"Novella" Reincarnation ": what is the meaning of the work. Aesthetic principles of modernism in the works of F. Kafka. Analysis of the novella "Metamorphosis" Kafka transformations description

Analysis of the work "Metamorphosis"

The protagonist of the novel, Gregor Samsa, is the breadwinner of his family, which consists of his father - a completely ruined Prague inhabitant, mother - suffering from asthma, and sister Greta. In order to save the family from poverty, Gregor works for one of his father's creditors as a traveling salesman, a cloth merchant. He is constantly on the move, but once, in between such trips, he spent the night at home, and in the morning when he woke up, an incident happened beyond the scope of human understanding. Gregor has turned into a beetle.

“Waking up one morning after a restless sleep, Gregor Samsa found that he had turned into a terrible insect in his bed. Lying on a hard-armored back, he saw, as soon as he raised his head, his brown, convex belly, divided by arcuate scales, on the top of which the blanket, ready to finally slide off, could hardly be held. His numerous legs, wretchedly thin in comparison with the rest of his body, crawled helplessly before his eyes.

"What happened to me?" he thought. It was not a dream. "

The story begins with these words.

But that was just the beginning of all the trouble. It gets worse. Due to such an unusual transformation of Gregor into a bug, he was fired from his job, of course, he could no longer work, provide his family with money and pay off his father's debt.

Each family member reacted differently to Gregor's transformation. This angered the father, he could not understand how his son could be in the body of the beetle. The mother was very frightened and upset, but still she did not lose her motherly feelings, and she understood that her son was in this body. Sister Greta, considered the beetle disgusting, but, despite this, took on the burden of caring for him. It is impossible to say whether from family feelings, or from a desire to show their parents their independence, or maybe from Greta's gratitude, she looked after the beetle, but most likely, the second option is closest to the truth.

Gregor's exit into the living room, when all the family members and the boss were there from his work, should in no way be regarded as a challenge to society. From the words and thoughts of Gregor, one can understand that he is a person with a heightened sense of responsibility. The hero left the room to the people in his current state, only because, due to a sense of duty and understanding of the importance of his duties to his family and employer, he completely forgot about his poor health and unusual transformation.

Gregor's decision to die was influenced by many factors of his existence as a beetle ...

Firstly, he was very lonely, his consciousness could not withstand life in a bug's body. Secondly, he could no longer help his family to make ends meet materially. Thirdly, and most importantly, Gregor Samsa loved his family very much and spent his whole life sacrificing himself for her, and now he could no longer do this, instead he became a burden for his parents. On the last day of his life, he heard his sister say that if he were reasonable and loved his family, he would leave them and would not interfere, Greta pressed on his conscience, and Gregor could not stand it.

Gregor turned into a beetle, most likely because even when he was in a human body, his life resembled more the life of a beetle than a person. He selflessly worked not for himself, but for the sake of his family, was not interested in anything and was lonely. Or perhaps it was required in order for him to see the ingratitude of his family, it is not noticeable that they would suffer especially because of the fact that Gregor is sick, instead they only cared about financial problems.

Franz Kafka in his short story "Metamorphosis" touched upon the problems of selflessness, workaholism, family relations. He showed that due to material difficulties, a person can completely lose humanity.

The poetics of the absurd: "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka

DICTIONARY

Mikhail SVERDLOV

The poetics of the absurd: "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka

Not without involuntary amazement today you read the words of Franz Kafka, addressed to his father: “You<…>true Kafka in strength, health, appetite, loudness, eloquence, complacency, a sense of superiority over everyone, endurance, presence of mind, knowledge of people, a known breadth of nature ... ”It seems as if there was a mistake in the use of the concept. The fact is that for our consciousness the name “Kafka” has become a household name. “Kafka” and “appetite”, “Kafka” and “complacency” - these words seem to be incompatible. But we say: "like Kafka's" when we want to convey the feeling life like nightmares feeling absurdities of being.

