To avoid "missing" a book by just reading it and not stopping to comprehend it - I always summarize my thoughts about it at the end. This time, I finished reading Metamorphosis early in the morning, in a train ride. Maybe not the best time for reading. I started summing it up in my iOS notes app in the bus I took right after. At first, this book didn't leave an impression on me. As I kept writing though, you can see I was about to catch a metamorphosis myself. Enjoy!
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915)
is a novel about a person called Gregor Samsa, whose family relies on financially. He turns into a giant bug. The story portrays the changes made to him and his family after this sudden change.
My thoughts
This is the first time I read a Kafka book and it is written online that many of his books are open to very different interpertations. While you can focus on the story, "you’ll get a lot by focusing on how you react to reading the story RATHER than from the story itself" (as someone on Reddit wrote). So if I didn't like that book, if it was dry for me, simplistic, boring... Why is that? That's at least what that Reddit user tried to make me think. So I thought.
This story is short & dry. I think impacting a person in less than 100 pages is a tough task. Here is my try to reflect on it, and maybe let it change me. Just remember I'm a probably 21 year old naive boy.
SPOILER!!
Nowadays everyone's too busy. Neglecting family members is a real issue that I think many of us face. There is just not enough time or mental capacity to satisfy everyone in your close environment. That’s at least how I feel. I also think that relying on other people so heavily, family in particular is not healthy or optimal. If Samsa’s family didn’t rely on him that much, maybe they wouldn’t be impacted so much by his change. Without such big impact, they could have focused on Samsa rather than on surviving now that each had to work all-day.
I think the situation which Samsa and his family fell into after his/their metamorphosis is just so… heartbreaking and unfair. And it is a common one in families. It’s really hard to blame someone. The family began working a lot, while trying to somehow help their member who turned into a bug (or fell into depression as some might say).
Did they not give him enough attention? Probably, but easy to say when reading a book. Harder to stand by what you say when you are working day to night and feel like maybe your dreams, life and youth are stripped away from you (Grete, the sister). Maybe you feel like you wanted some peace at your retirement age (Parents). Maybe you already feel alone and like no ones getting you anyway (each of the family members).
About Gregor, thankfully I can’t say I ever fell into a situation that I could somehow see myself in his boots (I mean to a point where I’m unable to wakeup, work, feel so irrelevant and disconnected from reality…). I think everyone should aim to make themselves and the ones around them independent and so he should’ve encouraged his family to join the workforce. That way he wouldn’t be so burnt out and they wouldn’t be so dependent & rely on him so much.
Of course you can say that maybe his parents had traumas from the past. Maybe they became a weaker version of what Samsa became… Maybe a small bug (jk, we're talking about a bug as a metaphor for depression) And couldn’t work because of some very logical and understandable reasons… And therefore Gregor was forced into this lifestyle. But, there is no end to this. People go through rough stuff. This is life, and better to fix those problems than get lost.
When each can take care of himself or herself, everyone becomes more empathetic. Only when you have food on the table and a roof above your head, you can start caring truly about others’ feelings. I wrote “feelings” but only after those must haves become taken for granted - you can start caring about morally complicated subjects in general. Until those essentials are secured, it is just hard and false in my opinion to expect the ones struggling - to come for your help. As hard as it sounds.
The more a person is stable and well, the more likely it is that he/she will reach out and help the ones around him. That is kinda individualistic and maybe capitalistic but thats how I view this story (As I said, maybe I'm just young and naive at 21).
