Symbolism
Franz Kafka uses symbolism in order to express many of the more complex themes in the novella, The Metamorphosis. One of the main symbols he uses is the picture of the woman on the wall. This picture is first noted in the very beginning of the novella, when Gregor looks at it on the wall and the readers sense that Gregor is isolated and lonely. This picture also comes up later on in the novella when his furniture is being removed from his room; Gregor throws himself up against the picture in an attempt to keep the cutout from the magazine in his possession. This action shows his desperation and longing for continued human relationships, as the picture symbolizes his last remnant of a human relationship. Another symbol that’s used is Gregor’s furniture. As previously mentioned, Gregor’s family is being confiscated, and he is extremely disturbed by this; in this situation, the furniture in his room symbolizes his human life, and it’s removal shows his loss of all human elements from his body and life.
Irony
Irony is a very important aspect of this novella. One example of irony that highlights Gregor’s expulsion by and isolation from his family is the fact that when his room is locked, everyone is dying to get in; yet when they realize that he has morphed into a giant insect, although the doors remained unlocked, the only time he experiences human contact is when his sister brings food into his room. This is truly ironic because although he is still part of their family, he is so segregated from them based on his form that they feel no need to continue contacting him. Another example of irony in this novella is the fact that while Gregor was human, he took care of his lazy family and did everything he possibly could for them when they needed him, yet when he morphed into a giant insect, they suddenly started working and were extremely well off; it’s as if this metamorphosis helped them get back into their lives and brought the rest of their family closer, yet they isolated Gregor without even a second thought
Metaphor
Metaphor is arguably the most important literary technique used in this novella. The most blantant example of a metaphor used is Gregor being transformed into an insect. At the end of the book, we realize that he wasn’t literally an insect the entire time, yet by the end of the novella he was literally transformed into an insect. The use of an insect as a metaphor is used to portray his truly buglife existence before being transformed into an actual bug. Before his metamorphosis, he lived only for his family: he didn’t do anything for himself, he just went to work every day in a job that he hated in order to make enough money to pay off his family’s debts while they sat around doing nothing and embracing their dependence on him. During his metamorphosis, his internal bug-like nature was simply manifested into a literal exoskeleton, after which he became more and more like a bug: losing his love of human food while gaining of a love of dark places.
Franz Kafka uses symbolism in order to express many of the more complex themes in the novella, The Metamorphosis. One of the main symbols he uses is the picture of the woman on the wall. This picture is first noted in the very beginning of the novella, when Gregor looks at it on the wall and the readers sense that Gregor is isolated and lonely. This picture also comes up later on in the novella when his furniture is being removed from his room; Gregor throws himself up against the picture in an attempt to keep the cutout from the magazine in his possession. This action shows his desperation and longing for continued human relationships, as the picture symbolizes his last remnant of a human relationship. Another symbol that’s used is Gregor’s furniture. As previously mentioned, Gregor’s family is being confiscated, and he is extremely disturbed by this; in this situation, the furniture in his room symbolizes his human life, and it’s removal shows his loss of all human elements from his body and life.
Irony
Irony is a very important aspect of this novella. One example of irony that highlights Gregor’s expulsion by and isolation from his family is the fact that when his room is locked, everyone is dying to get in; yet when they realize that he has morphed into a giant insect, although the doors remained unlocked, the only time he experiences human contact is when his sister brings food into his room. This is truly ironic because although he is still part of their family, he is so segregated from them based on his form that they feel no need to continue contacting him. Another example of irony in this novella is the fact that while Gregor was human, he took care of his lazy family and did everything he possibly could for them when they needed him, yet when he morphed into a giant insect, they suddenly started working and were extremely well off; it’s as if this metamorphosis helped them get back into their lives and brought the rest of their family closer, yet they isolated Gregor without even a second thought
Metaphor
Metaphor is arguably the most important literary technique used in this novella. The most blantant example of a metaphor used is Gregor being transformed into an insect. At the end of the book, we realize that he wasn’t literally an insect the entire time, yet by the end of the novella he was literally transformed into an insect. The use of an insect as a metaphor is used to portray his truly buglife existence before being transformed into an actual bug. Before his metamorphosis, he lived only for his family: he didn’t do anything for himself, he just went to work every day in a job that he hated in order to make enough money to pay off his family’s debts while they sat around doing nothing and embracing their dependence on him. During his metamorphosis, his internal bug-like nature was simply manifested into a literal exoskeleton, after which he became more and more like a bug: losing his love of human food while gaining of a love of dark places.