Philosopher Walter Benjamin found in the fate of the Austrian writer, Prague Jew Franz Kafka (1883-1924) “a purely Kafkaesque irony of fate”: a man who served as an official of the insurance department until the end of his life “was not so convinced of anything as of the absolute unreliability of everyone and any guarantees ”. Paradoxically, Kafka's literary strength was rooted in his everyday weakness and insecurity. “He is naked among the clothed,” the woman he loved wrote about him, “Milena Esenskaya. - A person who boldly types on a typewriter and a person who has four mistresses are equally incomprehensible to him<…>Incomprehensible because they are alive. And Frank doesn't know how to live. Frank is unable to live. Frank will never get well. Frank will die soon. " Kafka doubted everything - including his gift as a writer: before his death, he asked the writer Max Brod to destroy all unpublished manuscripts (fortunately, he violated the will of the deceased). But on the other hand, there are few books that dominated the minds of 20th century readers as much as Kafka's strange creations.

One of the most amazing works of Kafka is the story "The Metamorphosis" (1916). Surprisingly, the very first sentence of the story: "Waking up one morning after a restless sleep, Gregor Samsa found that he had turned into a terrible insect in his bed." The transformation of the hero is reported without any introduction and motivation... We are accustomed to the fact that fantastic phenomena are motivated by a dream, but the first word of the story, as luck would have it, is “waking up”. What is the reason for such an incredible incident? We will never find out about this.

But most surprising of all, as Albert Camus remarked, lack of surprise from the protagonist himself. "What happened to me?" But he soon resigns himself to his position and appearance - a hard-shell back, a bulging scaly belly and wretched thin legs.

Why isn't Gregor Samsa indignant, horrified? Because he, like all the main characters of Kafka, does not expect anything good from the world from the very beginning. Becoming an insect is just hyperbola normal human condition. Kafka seems to be asking the same question as the hero of "Crime and Punishment" F.M. Dostoevsky: is a person “a louse” or “has the right”. And he answers: "louse." Moreover: it implements a metaphor, turning its character into an insect.

The statement of L.N. Tolstoy about L. Andreev's prose: "He scares, but I'm not afraid." Kafka, on the other hand, doesn't want to scare anyone, but it's scary to read him. In his prose, according to Camus, “immense horror is engendered<…>moderation ”. A clear, calm language, as if nothing had happened describing the portrait on the wall, the view outside the window, seen through the eyes of an insect man, is dismissal much more frightening than screams of despair.

Hyperbola and realized metaphor here are not just techniques - the writer puts too personal meaning in them. It is no coincidence that the names “Samsa” and “Kafka” are so similar. Although in a conversation with his friend G. Janoukh, the author of "The Metamorphosis" clarifies: "Samsa is not completely Kafka," he nevertheless admits that his work is "tactless" and "indecent" because it is too autobiographical. In his diary and Letter to Father, Kafka sometimes speaks about himself, about his body in almost the same terms as about his hero: “My body is too long and weak, there is not a drop of fat in it to create blessed warmth”; “… I stretched out in length, but did not know what to do about it, the weight was too great, I began to slouch; I hardly dared to move. " What does this self-portrait look like the most? On the description of Samsa's corpse: “Gregor's body<…>became completely dry and flat, and it really became visible only now, when his legs were no longer lifted ... "

The transformation of Gregor Samsa has brought to the limit the author's sense of the difficulty of being. It is not easy for an insect man to roll over from his back onto his legs, to crawl through a narrow door leaf. The hallway and kitchen become almost inaccessible for him. Each of his steps and maneuvers requires tremendous efforts, which is emphasized by the detailed author's description: “At first he wanted to get out of bed with the lower part of his torso, but this lower part, which, by the way, he had not yet seen, and could not even imagine, turned out to be inactive ; it went slowly. " But such are the laws of the Kafkaesque world as a whole: here, as in a nightmare, the automatism of natural reactions and instincts is abolished. Kafka's characters cannot, like Achilles in the well-known mathematical riddle, catch up with the turtle, they cannot pass from point A to point B. steam hammers ”. Quite characteristic is the enigmatic phrase in Kafka's diary: "His own frontal bone blocks his path (he smashes his forehead against his own forehead in blood)." The body is perceived here as an external obstacle, hardly surmountable, and the physical environment as an alien, hostile space.

By transforming a person into an insect, the author deduces another unexpected equation. Even after what happened to him, Gregor continues to suffer from the same fears - how not to miss the train, not to lose his job, not to delay payments on family debts. The insect man has been worried for a long time about how not to anger the manager of the company, how not to upset his father, mother, sister. But in this case - what a powerful pressure from society he experienced in his past life! For Gregor, his new position turns out to be almost easier than the previous one - when he worked as a traveling salesman, he supported his relatives. He perceives his sad metamorphosis even with some relief: now he is "relieved of responsibility."

