Modern Versus Traditional in Metamorphosis by Kafka

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at framing a traditional life.

After the incident with the chief clerk and his family, Gregor awakes to eat some bread and milk. This is his favorite dish, but he quickly discovers that he has no taste for it anymore (220-221). After that, he finds that he is most comfortable hiding around in the dark under the sofa (221). Next, he discovers his taste for rotten cheese and fruits and his hatred of fresh foods. “…the fresh foods, on the other hand, were not to his liking – he couldn’t even bear the smell of them, and dragged such things as he wanted to eat a little way away from them.” (222). Despite these disgusting new tastes, Gregor still thought and felt like a human. He missed his sister, he was thankful to her and he worried about his family but was proud that he had provided for them until now (221).

Soon after this, Gregor began climbing the walls and ceiling of his room (226). Noticing her brother’s new activity, Gregor’s sister decides to remove the furniture in his room to give him more space (226-227). Gregor’s mom is against this move, reasoning that “the sight of the empty stretch of wall clutched at her heart; and why shouldn’t Gregor have a similar sensation too, seeing as he was long accustomed to his bedroom furniture, and was therefore bound to feel abandoned in the empty room.” (227). This re-awakens the human instinct in Gregor’s heart, the sound of his old mother, and convinces him that everything must stay. These possessions were living aspects of his former life. Gregor remarked on “the desk that seemed to have taken the root in the floor, where he had done his homework at trade school, at secondary, even at elementary school.” (228). While Gregor had been in a trance with his new life until now, he was desperate to save the old remnants of his life. In his desperation, he revealed himself to his mother who fainted immediately. Gregor’s father, convinced that Gregor was responsible for attacking her, assaulted his son with apples. One of the apples nailed Gregor in the back, and he was knocked out. As a result of trying to save his old life, Gregor lost his possessions and gained the hatred of his family. Both of these failures have now completely separated Gregor from his human life.

After those events, Gregor’s family struggled more and more. They had all taken various odd jobs to make ends meet. The demands of modern life had forced themselves onto his family. His aged father and mother were working, and his sister sacrificed her childhood to help out (231-232). Eventually, they had to rent out their home, their sacred and precious home (a center of traditional life) to strangers for money (234). We can see how after Gregor’s change, the new enforces itself on his family.

One night, Grete was playing the violin for the new lodgers when Gregor happened to have escaped. Drawn by the sound of music, recalling his intention to send Grete to a conservatory, Gregor inched closer and closer to Grete and the lodgers (236). Once the lodgers had noticed, they angrily declared that they will be leaving at once and not be paying for it, “as a result of the vile conditions prevailing in this flat and this family.” (237). Stunned by this sudden loss, the family comes to a conclusion. “We must try and get rid of it,” proposed Grete, who had faith in Gregor and was his closest friend (237). Once Gregor sees that his father, sister and mother are all against him, he comes to his own conclusion. Gregor had lost everything human about him: his body, his voice, his tastes, possessions, memories, and finally his family. It was now that Gregor lost the last remaining human aspect he had, his will to live. After a night of troubled thoughts one morning, Gregor Samsa failed to wake up.

Through The Metamorphosis, we can see how modern life dehumanizes a modern man. The contradiction between tradition and modernity creates difficult struggles in Gregor Samsa’s life. As he hesitates between old and new, the choices he makes show us how a man can alienate himself from his life. Gregor’s relationship with his family, with his boss and with his inner life all suffer as a result of modernity.

Work Cited:

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. New York: The Norton Anthology. World Literature. 2012. Print

History of Technology and Work. “History of Technology and Work”. HARLES W. DAVIDSON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING. Web. 19 May 2014.