Kafka’s story The Metamorphosis makes clear several key aspects about the society in which it was written. I would argue that these aspects can be roughly divided into two areas. The first of these is the importance of work and employment to a sense of person-hood and the second is the importance of physical appearance and health as a standard of normality.
The first sense is shown at the start of the story when it is revealed that Gregor Samsa has been transformed into an enormous insect. Despite the horror of this event, however, he is not immediately worried about his transformation, or he is worried about it only as much as it will effect his ability to go to work. One reads; ”Oh God, he thought what an exhausting job I’ve picked up! Travelling about day in, day out. It’s much more irritating work than doing the actual business in the office, and on top of that there’s the trouble of constant travelling, of worrying about train connections’ (74). It’s clear here that Kafka wants the reader to focus on just how important work is to Gregor, despite the fact that he has suffered something terrible.
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The second aspect of society, its focus on appearance and normality can be seen at the end of the story. After Gregor has died in squalor, Kafka writes that his parents take a train ride with his sister. The story ends on an image of his sister’s young body that appears healthy and normal’ (128). In this way, the story suggests that no matter how strange or horrific the events that a family may go through, they will still consider basic things such as physical appearance and employment to be normal and important. This, combined with the idea of the sheer importance of a regular and respectable job, is the primary observation about that can be made about the society in which the story is set.
- Kafka, Franz. The Collected Stories of Franz Kafka. Translated by Edwin Muirt. London: Penguin, 1993.