Not only does society influence a person from the outside: “And why was Gregor destined to serve in a company, where the slightest mistake immediately aroused the gravest suspicions?” It also instills a sense of guilt, working from within: “Wasn't her employees all like one scoundrels, was there not among them a reliable and loyal person who, although he did not devote several morning hours to the matter, was completely mad with remorse and simply did not able to leave the bed? " Under this double press - not so “little man” is far from the insect. All he has to do is to huddle in a crack, under a sofa - and so free himself from the burden of social duties and obligations.

And what about the family? How does your family feel about Gregor's terrible change? Situation paradoxical... Gregor, who has become an insect, understands people close to him, tries to be delicate, feels for them, in spite of everything, “tenderness and love”. And people don't even try to understand it. From the very beginning, the father is hostile towards Gregor, the mother is confused, sister Greta is trying to show sympathy. But this difference in reactions turns out to be imaginary: in the end, the family unites in a common hatred of the monster, in a common desire to get rid of him. The humanity of an insect, the animal aggression of people - this is how familiar concepts turn into their own opposite.

The autobiographical subtext of "Metamorphosis" is related to the relationship between Kafka and his father. In a letter to his father, the son admits that he inspired him with “indescribable horror”: “... The world was divided for me into three parts: one world where I, a slave, lived, obeying the laws that were invented only for me and which I, no one knows why , I will never be able to observe; in another world, infinitely far from me, you lived, commanding, commanding, indignant that your orders were not carried out; and, finally, the third world, where the rest of the people lived, happy and free from orders and obedience. "

The philosopher Maurice Blanchot called the ending of the story "the height of the terrible." It turns out kind of parody on the “happy end”: The Samsa is full of “new dreams” and “great intentions”, Greta has blossomed and prettier - but all this is thanks to the death of Gregor. Cohesion is possible only against someone, the one who is most alone. The death of one leads to the happiness of others. People eat each other. To paraphrase T. Hobbes (“man to man is a wolf”), we can formulate Kafka's thesis: man to man is an insect.

“The classical tragedy and the tragedy of subsequent centuries assumed the hero's tragic guilt or tragic responsibility for his freely chosen fate,” wrote L. Ginzburg. - The twentieth century brought a new interpretation of the tragic, developed with special consistency by Kafka. This is the tragedy of a mediocre man, thoughtless, weak-willed<…>which is dragged and grind by a cruel force ”.

Much is surprising in the story of the insect man. But neither breaking logical connections, neither the lack of motivation, nor the frightening strangeness of hyperbole, realized metaphors, paradoxes - all this does not exhaust the depths of the Kafkian absurdity. Any interpretation of Kafka is faced with an inevitable contradiction (the one suggested above, of course, is no exception) - riddles without a key. Thus, "The Metamorphosis" is like a parable, an allegorical story - in all respects, except for one, the most important. All interpretations of this parable will remain dubious. It is fundamentally inexplicable allegory, parable with no meaning: “The further we advance in reading <…>the more we are convinced that a transparent allegory is unfolding before us, with which we are about to guess the meaning. This meaning, we need it, we wait for it, the expectation grows with each page, the book becomes like a nightmare a minute before awakening - but the awakening will never be up to the end. We are doomed to nonsense, to hopelessness, to the impenetrable confusion of life; and in a flash, we suddenly understand: this is only what Kafka wanted to say. "

But there is no arbitrariness in this. The writer accurately notices the gaps of meaning in the real world around us.

Composition

The novella "Metamorphosis" (1916) stuns the reader from the very first phrase: "Waking up one morning after a restless sleep, Gregor Samsa found that he had turned into a terrible insect in his bed." The very fact of the transformation of a person into an insect, so simply, in the classical narrative manner, communicated at the beginning of the story, of course, is capable of causing the reader a feeling of aesthetic shock; and the point here is not so much the implausibility of the situation (we are not shocked, for example, by the fact that Major Kovalev did not find a nose on his face in the morning), but, of course, that feeling of almost physiological disgust that evokes in us the idea of an insect of human size. Being like literary device quite legal fantastic image Nevertheless, Kafka seems to be provocative precisely because of his demonstrative "unaesthetic".

