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Kafka's Metamorphosis: A Journey of Identity with Language as a Vehicle

The original cover of Kafka's Metamorphosis , as the author intended it. Ominously, the cover does not contain an image of Gregor Samsa in his transformed state--the nature of his new form is left entirely up to the reader. 

Kafka’s Metamorphosis is a magical realist, allegorical tale that touches on the theme most central to us all—that of struggling to find and express one’s own identity in a world of ever-present, all-consuming obligations. As this short essay will explore, the reader leaves the novel feeling unsettled and unsatisfied, imprinted—one might even say scarred—with the message that sometimes the world one lives in makes it impossible to ever express that identity and to have it understood.

The novella opens with a most preposterous scenario , immediately testing, and seeking to expand, the reader’s ability to suspend disbelief. The story’s protagonist, Gregor Samsa, has awoken one morning to find himself “transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin” (7). This first sentence puzzles the reader, as one is not yet sure what to think. What is meant by “vermin,” one wonders? Is Mr. Samsa dreaming? Is the mysterious narrator speaking figuratively? As we read on, we learn that no, Mr. Samsa is not dreaming. The narrator continues on to describe to describe Mr. Samsa’s shivering discovery of his new, grotesque self—“his armor-like back,” “his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections,” and “his many legs, pitifully thin” (7). Puzzlingly, however, Mr. Samsa’s reaction is not one of shock or horror. Instead, he refers to his own new form as “nonsense,” and immediately tries with all his might to get himself out of bed so that he can start his day, as though it were like any other. 

Mr. Samsa’s reaction from this point on is packed with symbolic meaning. As he tries to get himself out of bed and exclaims “Oh God,” it has nothing to do with his new form! Rather, he completes his sentence by musing, “what a strenuous career it is that I’ve chosen! Travelling day in and day out. ... It can all go to Hell!” (7). He explores more of his new, unsightly body, and continues his thought, noting, “Getting up early all the time, it makes you stupid. ... If I didn’t have my parents to think about I’d have given in my notice a long time ago .... [O]nce I’ve got the money together to pay off my parents’ debt to him – another five or six years I suppose – that’s definitely what I’ll do. First of all though, I’ve got to get up, my train leaves at five” (7-8). Despite having transformed into some ambiguous bug-like creature, Mr. Samsa is so preoccupied by his work as a traveling salesman and his parents’ debt that he is unable to worry about his condition. His only thoughts are how he will get to work and get his family back on solid financial footing. These thoughts continue throughout the work, as Mr. Samsa thinks often about his family’s debt and how they will live without him. He feels his absence only as a provider, rather than a brother, friend, or son. 

A trailer for a movie based on Metamorphosis , produced and released in 2012. 

A reflective piece in The New Yorker discussing the difficulties in meaning of translating Metamorphosis . 

We glean from this opening series of events that Kafka presents Mr. Samsa as a man so utterly controlled by the obligations of his life that his own identity—to the point of his very being as a human—became lost in the mix. Indeed, Kafka sustains this message by maintaining a shroud of mystery around just what Mr. Samsa has become. In the English translation, Mr. Samsa as presented as a “vermin,” “insect,” “dung beetle,” and “bug,” at various points, but the reader never learns for sure. In fact, Kafka was deliberately ambiguous, writing in a letter to his editor before publication that “the insect is not to be drawn,” so that the reader may form his own image (Jones, 2015). Moreover, Kafka’s original German term for Mr. Samsa’s new form, ungeheueres Ungeziefer , “poses one of the greatest challenges to the translator” (Bernofsky, 2014). The term comes from a Middle High German word that means “sacrificial animal” but that also “describes the class of nasty creepy-crawly things.” The English translation of “vermin,” however, evokes the image of a rodent, which is distinct. Though the lack of clarity here might simply stem from the ambiguities of language and translation, one might also view it as an instrument of meaning—that neither the narrator nor Mr. Samsa can precisely describe his new condition signifies the difficulty of coming to terms with one’s identity. Moreover, that Mr. Samsa dies in his new form at the end of the tale leaves the reader with the message that sometimes one becomes wholly swallowed by the various obligations that twist and pull on us all. 

