I recently read, for what I believe is my fourth time, Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. I had gotten a nice copy of it a few years back and finally picked it up to read through it. This is another Easton Press version. I had watched the film Kafka starring Jeremy Irons recently as well....perhaps that nudged me to pick it up. I'm not clear on how but The Metamorphosis came up next on my reading list one way or the other.
The Metamorphosis tells the story of a young man, Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one morning to find he has transformed into a type of beetle. His boss, who checks on him later that day, runs away screaming when he sees Gregor. His family at least initially accept that it is Gregor, even though he can't really speak comprehensibly any more, but are horrified and disgusted by his present form. More than anything they seem to wish that he would just go away somehow.
I didn't notice this the other times I've read the book that Gregor, as a beetle, has an uneasy relationship with his own legs. He thinks of them as though they are independent of his control....like they can be influenced to do what he wants them to do but not really controlled. This subtle distinction emphasizes the horror of what has happened to him....his mobility is impaired, much like his ability to go back to the way things had been before is impaired.
The author generally refers to the characters in the book by their role rather than their name, with the exception of Gregor. This is pervasive in that, the father for example, is still called 'the father' even if Gregor isn't in the scene. Only his sister, who showed some compassion for him after his transformation by feeding him and attending to his surroundings at times, gets a name: Grete. She is more often called 'the sister' though, later in the book, she begins to be referred to as 'the daughter' as if Gregor's father were wresting the control of the narrative away from his son.
As a beetle, Gregor finds that he enjoys crawling on the walls and ceiling. I understand the German word used in the book is related to the word creeping and is related to the word for cowering. He also enjoys his sister's violin playing, which is more of a human activity than that of an insect.
At one point in the book, he gets out of his room and is surprised by the return of his father. He is too wide to get into the double door of his room naturally while one of them is closed, so he is forced through at an angle, injuring his side and making one of his legs useless. Gregor's father later assaults him by throwing apples at him, one of which lodges itself into Gregor's back.
Gregor ultimately dies from a variety of causes....his willingness to eat had eroded to nothing and he was starving himself as a result....he had lost any hope that he had had....he had the injuries he had received from the rejection of his own family....he had no where to go to be safe. I think the loss of hope is one of the most common causes of death if we're to be honest about it.
This novella was penned in 1912 and not published for several years after that, due in part to World War I. It has a theme of irreversible change which we can all relate with....aging, after all, is a similar change...among a great many other types of changes that can happen through one's lifetime. It is also reminiscent of a nightmare, which, when they bleed into reality, can be even more horrifying than the stuff of dreams. I feel like it also has a theme of rejection, too. Another part of life we can all relate with...
The Metamorphosis is a brilliant work and functions well at so many levels...its pure artistry and its themes are stunning. The story itself is relatively simple, but the implications are much more complicated. I strongly encourage anyone curious about it to pick it up and read it. It won't take long but it will linger in the back of your mind for quite some time afterwards.