However, let us imagine for a moment that such a transformation is nevertheless an accident; Let's try to come to terms with this thought for the time of reading, forget the real image of a hyperinsect, and then what Kafka portrays will appear, in a strange way, quite plausible, even ordinary. The fact is that in Kafka's story there is nothing exceptional, except for the very initial fact. In a dry, laconic language, Kafka tells about the understandable everyday inconveniences that began for the hero and for his family from the moment Gregor was transformed. All this is connected with some biographical circumstances of the life of Kafka himself.

He constantly felt his guilt before his family - before his father first of all; it seemed to him that he did not correspond to the hopes that his father, the owner of a small trading company, had placed on him, wishing to see his son a successful lawyer and a worthy successor to the family business. The complex of guilt before the father and family is one of the strongest in this, in the truest sense of the word, notorious nature, and from this point of view, the novella "Metamorphosis" is a grandiose metaphor for this complex. Gregor is a pitiful, useless, overgrown insect, a shame and torment for a family that doesn't know what to do with him.

However, if Kafka's work were only self-flagellation, only the elimination of purely personal complexes, it would hardly have received such a worldwide resonance. The next generation of readers again and again came to be stunned by how many features of the social life of the 20th century were prophetically predicted by Kafka in his writings. The story "In a correctional colony", for example, is now read as a terrible metaphor for the sophisticated soulless, mechonic inhumanity of fascism and any totalitarianism in general. The atmosphere of his novels "The Trial" and "The Castle" is perceived as a grandiose metaphor - a meta-metaphor - of an equally soulless and mechanical bureaucracy.

The way Kafka showed the absurdity and inhumanity of the total bureaucratization of life in the 20th century is amazing. And surely the European society of the times of Kafka did not know such a degree of dehumanization of the social mechanism, if it did, then, apparently, only in Nazi Germany. So there is some truly extraordinary gift to look at the root, to foresee the future development of certain trends. And here Kafka, by the way, for a certain moment comes into contact with the aspirations of the expressionists: it was they who dreamed in their art to understand not isolated phenomena, but laws; dreamed, but did not realize this dream, but Kafka did exactly that - his dry, harsh, without metaphors, without tropes, as if devoid of flesh, prose is the embodiment of the formula of modern life, himself general law; specific numbers and specific options may be different, but the essence is the same, and it is expressed by the formula. From a purely artistic, technical side Kafka achieves this effect primarily with the help of a very specific technique. This is a method of materializing metaphors, moreover, metaphors of the so-called linguistic, already worn out, those whose figurative meaning is no longer perceived. When we talk, for example, about this or that person - “he has lost his human appearance”, or about this or that phenomenon - “this is pure absurdity,” or “this is incomprehensible to the mind,” or “this is like a nightmare,” we in fact, we use such linguistic metaphors, we resort to the meaning not literal, but figurative, figurative. We understand that the appearance is still human, not a horse, not a dog, etc .; and the expression "incomprehensible to the mind" is only a condensation of our impression of any event; because, ask someone to tell us the reasons for this event in the next minute, we will still give an explanation; let our version, but nevertheless we always assume that it is still available to our mind. Kafka consistently materializes precisely this incomprehensibility, absurdity, and phantasmoricity. What is most puzzling in his prose is the illogicality that pops up again and again, the implausibility of causal links; This is especially noticeable when, from no one knows where, objects and people suddenly appear along the way, which simply should not be here. Many researchers have noted this feature of Kafka's narrative. The bottom line is that Kafka methodically constructs the entire plot of his narrative according to the principle by which the “plot” of a dream is formed. And this can hardly be called a metaphor. If you recall your dreams, then you will find that what or whom you thought of immediately flows into the dream. Everything new is linked with other objects and phenomena in a way that cannot be in reality.

In an ordinary, normal world, a person, while awake, lives in a world of logical cause-and-effect relationships, in any case he thinks so. Everything is familiar and explainable to him, but falling asleep, a person is already immersed in the sphere of alogism. Kafka's artistic trick is that it's the other way around. His illogism and absurdity begins when a person wakes up.