The text of a lecture from Professor Warren Breckman at the University of Pennsylvania detailing how Kafka's life may have influenced his writings. 

A brief review of Kafka’s family and the context of his life provide added weight to this suggested theme. Indeed, according to those who knew and have studied him, Kafka felt a strong “sense of personal weakness and failure,” and resented his day job as a lawyer and as a bureaucrat with the Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute (Breckman, 2000). Just as Mr. Samsa, it seems that Kafka himself struggled to establish his identity—wanting desperately to please his father with his writing, but failing—and devolved into self-loathing. Perhaps Kafka viewed himself as a grostesque alien creature, distant from his family, and fretting about the fiscal obligations around him that he believed prevented him from enjoying his life. In that way, the realist element to Kafka’s magical realist tale comes from his own perspective on his life. While deeply autobiographical in this sense, The Metamorphosis is a tale to which all can relate, as it reminds us powerfully of the glaring monsters within us that we create to shield ourselves from the world.  

Bernofsky, Susan. "On Translating Kafka's 'Metamorphosis.'" The New Yorker . 14 January, 2014. 

   Accessed 23 February 2016.

Breckman, Warren. "Kafka's Metamorphosis  in His Time and Ours." Penn Reading Project Lecture .

   6 September, 2000. Accessed 23 February 2016. 

Jones, Josh. "Franz Kafka Says the Insect in The Metamorphosis Should Never be Drawn; Vladimir

  Nabokov Draws It Anyway." Open Culture . 21 October, 2015. Accessed 23 February 2016.

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis . New York: Classix Press, 2009.

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Identity Crisis and Alienation in The Metamorphosis: Existential Approach

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Metamorphosis — The Metamorphosis: An Analysis of Franz Kafka’s Classic

The Metamorphosis: an Analysis of Franz Kafka's Classic

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Published: Jan 29, 2024

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Table of contents

Analysis of the protagonist's transformation, exploration of familial relationships and societal expectations, examination of the role of work and the dehumanization of labor, interpretation of the existential themes in the text.

• Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Schocken Books, 2008.
• Fleishman, Avrom. "Kafka's "Metamorphosis" and Contemporary Criticism." The Kenyon Review, vol. 29, no. 4, 1967, pp. 491–514. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4334805.
• Duncan, Edward. "Kafka's Metamorphosis: Rebellion and Punishment." German Quarterly, vol. 47, no. 1, 1974, pp. 48–59. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/405433.

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The Metamorphosis by Kafka: Literary Analysis Essay

Introduction, social aspects, cultural aspects, historical aspects, works cited.

In Kafka’s short story, a traveling salesman awakens one morning to discover that he has been changed into an insect. In the tale, the author highlights various aspects of his life, including his father, his family, and his plans for the future. He expressed his affection for the people in his life using analogies. Many claim that Kafka’s life and the Metamorphosis story are remarkably similar. Therefore, his story may be regarded as autobiographical. The story covers that time’s social, cultural, and historical aspects. These aspects are related to the Marxism of the 20 th century, the sense of alienation and women’s rights development, and societal change accordingly.

Materialization and the Marxist movement defined the 20th century. Following the Marxist theory, Gregor’s inability to work makes him useless to his family, who wants to achieve a higher social class (Mir 131). Samsa’s economic condition is the primary example of class conflict in the Metamorphosis, representing Marxism. Samsa’s family is not well off; Gregor has to pay his father’s debt, and after his inability to work, his family pays off their debt (Kafka 10). This makes the novella an example of a capitalist society (Mir 131). After Gregor’s transformation, and due to his incapacity to work, he passed away. As Mir argued, the main purpose of a Marxist society was to provide for one’s family and be useful.

