Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Metamorphosis and Other Stories (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) by Franz Kafka

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A fairly conceptually challenging novella from Kafka, though it's one of his shorter and easier reads. Ha.

The story famously opens up with our protagonist, Gregor Samsa, waking up from "troubled dreams" to discover that he has transformed into a "kind of giant bug" or "monstrous vermin."
This creates an image of something like a beetle, centipede, or cockroach in the reader's mind.
Samsa's first thought, unlike I would have thought, was not how to adapt to his transformation or how to somehow reverse it, but how he is going to manage to get to his work, which, implied by the narrator, Samsa hates. Further into the book, it is also revealed that his father went bankrupt before the events of the story, and Gregor took the role of the breadwinner to support his parents and teenage sister Grete.


After contemplating on his current situation for several hours, Gregor's boss comes to the house in person to either scold Samsa, or - the less likely option - simply to see if he was okay. After panicking, Gregor forces himself out of bed, and uses his teeth to unlock the door. His new appearance surprises his family and boss,
though instead of showing sympathy, his family gradually begin to ungratefully complain that he is a burden, despite the fact that Gregor in fact provided the family with food and a roof under their heads;
he was clearly
struggling with this pressure already,
as implied by the
flashbacks and reminiscing
at the start of the book. 

The family begins to rent out rooms in their house to earn more money, and after the charlady neglects to close Gregor's door,
(nobody ever goes in there anymore, and Gregor had been surviving on miniscule amounts of rotten food given to him by his sweet younger sister) Gregor travels to the room where his family are watching Grete play violin. The tenants catch sight of Gregor, and immediately leave, complaining that the house is unsanitary and not fit for them to stay in.
This causes Grete to
lose her patience, and tell her parents to get rid of "it" or they will all be "ruined."


Gregor,
realising he is not wanted, returns to his room
and
commits suicide by starving himself;
he is
dead when the charlady enters his room the next day.


The family
travels to the countryside
after
disposing of Gregor's corpse, and think about moving to a smaller apartment.
The book ends on a
sardonic note, with Mr and Mrs Samsa noticing that Grete has grown into a beautiful young woman, and they must find her a husband.


And what an end to the book that was. Was Gregor's metamorphosis literal, or was it something to be understood much deeper? Was it all a metaphor for work, stress, finance, or something else? Despite the novella's message being quite a mystery, Gregor's burdens and struggles seem to be pretty relatable to most readers.
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