Metamorphosis Free Essays

An analysis of how the first paragraph of The Metamorphosis supports the theory of Determinism . The theory of determinism states that all events are the consequence of prior events. Determinism is based on the scientific theory of cause and effect. We will write a custom essay sample on Metamorphosis or any similar topic only for you Order Now An example of cause and effect is as follows: if a glass were to fall on a surface and break, then its breaking would be as a result of the collision of the glass and the surface; indicating that every occurrence has a cause. The literary work — The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka– tells the story of a man named Gregor Samsa, trapped in a figurative hell. The Metamorphosis, acknowledges the theory of determinism by using literary to prove that Gregor Samsa’s state in hell is caused by his antecedent earthly characteristics and actions. The first paragraph of The Metamorphosis is especially important for proving determinism because of its various literary devices that allow diverse interpretation. The first paragraph provides a summary of the entire story: it portrays the setting to be hell, and then provides hints of why the protagonist is in hell. The first paragraph illustrates that Gregor Samsa is in hell. Although the story never directly states that the setting is hell, the diction and tone found in the first paragraph prove that it is hell. It refers to Gregor Samsa, stating: â€Å"his many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, were waving helplessly before his eyes. † The main adverbs expressing tone are â€Å"pitifully† and â€Å"helplessly. † From the solemn tone of the words, it is clear that the author has sympathy for the character. Because the author’s choice in diction was to use the word â€Å"pitifully,† it can be concluded that the character -Samsa- is suffering terribly. The word â€Å"helplessly† indicates that there is no where out of his pain. Using the No Escape Thesis – a traditional theories of hell – with those descriptions, Gregor Samsa is in hell. The No Escape Thesis states, â€Å"It is metaphysically impossible to get out of hell once one has been consigned there. † The description of how helpless Samsa was illustrates that he was ‘consigned’ to that state, which was ‘impossible to get out of. Hence the setting of the story could be declared as hell. The paragraph therefore provided the reader with a background to aid the readers understanding of the story and make it open to inferences. In accordance with the theory of cause and effect and determinism, if someone is condemned to hell, then that person is in hell because of the indignities he or she committed on earth. Therefore, Gregor Samsa being bound in hell indicates that he had committed some indignities in the past. Nevertheless, such condemnation to hell — as a consequence of earthly actions — is also expressed in other works such as No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre and Dante’s Inferno. (The play No Exit is set in hell and exposes the earthly actions characteristics of its characters that led them to hell, while in the epic poem Inferno, Dante takes a journey through the various levels of hell where the people are punished according to the vices they practiced on earth. ) These works of literature support the idea that punishment received in hell is pre-determined by the characteristics of one’s lifestyle when on earth. In terms of cultural setting, the first paragraph had a lot of imagery. For example, it uses the phrases â€Å"armor-hard back,† â€Å"rigid bow-like,† and â€Å"numerous legs. † The main adjectives from these phrases are ‘hard’, ‘rigid’ and ‘numerous’. These words connote the lifestyle of a soldier or an army: an army is usually made up of strong rigid soldiers, working best when it contains numerous soldiers, and its members carry weapons and armors. Soldiers tend to be prisoners of a system; they are controlled by rules and work under the command of authority heads. The fact that these adjectives, which are characteristics of a soldier or an army, are used to represent Gregor Samsa shows that Gregor Samsa lives a life similar to that to a soldier and works under a system where his affairs are regulated. Such characteristics describe the life lived in a communist system. Therefore, from these adjectives found in the first paragraph of The Metamorphosis, the cultural setting has been determined to be a communist community. This means that Samsa’s take on hell is being trapped in a communist system. In concurrence with the theory of determinism, his being in hell is caused by prior vices practiced in life. Based on Dante’s Inferno, one’s hell reflects one’s vices on earth. Hence Samsa’s hell is caused by and reflects his vices on earth. Because his hell is set in communism, it can be determined that his flaws were of communist characteristics. The theoretic characteristics of a communist community include the equal sharing of wealth among individuals, individual’s productivity controlled by the government system and the lack of initiation. Samsa’s earthly flaws would therefore be the flaws of communism which include his using free-will to choose to be a prisoner of the system. That will explain why his punishment in hell is his being trapped as a prisoner of a system, only this time he has no free-will; he has turned into the venim with communistic soldier characteristics and cannot change back. This probable explanation of why he is trapped in hell as a venim is confirmed in later parts of this literary work. Samsa’s punishment on earth being caused by his lifestyle when alive acknowledges the theory of determinism which states that events are caused by prior events. The first paragraph of The Metamorphosis provides a summary of the entire story. An analysis of it tells the reader that Gregor is in hell and his being in hell is caused by his prior characteristics and actions while on earth. Thus it supports the theory of determinism. By proving that events have already been determined by prior events, the theory of determinism also proves that one has no free-will. Our actions are not our choices, but a follow-up of previous