He argues that after being transformed, Gregor was unable to feed himself. Hence, his future depended on the family’s charity, which eventually became so little food that he starved to death. Housekeeper found his dead body one morning and informed the household. After hearing the news, they opted not to grieve with sadness but relief. Mr. Samsa’s comment was, “Well… now we can thank God!” (Kafka 45). According to Mir, he was relieved of the financial responsibility of sustaining his son, which again indicates the Marxist approach (131). The family chose to visit the memorial service instead of grieving. Remembering their dead son, they talked about the financial gains after his passing, underlying his worth to the family (Mir 133). Thus, Kafka demonstrated one of the key aspects of his time in the story.

Alienation was another topic discussed when analyzing Metamorphosis by Kafka. Prakash argued that Marxism and Existentialism are credited with developing the idea of alienation (Prakash 183). In other words, alienation is essentially the dissimilated relationship between man and society and between people, involving the inner relationships between self and others (Prakash 183). Gregor was alienated in his room as soon as he ceased contributing to his family financially and by working. This demonstrates that his family utterly disregarded Gregor as anything other than a means of obtaining material gain. Prakash also finds a correlation between the character’s alienation and the writer. Kafka struggled with alienation being a German speaker in the Czech Republic, making him a minority. Moreover, he was a Jew, which made him a minority within a minority.

Many researchers focused on the notion of alienation in Kafka’s work. Furthermore, questions of alienation and culture were also raised by Saperstein (12). Ovid repeatedly emphasizes the value of art in the Metamorphosis and that the story covers a difficult relationship between a father and a son, which was inspired by Kafka’s work. Although, in this case, the dilemma between the characters revolved around art. Rather than have Phaeton admire the art, Ovid has the narrator describe it. This underlined the main issue when Phaeton, much like Gregor, did not feel any support from Ovid, feeling lost and alienated, much like Kafka himself.

Joshi studied Kafka’s work with a gender-based concern that has been central to the study of the author’s text ever since the evolution of gender studies. Mr. Samsa, who employs physical force, represents Kafka’s father and serves as an example of his manliness every time he drives Gregor back to his room in all three parts of the Metamorphosis (Joshi 65). After transformation, Gregor is treated like a non-masculine identity; he is faced with discrimination, marginalization, and degradation, as he is put away from his previous state further and further (Joshi 71). His masculinity, in a way, is being neutered and even infantilized.

Kafka began writing at a time of significant and rapid cultural changes, amongst which one of the most pivotal ones was women’s liberation movements (Joshi 72). The right to vote, working rights, and inclusion in universities for women started changing the world for them and, consequently, for men. Grete becomes his caretaker, a reversal of what is shown in Gregor’s memories, where he takes care of Grete’s needs (Joshi 72). This reflected the actual events at that time, where women became more empowered.

Kafka did a wonderful job underlying all the important aspects of his time in the Metamorphosis . As it has been stated numerous times, this work is almost autobiographical. Kafka discussed his family issues and troubles, focusing on his relationships with his father and sisters and on key moments of that time. He implied a Marxist approach to the characters’ relationships and talked about a familiar sense of alienation and the rise of women’s liberation movements. The story is a reflection of Kafka’s life and the society of that time.

Joshi, Shubham. “ A Gender Study of Franz Kafka and His Work The Metamorphosis .” Contemporary Literary Review India 8.2 , 2021, pp. 57–90. Web.

Kafka, Frank. “The Metamorphosis.” Sirius , 2018. Web.

Mir, Shabir Ahmad. “ Explicating Kafka’s Metamorphosis within the ambit of Marxism .” International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences 4, 2019, pp. 128–133. Web.

Prakash, Divyam. “The Comparative Study on the Theme of Alienation and Self Deception in “ The Metamorphosis ” and “ I – Not I .” Assonance, 2018, pp. 182-192. Web.

Saperstein, David. “Metamorphosis: Book II: The Cocoon Story Continues.” Talos, 2018

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IvyPanda. (2023, November 26). The Metamorphosis by Kafka: Literary Analysis. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-metamorphosis-by-kafka-literary-analysis/

"The Metamorphosis by Kafka: Literary Analysis." IvyPanda , 26 Nov. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/the-metamorphosis-by-kafka-literary-analysis/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'The Metamorphosis by Kafka: Literary Analysis'. 26 November.

