In the novel, The Metamorphosis, the author, Franz Kafka, reflects the alienation of his life into the story by using Gregor Samsa and other characters to show the struggles he had in his life. Kafka shows his opinions about work and jobs in society by making Gregor share his opinions on this topic. Another aspect of Gregor’s life that is similar to Kafka’s is their relationships with their families, and especially their fathers. The two character’s strangeness and their health are also issues that affects both of their lives.
Kafka dislike work and jobs and he reflects that into Gregor Samsa in his novel. Samsa is a hardworking man who works every day for years without missing a single day. Gregor is a traveling salesman, so not many people …show more content…
Kafka’s father abused him from when he was a child for many reasons, one of them being that he was a writer instead of a shop owner. One author, when talking about this relationship says, “Kafka’s father viewed Franz as a failure and disapproved of his writing because he wanted Franz to become a businessman like him” (Stephens). This poor relationship partially lead to Franz’s bad health all throughout life and also his mental health and depression. Kafka reflects this connection into The Metamorphosis as Gregor has a similar ordeal. Gregor’s father uses him just to earn money for the family, and when Gregor turns into a bug, and the money stops coming, Gregor’s father is livid. One example of this is when Samsa’s father starts to throw apples at him. This event is described in the novel, when Kafka writes, “Gregor stopped dead with fear; further running was useless, for his father was determined to bombard him” (Kafka 37). This shows Gregor’s father hates his son so much he is willing to cause him physical pain. One author talks about the similarities between the two men when he says, “they were both abused and neglected by their fathers when they were disappointed with them” (Stevens). The author of this article sees these connections between the fathers and their sons and has a good similarity between the two. Gregor and his creator Kafka, both have similar family connections with abusive …show more content…
For example, Gregor turns into a bug, a very weird body, and is so unusual he does not even care about it. When Kafka is describing Gregor’s peculiar body, he writes, “He would have needed hands and arms to lift himself up, but instead of that he had only his numerous little legs” (Kafka 6). Later in the story Gregor starts to hate his body because it results in his family forgeting about him and isolation. Gregor has one of the weirdest bodies someone can get, but he is mentally unusual too. When Samsa actually realizes he turned into a bug he thinks about how he can get to work. Gregor does not think about why he is a bug or how he became one, he just thinks things like, “the next train left at seven o’clock; to make it, he would have to hurry like a madman” (Kafka 5). Kafka made Gregor this unusual character because it is similar to himself. As a young child and for some of his adulthood, Kafka was a weird person. Kafka had unusual friends, relationships, and interests. Kafka was interested in philosophy as a child and went to college instead of entering the family business, like his parents wanted. “Kafka also dwelled obsessively on his own self perceived inadequacy, rejecting his intellect as inferior and his body as loathsome” (Major 20th Century Writers). Just like Gregor, Kafka is ashamed of his body and wants to get rid of