Main motive F.Kafka's works - the alienation of man, his loneliness - are fully revealed in his works. Three of Kafka's novels - America, The Castle, The Trial - deal with increasingly severe forms of deadly loneliness. The more lonely the hero, the harder his fate. Karl Rossman - the hero of the novel "America" ​​- is just getting lost in the rehearsal of fate; the fate of the hero of The Castle has reached an impasse, he becomes an outcast; Joseph K. is already a hunted animal, driven to death. In the first novel, loneliness is still a social phenomenon, a concrete one; in the second - the symbolic, "metaphysical", but its concrete social interconnections are still quite well perceptible; in the third - completely "metaphysical", abstract, symbolic, in real life completely impossible and absurd.

V modern world, like 100 years ago, a person's value is determined by the benefits he brings to society. As long as a citizen works, he is useful and receives remuneration in the form of a salary. However, as soon as a person loses the ability to earn money for one reason or another, he becomes a burden for society and his only chance to survive is the support of his family. But are they always ready to take on such a responsibility? Kafka Franz reflects on this and many other things in his controversial story "The Metamorphosis". Let's find out more about her protagonist and the misfortune that turned his life upside down.

Insignificant and genius Franz Kafka

Before analyzing the image of Gregor Samsa, it is worth paying attention to the creator of this legendary story - the German-speaking Jewish writer Franz Kafka. The fate of this man was very tragic. The sad thing is that he himself allowed her to be that way and was aware of it.

Growing up in the family of a Czech Jew who trades in haberdashery goods, Kafka was distinguished from childhood by his sensitivity and intelligence. However, his authoritarian father tried with all his might to exterminate this in his son, constantly humiliating him. The mother and other family members were so intimidated that they did not dare to resist the harsh will of the father.

When Franz grew up and realized that he dreamed of becoming a writer, due to pressure from his relatives, he was forced to work as an official in the insurance department.

Only when doctors diagnosed him with a fatal diagnosis of tuberculosis in those years, the writer was able to retire and leave with his girlfriend to Berlin. And a year later he died.

Despite such a short (40 years) and event-poor life, Kafka left behind several dozen brilliant works that brought his genius posthumous recognition all over the world.

The story "Metamorphosis": plot

This work is one of the most famous in the work of Franz Kafka. This is largely due to his autobiography, because he himself became the prototype of the main character Kafka.

Gregor Samsa (this is the name of the main actor the story, which in the course of the development of the plot does not really work, passively accepting the blows of fate) is a modest employee who is forced to engage in an unloved occupation in order to pay off his father's debts and provide a decent life for his family. One morning, he wakes up in the body of a giant beetle. Despite the terrible incident, the main thing that scares Gregor is his inability to provide further for his parents and sister.

Meanwhile, it turns out that his family is not so poor and helpless. Left without a breadwinner, they gradually get on well in life, and the terrible insect Gregor turns into a burden for them.

Realizing this, the hero exhausts himself and dies of exhaustion, but his relatives perceive this not as a tragedy, but as a relief.

Franz Kafka "Metamorphosis": the heroes of the story

The main character of the work is, without a doubt, the insect Gregor, but the analysis of his personality will be a little later. And now it is worth paying attention to his family.

So, the most important in the Samsa family is the father. He was once a successful entrepreneur, but he went bankrupt and is now in debt. Despite the fact that he is able to work off the debt himself, he "hangs" this duty on his son, condemning him to many years of exhausting service. An authoritarian personality, Samsa Sr. does not tolerate objections, does not forgive weakness, loves to command and is not very clean.

His wife Anna suffers from asthma, so before Gregor turns into a terrible insect, she just sits at home, and even not doing housework (there is a cook and a maid).

Sister Greta is a talented violinist (as it seemed at first). She is the only one of the whole family treats him more or less condescendingly. But gradually she shows her true face.

In addition to them, Gregor Samsa's boss is also depicted in the story. He is a petty puny man who constantly wants to rise above his subordinates. And not only in a figurative, but also in a literal sense (when talking with employees, he sits down at the desk to look taller). Judging by the fact that Samsa Sr. owes him money, these men probably had a common business earlier. Also, perhaps this is a hint that Gregor's father, being an entrepreneur, was the same.

Who is Gregor Samsa: biography and profession of the character before the transformation

Having considered the minor characters, it is worth focusing on the main character of this story - Gregor. This young man grew up in a well-to-do family. Because of his father's authoritarianism, he is accustomed to subordinating his interests to the needs of others.