IvyPanda . 2023. "The Metamorphosis by Kafka: Literary Analysis." November 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-metamorphosis-by-kafka-literary-analysis/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Metamorphosis by Kafka: Literary Analysis." November 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-metamorphosis-by-kafka-literary-analysis/.

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IvyPanda . "The Metamorphosis by Kafka: Literary Analysis." November 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-metamorphosis-by-kafka-literary-analysis/.

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Verbal Communication and Identity in Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”

Introduction, metamorphosis, works cited.

“The Metamorphosis,” a short story by Kafka, explores the implication of losing one’s physical body and the abilities that it provides. The process of metamorphosis itself represents the lack of the protagonist’s self-understanding and self-reflection. Further, verbal communication and its challenges play a pivotal role in the narrative development, representing underlying themes of alienation and self-isolation. However, the fundamental function of spoken interaction in the narrative differs from what the dialogues seemingly convey. The author drives home the idea that despite the seeming presence of verbal communication between the characters, they nonetheless did not understand each other even prior to the metamorphosis.

The role of verbal communication in separating and alienating people is shown in the narrative. At the beginning of the narrative, the author presents the protagonist’s recent inability to communicate as the main reason for his struggles. The physiological difficulties of post-metamorphosis verbal communication put too much pressure on him, rendering him unable to connect with the surrounding world (Farahmandian and Haonong 338). When Gregor transforms, he can still comprehend human speech, so he assumes that others can understand him. Furthermore, his words are initially discernible: “Because of the wooden door, the change in Gregor’s voice was not really noticeable outside, so his mother calmed down with this explanation” (Kafka 23). Gradually, the changes worsen, but nothing hints that Gregor and his relatives cannot understand each other. Gregor becomes more isolated from his family without realizing his verbal communication is unimpaired (Farahmandian and Haonong 336). Hence, verbal communication plays a role in a deceitful divide between the protagonist and his family.

The author highlights the lack of understanding between characters by showing the striking absence of verbal communication. The scene where Gregor, the protagonist, blurts out a long-winded explanation for not being in the office to his manager is remarked by the response “that’s an animal’s voice” from the latter (Kafka 30). Consequently, when Gregor presents himself in the insect form to the family, they, despite being shocked, force him back into his room (Kafka 36). They do not attempt to understand him, choosing to hide or dispose of the problem rather than face it head-on. Farahmandian and Haonong argue that Gregor’s world becoming incomprehensible may reflect his unwillingness to communicate (338). This statement is supported by the scene where Gregor is given unsuitable food: he “would sooner starve to death than call her attention to the fact” even though he was desperate enough to beg (Kafka 38). Thus, upon transforming, Gregor leaves all attempts to communicate his needs, seemingly discouraged by the inability to speak and be understood.

Nonetheless, the verbal communication in the Samsa family was arguably impaired prior to the protagonist’s metamorphosis. Ikram and Sarfraz contend that there is little loss of emotional attachment since most of his family, except his sister, are only interested in benefitting from Gregor’s earnings (237). Kafka describes Gregor’s realization that he was regarded as a money source rather than a family member, whom they worried about no more “than was absolutely necessary” (55). Gregor goes from keeping silent by choice to being forced to remain silent (Ikram & Sarfraz, 2018). His insect’s insect version’s lack of verbal communication gives his family an excuse to decide for him, saying it would be otherwise “if he understood us” (Kafka 64). This indifference is again demonstrated when Gregor is left with an injury after his father throws an apple at him, and nobody helps him for over a month (Kafka 53). Hence, after the metamorphosis, the communication remains fundamentally unchanged; the understanding did not exist before, just like it does not exist now.

