The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

Heard of this word – Kafkaesque?

Check in the dictionary and if you still don’t understand, read “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, the iconoclastic German novelist. Kafka’s style of writing is been interpreted through schools of Modernism, Magical Realism and Existentialism. With my limited knowledge of these schools of criticism and having read only one of his novels, I feel it is more of Existentialism and bit of Magical Realism.

Though they were into different mediums of expression, there is a glaring similarity between Kafka and Vincent Van Gogh, the post impressionist Dutch painter. Kafka remained unpublished and unnoticed till he died at a young age just as Van Gogh. Both were ill, Kafka physically and Van Gogh mentally ;). Today their works are among the most admired and sought after.

He doesn’t have any extra ordinary subject to explore in this book. It is rather a crazy idea. No sane soul would come up with a main character like this. I won’t say this is a brilliant piece of work. This is rather an unimaginable plot narrated through mundane incidents. but once you read you would want to go hunting all the book stores in town to gather all of his other works.

The protagonist is Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman. One fine morning he wakes up and finds himself metamorphosed into a “horrible vermin”.

This is the first paragraph –

One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.

The incredibility of the situation isn’t much explored. It is all about how the family takes care of the disgustingly huge vermin. Gregor was living with his bankrupt father, ailing mother and teenage sister. He was barely managing the financial needs of the family.

The book makes an irresistible read throughout. You have to read to believe how captive is the way he narrates about the first morning the metamorphosis happens. Gregor, the vermin, tries to crawl to the door and open it; the initial shock and acceptance by the family. His sister, Grete, takes his responsibly.

He is ashamed of his own physical appearance and is aware of the embarrassment and emotional trauma he”is forced to impose” on his family. So he hides under the couch every time a family member enters his room.

But it ends on a different note. Gregor, the darling and bread winner of the family, is helpless when he finds out all the others are forced to work to provide for the family. He is full of love for his siter and mom, but can’t express. He dies, much to the relief of his family. But don’t expect an overflow of emotions or tears through the pages.

The ending is what I liked the most. Things are normal and his family makes a quick entry to the normal life like Gregor never existed with them. Simple.

Kafka is, simply put, different. Read it. You will not regret spending the time on it.

It made a great reading to me. Give it a try.