As a child, he studied in a regular school, then he was educated as a merchant. After the guy got on military service and achieved the rank of lieutenant. After the bankruptcy of his father, despite the lack of work experience, he received a position in the firm of his parent's creditor Gregor Samsa.

The hero's profession is a traveling salesman (he travels around cities and sells fabrics). Due to the constant traveling, Gregor has practically nothing of his own, except for chronic fatigue and digestive problems.

He is almost never at home (which, by the way, suits his family quite well), he has no time for friends or meeting women, although judging by the picture on the wall, he would like to have a girlfriend.

The only dream of this hero is to pay off his father's debt and, finally, quit this damn job. Until then, he cannot even allow himself to dream about anything of his own. For this reason, the man focuses all his dreams on the well-being of his sister. He strives to raise money for her studies at the conservatory, not noticing that Greta is mediocre.

Gregor Samsa's traits

Almost from the very first lines of the story, Gregor seems boring and narrow-minded, with no interests of his own. However, later it turns out that he is a deeply feeling person, loving art and in dire need of the love and approval of loved ones.

He takes on the burden of caring for his family (although they could provide for themselves), worrying that his parents and sister do not need anything. He loves them faithfully and selflessly and, even having become a vile insect, forgives them callousness and deceit.

Gregor Samsa is also a great worker, he gets up before anyone else to do more and better. The hero is very observant and smart, but all these qualities have to be used only in order to earn money for the family.

Another striking feature of the hero is self-criticism. He is aware of the limitations of his horizons and soberly understands that it is the result of his chronic employment. Against this background, the limited interests, education and humanity of his relatives, who, through the efforts of Gregor, have enough time to devote it to their development, contrasts strongly against this background. Only Greta at the end of the story begins to learn French and shorthand, and then only in order to start earning more, and not because she is interested.

Also striking is another feature of the hero named Gregor Samsa. His characterization will not be complete, if not to mention the all-consuming thirst for approval. On some subconscious level, realizing that relatives are incapable of loving anyone but themselves, Gregor tries to win at least their approval. That is why he rents a large apartment for them, pays for the servants, fulfills the debt, without even bothering to find out if his father still has some savings (and they remained). Even after becoming a beetle, the hero does not stop trying to earn praise from his family and, dying, he hopes that his father, mother and Greta will appreciate his sacrifice, which does not happen.

Why did the transformation take place

Kafka confronts readers with the very fact of transformation, without explaining its reasons or goals. But who knows, maybe the one who Gregor Samsa turned into is not a punishment, but a motivation for starting changes in his life? What if, having learned to defend his own interests, the hero would regain his human form, and not live out his days as a hungry, sick, lonely prisoner of his dusty room?

It is noteworthy that if, finding himself in such a deplorable situation, Gregor did not rebel, then it means that he would never have done this in human form, doomed to fulfill the whims of his relatives for the rest of his life. So perhaps transformation is deliverance and not punishment?

Loss of individuality as a cause of transformation

Gregor's transformation is a consequence of the hero's loss of his individuality, sacrificed to others. Lack of social and personal life leads to the fact that the disappearance of Samsa's traveling salesman, and then his death, is noticed only by his boss.

But a man and a citizen have disappeared. And his relatives don't even bother about his funeral, allowing the maid to dump Gregor as trash.

The problem of disability and the hero of "Metamorphosis"

An attentive reader will certainly notice that Gregor Samsa's description of well-being is very reminiscent of the state of a disabled person: it is difficult for him to move, he is unable to control his reflexes and instincts, and is absolutely helpless.

In fact, under the guise of a pseudo-fantastic story, Kafka tells about the fate of a disabled person. After all, as you know, even in the richest countries of the world, as soon as a person loses the opportunity to work for the good of society, he becomes unnecessary.

Although in civilized countries people with limited legal capacity are allocated a pension (as happened with Kafka), it is usually not enough, because a disabled person always requires 2 or even 3 times more than a healthy person, and there is no return from him.

Not every family, even the most loving one, will be able to take responsibility for such a person. As a rule, disabled people are sent to boarding schools, nursing homes. And those who agree to take on this burden often mock the helpless victims of ailments, who understand everything, but cannot always show it (like Gregor Samsa).

