By Giorgia Caso
According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, existentialism is ‘the theory that humans are free and responsible for their own actions in a world without meaning’. And yet, in literature it means more than that. It is a philosophical and literary view that is centred on the individual. In Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis the condition of being human is analysed from an absurdist point of view. What if, one day, we wake up and realise that we are not who the world thinks we are? What if we do not belong to this world anymore and we struggle in trying to fit in when at the end we fail? Is it the world that is wrong or is it us?
Kafka’s protagonist, Gregor Samsa, partly reflects Kafka’s experience as a ‘failed writer’. In real life, he wanted to become a writer yet his family, especially his dad, forced him to abandon this idea and pursue a business career. Franz has always lived someone else’s life, which is what the metamorphosis illustrates with the insect being a metaphor of being different. This is also the reason why his family turn their back on him as they don’t recognise him anymore.
Existentialism is, in short, a fancy word to say that a book talks about being human and the intricacies that come with it. Kafka didn’t have the chance to prove that he was worthy of living his own life separate from social conventions and family ties. In his novella, though, Gregor even though he orthodoxically met social and family expectations, ends up disappointing everyone because of the involuntarily changes he undergoes.
Through this metaphor of the insect, the writer manages to tackle many topics around the condition of being human and especially being our own person. The price of being himself is his life, but there is also a certain liberation coming with it that encourages the reader to never give up. This is true especially nowadays as Kafka is widely read and appreciated, way more than when he was alive. He had an unfortunate life but he would be really happy if he knew the impact his forbidden craft now has on people.
This novella is not one you can easily forget but, once you read it, it’s going to change your life forever whether you are conscious of it or not. Finally, existentialism is also a word that means that there is a certain universality of the condition of human beings that, even hundreds of years later, Gregor Samsa is still a fresh character whose feelings are close to ours as readers and humans.
Commentaires