The process of metamorphosis itself, however, represents more than the mere inability to communicate. According to Ikram and Sarfraz, the hard shell of a vermin represents the withdrawal from reality that the protagonist exhibits, as stated, even before transforming (238). Upon discovering that he has transformed, he remains completely calm – eerily so; instead of processing his transformation, he is concerned with performing his daily tasks. When Gregor throws the blanket to the side to discover that he has little insect paws instead of his arms, he only thinks, “I must not stay in bed uselessly” (Kafka 24). Simon argues that the protagonist only felt accomplished through his actions, which were physical and centered outside of his body: going to work, bringing the money back to the family, and getting ready for work again (5). Gregor wants to meet his family’s needs – he wants to provide for them, and this desire has dictated most of his existence. However, in earning money, he may have forgotten what it was like to be aware of himself.

Even with the transformation complete, the protagonist continues to run away from any form of critical self-reflection. For instance, when Gregor contemplates how proud he was to be a ‘breadwinner,’ a thought creeps in: “but how would things go if now all… should come to a horrible end?” (Kafka 37). Nevertheless, he avoids reflection “in order not to lose himself in such thoughts,” so Gregor crawls back to his room and stops observing the apartment (Kafka 37). Acknowledging the impact of this metamorphosis on his life would entail losing the very core of his identity – as a human being and as a provider (Simon 5). Therefore, the protagonist pushes these thoughts aside for as long as he can until he is faced with reality.

The way metamorphosis functions in the narrative is seen when the line between the human and the insect begins to vanish. The scene where Gregor’s mother and sister start removing the furniture from his room is the first one where he truly panics (Kafka 48). Up to this point, his identity has relied on the physical tasks performed by an ordinary human body – Gregor’s mind and his body do not exist as separate entities for him (Simon 6). Thus, although unsuitable for his new body, the furniture in his room gave him an illusion that he was still tied to that previous identity – that of a human. He scares his sister when he tries to hide the last bit of his belongings – a framed picture – by sitting on the wall (Kafka 50). After this moment that terrified and heartbroken, Gregor ultimately gives in to his insect nature, starting to “creep and crawl over everything: walls, furniture, and ceiling” (Kafka 50). Thus, the metamorphosis is complete – the readers may no longer view Gregor as a human being but as an insect instead.

In conclusion, the process of metamorphosis completes with Gregor staying confused, lost, and alienated throughout his life, learning nothing from his experience and only inaudibly suffering. The author uses verbal communication and its disappearance to show the protagonist’s struggles. The understanding between the characters never existed, so the metamorphosis could not prematurely terminate it. Gregor’s silence as both a human and an insect renders him unable to verbalize his repressed feelings. Moreover, his lack of self-reflection prevents him from defining his identity from anything other than his physicality and his duties. The author demonstrates that the verbal communication in the narrative serves as a façade behind which hide estrangement, alienation, and isolation. Lastly, physical metamorphosis in the story represents the inability to separate the mind from the body, eventually leading to the loss of protagonist’s identity.

Farahmandian, Hamid, and Pang Haonong. “Existential Failure in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis.” Forum for World Literature Studies , vol. 10, no. 2, 2018, pp. 334–342.

Ikram, Mahnoor, and Sulaim Sarfraz. “Pragmatic Linguistic Markers for Socio-Psychological Themes in Kafka’s Metamorphosis: How Kafka Conveys Meaning through His Characters Conversational Implicature, Haptics, Proxemics and Para Linguistics.” Journal of Research and Reviews in Social Sciences Pakistan , vol. 1, no. 2, 2018, pp. 236–242.

Kafka, Franz. “The Metamorphosis.” The Metamorphosis and Other Stories , edited by Paul Johnson Byrne, translated by Ian Johnston, Broadview Press, 2016, pp. 21–69.

Simon, Ashley. “A Critical Analysis of Franz Kafka’s Novella The Metamorphosis.” IUSB Graduate Research Journal , vol. 5, 2018, pp. 3–15.

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1. StudyCorgi . "Verbal Communication and Identity in Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”." September 19, 2024. https://studycorgi.com/verbal-communication-and-identity-in-kafkas-metamorphosis/.

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