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Theme Of Dehumanization In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

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If a bug was crawling up a wall, many people would attempt to free it or kill it. If that bug was the size of a human, most people would run away screaming. If that bug was actually someone’s brother, the situation may be handled differently. In Gregor Samsa’s case, his parents refuse to interact with him and his sister takes care of him from a distance. Gregor is both alone in his room for multiple days and treated as vermin. In The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka illustrates the themes of alienation and dehumanization when the main character, Gregor, is isolated, abused, and dies without anyone mourning for him. Primarily, Gregor is alienated when he is isolated in his room from his family. Since Gregor is unable to engage in human interactions, …show more content…

When he dies, none of his family mourns for him. After seeing his dead son’s body, Mr. Samsa says “‘Now then, let 's give thanks to God for that’” (Kafka 40) Mr. Samsa does not mourn for his son. In fact, he praised God for it, implying that he wishes it had happened earlier. Not only does his father dehumanize him, his mother and sister do as well. After writing letters of excusal for their jobs, “...the three of them left the flat together,” and “discussed their prospects and found that on closer examination they were not at all bad” (Kafka 43). This passage is given a happy tone, which seems ironic due to the death of a Samsa family member. Humans are usually mourned for after their death. Every person who has ever lived had made an impact on someone’s life, but the Samsa family acts as if Gregor had no impact on theirs. By not treating Gregor with the respect to mourn for him, his family further dehumanizes him. To conclude, Franz Kafka illustrates the themes of alienation and dehumanization in his novella, The Metamorphosis, when the main character is isolated, physically abused, and not mourned by his family. Due to this, Gregor dies trying to remember better days instead of living them. Through displaying these themes, Kafka shows that humans, no matter their relation to someone, have limited sympathy. After the sympathy runs out, humans result to the dehumanization and and isolation of

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