The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction.
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."
With this startling opening, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis.
But the story of The Metamorphosis is much more than a somewhat dark, disturbing tale of a man who turns into a pitiful bug.
The Metamorphosis is a harrowing meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation.
This story is also about perspective, as we are mainly placed into the mind of Gregor.
lthough he is a beetle from the beginning of the story, the part of him that is still human characterizes and humanizes how we too might react in a similar situation.
However, Kafka does not explicitly mention in the text that Samsa definitely turns into a cockroach or not. It is merely symbolically describes Samsa’s past life and his new life, and of course his ‘ailment’.
It is a tale of an individual afflicted by a disease that he has no control over and neither does he have any idea of how it has and will continue to influence his and his family’s lives.
One day, the world recognizes that you've changed. And you may not be a giant insect, but the world must now respond to the metamorphosized you.
And although people don't wake up as insects in real life, individuals do undergo forms of change.
The beetle exterior can be a metaphor for depression and the post-traumatic stress disorder.
