as Gregor. According to Breckman, Gregor’s fate suggests Kafka’s rage against his father as a result of his personal weakness to overcome his father’s authority. Furthermore, based on Gregor’s biological metamorphosis, a research has proven that the insect, which he transformed into belonged to the Vermin specie (Sokel). His transformation was also considered as the “Beauty” and the “Beast” type of fairy tale, where Gregor was known as the “Beast” and his sister the “Beauty” (Sokel). In this regard, in order to actually understand the psychological trauma that Gregor went through because of his condition, this analysis will include Gregor’s physical challenges as an insect, the effects on his job, and the psychological stress on his family, which all contributed to his early death.

                    Gregor experienced a lot of physical challenges with his vermin nature. For example, his bed and bedcover were too small for him, and his multiple legs proved difficult for him to control. He also had difficulties in sleeping, and he was very obsessed with the reason why he could not sleep. For instance, he thought silently, “What if I slept a bit longer and forget all this foolishness” (Kafka 336). Gregor thoughts could not be fulfilled because of his transformed nature, which made it impossible for him to sleep on his best position (his right sight). According to Chenoweth, Gregor’s inability to sleep was an indicator that he was losing his grip on life. Moreover, Gregor saw sleep sometimes as the cause of his transformation, and other times as a cure for his transformation (Chenoweth). This shows that he had fear for sleep, which was the cause of his transformation, and he wondered if the same sleep could solved his problem. He also hated his wriggling legs, and this made him to close his eyes several times in order to avoid seeing them. Eating real food was another problem to him, but his sister always provided him with routing food daily. Apart from his food choice, had difficulties in eating as an insect because he had never done that before. As a result, he dunked his head in milk nearly up to his eyes. Moreover, Gregor was also had communication problems. His voiced sounded like an insect each time he attempted to respond to his parents, and this made him to cease from talking. According to Breckman, Gregor’s inability to speak was as a result of his detachment from humanity, which occurred through his metamorphosis. This indicates that his human form was completely transformed to that of an insect including his internal organs.
                  Moreover, the dehumanized nature of Gregor affected his job, which he and his family all depended for a living. As a result, he could no longer carter for his family’s needs as he always did. He was also worried about his father’s financial problems, and the fact that his father could no longer support the family. Gregor was also afraid of losing his job as a travelling sales man in his company. That was why he tried to persuade his boss who was running from him because of his condition. However, even though Gregor was very committed to his job, he was also dissatisfied with it because of the disrespect and the unfairly treatment accorded to him by his boss and the company. As a result, he considered his metamorphosis as a way of being freed from his tiring job. For instance, he though silently, “Oh God,” what an exhausting job I’ve chosen—travelling day in, day out! The demands of business are far greater on the road than at home office, and I’m burdened with annoyances of travel besides, the worry about train; the irregular, bad meals; a social life limited to passing acquaintance that will never become real friends” (Kafka 336). This shows that Gregor was really obsessed with very thing about him, and this was gradually killing him emotionally as well as physically.

                      Gregor’s metamorphosis was a great upheaval for his family that they could not conquer psychologically. Thus, his relationship with his family became a nightmare to him because of the way he was maltreated. His family left him in despair when they realized that he was no longer a human being. His condition was a disappointment to his family, and they had no option, but to isolate him when he needed them most. However, Gregor’s sister was the only one who sympathized with his situation, and she tried to help him by cleaning and giving him food daily. Gregor was shocked by his father’s hostility towards him, and this really affected him emotionally. According to Sokel, Gregor was still human in his sub conscience because of his thoughts about his family and his boss. Gregor also loved and respected his father, for this reason researchers considered him as a peacemaker because his calm nature when his father hit him with an apple (Sokel). Furthermore, Gregor’s worst moment came when his family finally planned to rid of him. They could not bear the burden of living with Gregor in the same house. The idea of getting rid of him came from his sister who could not imagine that his only brother was a monster. For instance, Grete said to her father, “We must try to get rid of it” (Kafka 354). Thus, his family’s action left him with no choice, but death. Gregor was later found dead by his family, and they jubilated over his absence without having a second thought about the man who sacrificed a lot for their lives.

           Gregor was a good man with a good heart throughout his life, and even in his dehumanized nature he did not stop loving his family. But his physical challenges, his lost job, and his sour relationship with his family paved a way to his slow and painful dead. Nonetheless, Kafka wrote this story to portray his poor relationship with his family when he was alive. His purpose of Gregor’s metamorphosis was to show how he struggled with a contagious disease (tuberculosis) without his parents love. Thus Kafka lived a life of despair and isolation that finally led to his miserable and untimely death.

                                                                  Work Cited

Breckman, Warren. “Kafka’s Metamorphosis in his time and ours.” Penn Reading Project.                                                         

         Web. 21 May.2012.

Sokel, Walter H. “Kafka’s Metamorphosis: “Rebellion and Punishments. The University of  

          Wisconsin Press. Web. 21 May. 2012

Chenoweth, Rebecca. “The threat of sleep in metamorphosis.” A Journal of Undergraduate

            Literary Criticism and Creative Research 1.1(2010). Web. 21 May 2012.