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Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka Essay

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The Moral Ramifications of Transforming into an Insect

Evidently, a cockroach represents more than just disgust and poor maintenance of a household – it symbolizes moral justification and ‘ethical correctness’ in society. In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, a man named Gregor Samsa wakes up to find himself transmogrified into a giant bug. This leads to his family cutting him off, restricting his human activities, and ultimately causing his demise. Gregor is the epitome of an average person struggling under the weight society and its expectations, portrayed in the novel as a grotesque beetle. In fact, Franz Kafka conveys moral justification as a shrouded burden and outlandish lifestyle using flashback, symbolism, and irony. Primarily, Kafka …show more content…

In order to inform the audience of what he deems to be the most dangerous intangible of all time – evil morality – Kafka paints a painful picture of the consequences that follow rationales with selfish objectives. While Kafka does not specifically condemn the act of trying to be moral, he attempts to display the effects of self-centered integrity – that is, adhering to one’s own morality to the point of desolation. Therefore, flashback is the prime literary device for him to use to show the depths poor ethical focus can take one to. Kafka writes, “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams…” conveying the sudden and negative connotation of the ‘metamorphosis’ Gregor has experienced (Kafka, 3). In addition, Franz Kafka is making it clear that Gregor’s transformation into an insect coincides with bad dreams. Most certainly, these nightmares are visual representations of choices Gregor has made in response to society, Gregor’s family in particular, and the unfavorable pressure they have placed upon him. As he is constantly worried about proving his obsessive working for his father as necessary, he fails to recognize even from within his own dreams and thoughts the weight of this moral fallacy. Throughout the

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