The behavior of the protagonist's relatives fits into the classic scheme: the breadwinner of the family has spared no effort and health for his relatives for many years, but, having lost their ability to work, becomes a burden for them, from which everyone dreams of getting rid of.

Who is really responsible for the death of Gregor

At first glance, it seems that the selfishness of the protagonist's relatives led to his moral and then physical death. But if you look more closely, you will notice that in many ways Gregor himself is guilty. He always followed the path of least resistance, avoiding conflict - because of this, he was mercilessly exploited by both his boss and his family.

In the Bible, which they love to quote, urging someone to give up their interests in favor of others, there is a passage: "Love your neighbor as yourself." In addition to caring for others, this commandment of Christ hints to everyone that, first of all, he must become a person who loves and respects himself. And, only having formed yourself, you need to start caring for your neighbors with the same zeal as for yourself.

In the case of the hero of "Metamorphosis", he himself destroyed everything human in himself, it is not surprising that no one around him considered him a human.

Parents' attitude towards Gregor before and after the transformation

Many of the plot lines of the story "The Metamorphosis" were taken by Kafka from his own sad experience of relations with his parents. So, providing for the family for many years, the writer gradually noticed that his sacrifice was taken for granted, and he himself was interested in his family, only as a source of income, and not as a living and feeling person. The fate of Gregor is described in the same way.

Before his transformation, his parents hardly saw their son. He was practically not at home because of work, and when he spent the night under his stepfather's roof, he left long before their awakening. Gregor Samsa provided comfort to his family without bothering him with his presence.

However, having become a beetle, he made his parents pay attention to himself. Moreover, he allowed himself an unforgivable impudence: he stopped bringing money and himself began to need their help. Having learned that for some reason the son did not go to work, the first thing that the father thought was that Gregor would be fired, and not that he might have become ill or died.

Upon learning of the transformation, the father beats up his beetle son, taking out his fear for financial problems in the future on him. but further developments show that Samsa Sr. had good savings of his own, as well as the fact that he could provide for himself.

As for the mother, although at first she looks like a caring woman, but gradually this mask falls off her and it becomes clear that Anna Samsa is a complete egoist, no better than her husband. After all, the fact that Gregor did not leave on the day of his transformation, the parents noticed only at 6:45, and in fact the hero planned to get up at 4:00 in the morning. This means that the mother was absolutely not worried about whether her son would have breakfast normally, whether he had fresh clothes and everything he needed for the trip. She didn't even bother to get up to just walk Gregor to work - is this a portrait of a loving mother?

The attitude of the sister towards the hero

The only family member who treated Gregor well in the first time after the transformation was Greta. She brought him food and sympathized. It is noteworthy that it was she who was subsequently the first to speak of the fact that the vile beetle was no longer her brother and it was worth getting rid of him.

Throughout the story, Kafka gradually reveals the hideous nature of Greta. Like her mother, her ostentatious kindness to Gregor is just a mask that the girl easily sheds when she needs to take responsibility for her loving brother.

A story in which no one changes, or What is the future of the Samsa family

Contrary to the name, the transformation itself is not shown in the story. Instead, Kafka describes the fate of heroes unable to truly change even after realizing their problems.

So, watching the neglect of his kin, the main character forgives them everything and sacrifices himself for their well-being. Never once, even in his thoughts, does he fully express a protest, although during the time spent in the body of an insect, he managed to see the real essence of his relatives.

And their choice fell on Greta. This is what the ending of the story hints at. After all, the body of their son had not yet cooled down, as Mr. and Mrs. Samsa are pondering how it is more profitable to marry their daughter. And there is no doubt: hardly anyone will ask her opinion on this issue.

Vladimir Nabokov in his critical article"The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka" noted: "If Kafka's Metamorphosis seems to someone to be something more than an entomological fantasy, I congratulate him for joining the ranks of good and excellent readers." This work certainly deserves its status as one of the greatest literary creations and is an example of the author's amazing imagination.

Death

One night, the tenants invite Greta to play the violin in their room. Gregor, delighted with the game, crawls right into the middle of the room, inadvertently catching the eyes of the audience. First confused and then horrified, the tenants announce that they intend to move out the next day without paying rent. After they leave, the family confers on what to do next. Greta insists that Gregor must be disposed of at any cost. Our hero, who at that moment is still lying in the center of the room, returns to his bedroom. Hungry, tired and upset, he dies early the next morning.

