About Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

In the article “The Metamorphosis” by Nina Pelikan Straus, the author has taken a more feminists approach when dealing with the issues of gender role.  When she describes the biography of Franz Kafka, she used feminism in the description of his connection with the character and the life that he has lived. Nina points out that Franz Kafka may have had what she calls a fantasy of gender role.  Straus says that this is based on the fact that Kafka had written many letters which had been addressed to a woman named Felice Baue. Therefore, through the writing of the letters to this woman, Nina Pelikan Straus concludes that Kafka might have had a fantasy of gender change. This is one of the reasons why it is easy to conclude that Straus takes a feministic approach when dealing with the short story, Metamorphosis. This paper therefore, will present and also have an in-depth discussion on the various ways of feministic approach that Straus in proving that metamorphosis in gender exists as demonstrated by Franz Kafka.

            The use of the feminist approach is evident in the scene when Straus identifies that both Kafka and Grete may have been feeling inadequate in their masculinity roles and hence they were seeking to live like women. This is drawn from the fact that they were feeling weak and would seek strength from women like the way Kafka did through the writing of the letters while Gregor had to be served by Grete, his sister. It is evident that Straus may have gone into the French Feminism since she takes some time to describe Kafka’s story using words such as, self-confidence, childish, and romantic and according to her, these words also would suggest the very lack of masculinity from Kafka. She also says that when one uses such words, it shows some desire to become a woman.  Therefore, when viewed through the eyes of feminism, I would agree with her that metamorphosis of gender exists (Straus 652).

Metamorphosis has had an exploration of both the male as well as the female compulsion power. The language that is used in this text has been seen as trying to address these two genders. Therefore, when critics analyze this work, they came up with the conclusion that one of the other themes that have been addressed in the book is that of feminism where the author has brought up the case of uplifting women in the society sometimes to the expense of men. An example is when Gregor started losing his sense of masculinity when he had lost his job. As a result of this event, his sister Grete had to pick up on a job in order to support her family (Franz Kafka, 289). Metamorphosis has had a reflection of the masculinity attitudes as well as the orientations. This book discussed critically the alienation of the man whereby the man became passive regardless of whether they wanted to or not. This proves Straus argument that gender change is in existence.

The attitude of Franz Kafka towards women was not very clear and most people did not come to a clear understanding of it. This called for the need for more elaboration from the author himself. The other critics who were against the book all acknowledged that the author had a negative attitude towards the male species and thus they disregarded the issue on gender change. This was because the Kafka himself was a man and therefore the discomfort was realistic and quite natural. The message that Kafka had did not show the alienation of the men only. The author had a lot of fantasies towards women as well and thus in this case gender metamorphosis applies to all people.

The responses that Kafka gave on the criticism that occurred due to the literature were contrary. The Author felt that he was very much satisfied with the content of The Metamorphosis. According to him the ending of this book has been greatly flawed with different forms of critics that people had. The author was quick to defend the root cause of the problematic outcomes of the ending. He said that the trip which she got as he wrote the end of the story did him more harm than any good. The people who brought a lot of criticism however were in the trial of seeking publication.

There are many people who have though analyzed the book of the Metamorphosis, and have seen the reality that is in the book. This realism that some people have seen has been completely contrary to the initial critics that had occurred on the transformation of Gregor to become an insect form a human being.

However, apart from the gender critics there are many other critics that have come up from the text. One of this is how the author uses symbolism in the book.  The way that Gregor Samsa changes from human to insect is an example of symbolism. Despite the fact that this symbolism was too complex for many of the readers to understand, many agree that it served its purpose and as a result they praise the writer for this high level of language usage in literature.  One of the themes that the book addresses is that of alienation from human beings. The way Samsa changed from human being to an insect is what made this theme to be evident. It is what is known as metamorphosis. There are different people who have come up with different reasons why this could have happened.

The critics have also come up with many interpretations that are psychoanalytical especially in the dramatization perspective. The story has indeed had a lot of detailed reasoning which has given this book a credit to be in the center of excellence. On a judge that I gave on the reception the Franz Kafka had on the critics that he faced, it is clear that the author that Kafka had no particular distinction which he undertook.

 

It is therefore important to note that change does exist even in the world that we are living in today. Gender roles have changed overtime and this is just an element of the general metamorphosis of the humans. Despite the fact that Nina Straus was a female author with a more interest on the female and high imploration of the female approach, it does not allow us to ignore her arguments. Rather it is important to allow ourselves to be not influenced by the feministic approach and analytically evaluate the case of gender change so as to come up with an appropriate conclusion. In this case, therefore in accordance to the behavioral change of Frank and all the other male counterparts and the reduction in their masculinity as evidenced from the change in gender roles of these men it is right to conquer with Straus. Thus Straus argument on the existence of metamorphosis on gender is valid as it is supported by the well evaluated evidence that the article has presented.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work cited

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. 7th ed. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Straus, Nina Pelikan. "Transforming Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis"." Signs 14.3 (1989):

651-67. JSTOR. Web. 24 Feb. 2017