Araby

Araby

  • Submitted By: pianoman
  • Date Submitted: 12/08/2008 4:50 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 907
  • Page: 4
  • Views: 711

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka reveals the life of a traveling salesman by the name of Gregor Samsa who is the central protagonist in this twentieth-century classic. As dawn appears, Gregor awakes in the morning to find that he has transformed into a giant cockroach. Despite the protagonist’s physical shortcomings his main focus becomes catching a train that he was scheduled to catch. Instead of Gregor trying to formulate in his mind some type of explanation for his newly obtained insect body, Gregor’s preoccupations as a traveling salesman causes him to try and become mobile and learn to use the new body that he’s discovered. The reader soon finds out that the protagonist uses his family’s financial situation as his driving force to continue with his day as normal.
Kafka’s Metamorphosis is a story that should be carefully examined. Analyzing the central theme, the symbolism and, the relevance of its minor characters all play a pivotal role in understanding the work. Due to the absence of foreshadowing within the plot, upon first reading the story it may appear to be a science fiction, satiric comedy but the reader cannot be sure to classify whether its plot is full of magic realism or if it’s a great example of surrealistic literature. Paradoxically the protagonist reveals his human characteristics such as emotions, vulnerability and his susceptibility to pain and death.
Several critics of Kafka’s work have given a plethora of interpretations for the protagonist’s situation. Everything ranging from “a supernatural magnification of natural anguish” to a “delusional man with a neurotic illness.(Beissner p.48) It’s been revealed that Gregor’s outcast state is symbolic of the estrangement which the observant reader sooner or later comes to feel-the humiliated self consciousness which perpetuates its estrangement in an ignorant and guilty way.(Corngold,p.34) Every day the protagonist seemingly becomes more comfortable and nearing death grows numb to human pains...

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