A few hours later, the cleaning lady discovers Gregor's corpse and announces his death to the family. After the tenants leave, the family decides to take a day off and go to the village. This is how Franz Kafka ends his novel "The Metamorphosis". Summary you just read it.

Genre - magic realism, modernism

This work, published in 1915, was written by Franz Kafka in 1912. The "Metamorphosis," the summary of which you just read, belongs to the genre of modernist literature. The fate of Gregor, a lonely traveling salesman, expresses a general modernist preoccupation with the alienation effect that appears in modern society... As with other works of this genre, it uses the "stream of consciousness" technique to depict the complex psychology of the protagonist. The story "The Metamorphosis" is a book (Kafka F.), which is also referred to as contemporary with its comparison of fantastic incidents with reality.

Time and place

It is impossible to say exactly where and when the events of the story take place (Kafka, "The Metamorphosis"). The summary does not answer the question of the exact time and place of the action, just as the work itself does not give it. The narrative does not point to a certain geographical position and a specific date. With the exception of the final scene, when the Samsas are sent out of town, all the action takes place in their apartment. This apartment overlooks the busy streets of the city and the hospital across the road, located near Gregor's bedroom window. Apparently, the apartment is located in the city center. She herself is rather modest.

Squeezed between the rooms of Greta's and parents, Gregor's room adjoins the living room. Limiting the space of the story to an apartment, the author emphasizes the isolation of the protagonist, his alienation from society.

Gregor's character: analysis. ("Metamorphosis", Kafka)

Let's take a look at two ordinary young people. None of them stand out for their special intelligence, beauty or wealth. You can even say that they are somewhat cowardly. So they both wake up one day and suddenly realize that they have the powers of insects ...

One of them becomes a superhero (Spiderman). Defeats the bad guys. Conquers the girl. Easily climbs skyscrapers in his signature costume, admiring those around him.

What about the other one about which the story (F. Kafka, "The Metamorphosis"), the summary of which you have just read, tells? It remains walled up in a room and feeds on garbage. His family ignores Gregor, if not outright hostile. Dirty, covered in rubbish and leftovers, he is dying of loneliness. This is how the hero of the story "The Metamorphosis" (Kafka) ends his life ingloriously. Reviews of this story are very controversial ...

Gregor's transformation is so involuntary and grotesque that one involuntarily wants to turn to the past when trying to answer the question of what led to the fact that an ordinary guy ended his life so ingloriously after experiencing such a transformation. Kafka, reviews of whose works have always been very ambiguous, and this time does not give a clear answer about the reasons for such a sharp turn of events in the life of his hero, leaving critics a wide scope for hypotheses. Unloved work, the need to support a family, dissatisfaction in personal life - all this, of course, is very unpleasant, but not so much that one could call such a situation unbearable. Common problems an ordinary person, is not it? Even Gregor's attitude towards his transformation confirms this. Instead of thinking about his new position, the hero is concerned about not being late for work. This is especially emphasized by Franz Kafka ("The Metamorphosis"). For a summary of the work, see above.

New opportunities

But ironically, Gregor's mediocrity, which manifests itself in relation to this situation, does not prevent him from discovering some of the abilities of his new body. The fantastic situation, which has become a new reality for him, prompts Gregor to reflect on his existence in a way he would never have thought, being involved in the routine of everyday affairs.

Of course, at first this position does not cause him anything but disgust, but gradually, mastering new skills and abilities, the hero begins to experience pleasure, joy, even the experience of contemplative emptiness, referring to Zen philosophy. Even when Gregor is tormented by anxiety, the insect's natural ones bring him some relief. Before dying, he feels love for his family. Now the hero is not at all like who he was before - the unsatisfied life of a traveling salesman, as we see Gregor at the beginning of the story. Despite his outwardly miserable state, he seems more human and humane than the rest of the heroes of the story.

The final

Let us not, however, embellish his fate. Kafka's story "Metamorphosis" ends up with Gregor dying in insect form, covered in debris. He was not even properly buried. The dark fate of the hero, its analysis ("The Metamorphosis" Kafka wrote so that any reader involuntarily thinks about the fate of Gregor) reveal how advantages unusual life and the hardships that must be endured by those who are different from others and, for one reason or another, are forced to give up a full life in society.