events How to cite Metamorphosis, Essay examples Metamorphosis Free Essays This tale depicts the struggles of Franz Kava’s life. Kafka Is essentially Gregory because Kava’s father considered him a failure for wanting to become a writer rather than a businessman. The temperament of Kava’s father is very similar to that of Cargoes father. We will write a custom essay sample on Metamorphosis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Gregory is presented as an exaggeration of Kava’s life. Kafka seems to have felt like a creature trapped in a room and could not leave in order to escape further abuse. The Metamorphosis is no more than a hyperbole for the emotional and physical abuse that Kava’s family put him through. Early on in Burnoose’s translation, the sorrows and hardships that Gregory eels are reflected upon: â€Å"Good Lord,† he thought, â€Å"what an exhausting profession Vie chosen. Day in and day out on the road. Work like this is far more unsettling than business conducted at home, and then I have the agony of traveling itself to contend with: worrying about train connections, the irregular, and unpalatable meals, and human intercourse that is constantly changing, never developing the least constancy or warmth. Devil take it all! † (Breakfronts) Gregory is clearly unhappy with his profession as Kafka was unhappy In the field of business and wanted to become the write that he longed to be. Gorge’s transformation or metamorphosis can be perceived as a hypothetical situation. Gregory morphing into an insect could be what Kafka sees happening when telling his family that he wants to be a writer. Gregory feels that he has failed his family and they are ashamed of him, even at points not even sure that the insect is still Gregory. This represents his family’s theoretical disobedient of him if he were to quit the path of business for a writing career. This scene Is reinforced In Peter Supper’s graphic representation of Kava’s The Metamorphosis. This Idea Is graphically represented from pages 9-17 In Supers adaptation. In Burnoose’s translation, this idea took up about half a page, which is vastly different form the graphic novel. Super clearly spent a lot of time on this scene and decided to make the salesman in the comic to look much like Franz Kafka. The graphics show Gregory constantly being belittled and unhappy. Gregory is shown to be a ticking time bomb. On page 17 in Supper’s version, Gorge’s father is seen for the first time In a very Intimidating and demanding tone while he bangs on Gorge’s door, yelling â€Å"GREGORY, Greatcoat’s going on? † (Super 1 7) It is interesting that Super makes the human version of Gregory to look like Kafka and for the father to be a very frightening character. Later on in part two, short after Gregory startles his mother causing her to faint, a violent interaction occurs between Gregory and his father: â€Å"All at once something flew to the rug beside him, casually flung, and rolled horror, Gregory stopped in his tracks; there was no point continuing to run now that his father had decided to bombard him†¦. The petite red apples rolled around the floor as id electrified, knocking into each other. One lightly lobbed apple grazed Gorge’s back and slid off again harmlessly. But it was immediately followed by another that embedded itself in his back. (Burnooses 84) This is relatable to the life of Franz Kafka. Kava’s father was so obsessed with the idea of Franz become a businessman like he was that he beat him when he found out that he wanted to be a writer instead. The â€Å"insect† that Gregory could be seen as the failure of a businessman that Kava’s father saw in him. Also it is interesting that Kava†™s weapon of choice was an apple. The apple, biblically, is a weapon of evil as seen in the story of Adam and Eve. This scene happens relatively fast in Supper’s graphic novel from pages 47-50. Super made the father look very angry, towering, and mean, while making Gregory look defenseless and confused about what is being done to him. This could be depicted as Kafka being beaten for not being what he was expected to be by his father. Kafka does not understand why he is beaten abused as Gregory seems to feel judging by the images in the graphic novel along with the many â€Å"? s† in thought bubbles. Super seems to have glossed over many scenes included in Burnoose’s translation of The Metamorphosis. Super seems to focus more on Gorge’s interactions with his family and briefly time within the head of Gregory. It is understood that Super uses a different translation than that of Burnoose’s. Super tends to make scenes more intense and dark as compared to Burnooses and that could very well be a result of the use of a different translation. English translations of Kava’s novel cannot be exactly translated over to English. These translations have a lot of open room to input personal perceptions of scenes by the authors. Super clearly uses artistic styles in his graphic representation. Super explicitly makes retain scenes all over the place if it is meant to be that way. In. Some cases he gives many flashes such as the scene where Gregory dies (Super 69), but on the next two pages Super spreads the scene throughout two pages. He makes the scene dark, but has light and clarity shining through, which is something Gregory experiences less as the story unfolds and he deteriorates (Super If Super wants the reader to understand that the scene is significant, he made it large and with less going on, using pages 70-71 and pages 78-79 as examples. Gregory Same is comparable to Franz Kafka in so many ways. This is seen throughout both translations of The Metamorphosis as discussed. Gregory is a failure to his family as Kafka was a failure in the eyes of his father. Gorge’s metamorphosis is Kafka becoming a writer and his family cannot accept him for who he really is, which ultimately leads to his deterioration and death. Burnooses chose to make this novel more focused on the thoughts of Gregory and the solitude of his room while Super includes mostly family/ human interactions in a very dark and intense manner. The Metamorphosis is an allegory that depicts the twisted life of Franz Kafka. How to cite Metamorphosis, Papers