IB Candidate Number

Works in Translation
Reflective Statement

How was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through
the interactive oral discussion?

In Franz Kafkas text, The Metamorphosis, strange events are portrayed throughout. However, the
literal meaning and interpretation of the story is only one of the numerous ways for an audience member
to perceive it. Through the knowledge presented in class by other students, in the Interactive Oral project,
many more ideas and thoughts were evoked, changing my mindset among the story. At the introduction of
the book, I was immediately shocked and in awe by the such rare and peculiar events being described.
However, with the additional understanding of possible allegorical interpretations of the story, described
throughout the in class presentations and discussions, the supernatural perspective of Kafkas writing is a
much more comprehensible element.
A significant and dominant angle that I have on Kafkas story of The Metamorphosis is the matter
of mental health throughout the span of the 1900s. Kafka was born into a time frame in which there were
not many diagnoses or assistance available for those with the need of mental health aid and support.
Mannerisms Kafka depicts Gregor Samsa to obtain after his metamorphosis are those such as an
individual with depression, along with further, more severe traits. Parallel to the idea that Kafka is not
literally an insect, as he is described to be in the text, the setting of Gregors life and story of his
metamorphosis may take place in the point in time where mental issues and confusion was not accepted
by members of society. Therefore, the want of sleep, being locked in his room, sleeping under furniture,
and lack of communication is all extremely confusing for his family to understand. In the 1900s, there
was minimal knowledge regarding mental states, so individuals coped with the conflicts in ways they
thought best. On an allegorical level, Franz Kafka may be evoking issues present within his own life
through The Metamorphosis and his mental state and well being, and how the misunderstandings led to
the improper assistance.

Word Count: 324

IB Candidate Number
Works in Translation
Written Assignment
 The Reflection of a Harsh Life: A Catalyst for Decision in Franz Kafkas The Metamorphosis
To be progressive, all organisms with an attentive brain make decisions. Without decision
making, there would be no advancement, no change, no life. There are minor, insignificant decisions
made daily. There are major, life-dependent decisions made less often. No matter the immensity of the
concluding decision that a mind comes to make, it surely impacts a life. In Franz Kafkas novella, The
Metamorphosis, the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, experiences a variety of events throughout a span of his
lifetime that brings reason to the major life-terminating decision he chooses to make. Gregor internally
agrees on many decisions throughout the story, and each of these decisions made impact the greater
depiction of his struggle and alienation due to his abstruse transformation. Gregor struggles through harsh
events during the extent of his transformation, and eventually terminates his own existence, which
emphasizes the concept that, through reflection and contemplation, decisions for the better are able to be
made.
As he introduces the setting, characters, and plot of the novella, Kafka smoothly incorporates
glimpses of Gregors life, prior to his transformation, which attribute to the concluding decision of
Gregor, and how he discontinues his own life. In beginning the novella, Kafka utilizes the technique of in
media res, which vastly minimizes the knowledge available to the readers that concerns Gregors history
and background. However, this technique arouses the readers directly in the first sentence of the piece:
When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed
into a monstrous vermin (Kafka 3). This shock of Gregors transformation works to attract the readers,
and it upkeeps the interest and intrigue. Although the use of in media res limits the background of
Gregors life before the time of his transformation, the slight instances of Gregors life prior to his morph
that are described throughout the introduction of the novella appear much more crucial than they would if
the novella begins from an earlier point in time. The descriptions that Kafka makes provide significant
insight that regards to Gregors lifestyle preceding his morph into an unaccepted figure. Brought on by his
family, Gregor bears intense proportions of pressure and liability. He is a traveling salesman, with the
torture of traveling, changing trains, eating miserable food at all hours (Kafka 4). He is working for the
sake of his family with strive and aim, designed by his family, to pay of his familys debt. Prior to the
point of Gregors transformation, his family solely accepts and cherishes him, because they gain advances
and have their debt paid, while he is experiencing his own torture. At the conclusion of the story, Kafka
describes that Gregor to be reflective upon his life. His difficulties, specifically before the transformation,
contribute to a notable portion of his unhappiness in his physical existence.
The morning that Gregor awakes and becomes aware of his abnormal differences, every aspect of
his life changes. Foremost, Gregor feels as though he had no further responsibility and could be calm
(Kafka 10). His family views him as a distinctly disgraceful and repulsive burden; however, Gregor
reaches an element of freedom from the liability and pressure brought on by his family. Because his
family is disregarding him, he is no longer responsible for the duties that he is obligated to perform and
succeed in, before his transformation. Per contra, Gregors transformation causes conditions much more
horrific than he ever experiences. As Gregors family first becomes aware of Gregors suspicious
behavior behind his locked door, his father, mother, sister, and manager are wholly compelled to discover
what is happening. They urge Gregor to open his door immediately. Ironically, though, and with Kafkas
use of juxtaposition, once the father has sight of Gregor when he opens the door, with a hostile
expression his father clenched his fist, as if to drive Gregor back into his room (Kafka 12). Through the
use of this immediate contrast in emotion and behavior, Kafka foreshadows the negative relations
between Gregor and his father. Although this upset of Gregors father shocks the readers at first, it allows
them a sense of the atmosphere in which Gregor is contained. He is continuously neglected by his family,
and undergoes pain caused by them. Kafka portrays Gregors excruciating pain as he depicts that an
apple remained imbedded in his flesh as a visible souvenir since no one dared to remove it (Kafka 29).
The apple that remains in Gregors back and continues to bring pain and misery, is included by Kafka as a
metaphor. This metaphor represents the vast amount of rejection the Gregor receives from his family. His
family is aware of the apple in his back, and they are not too preoccupied to remove it; therefore, they

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simply reject and neglect him. The pain that remains within Gregor from the neglect by his family is
shown through the lasting pain from the apple. The intentional suffering that Gregors family brings upon
him produces damaging experiences, and in Gregors final reflection of life, these experiences and defects
are a portion of his reasoning in letting go in Kafkas conclusion of the story.
In Kafkas resolution, he allows Gregor an overall reflection of his life and journey since the time
of his morph. While Gregor is confined in his room, in a miserable and wretched condition, both
physically and mentally, he remains in a state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock
struck three in the morning (Kafka 39). Although Gregor appears much unlike his family, he still
maintains a body with sensation, heart with emotion, and life with devotion. Throughout the novella,
Gregor gradually loses his sense for life and existence. The members of his family lose their recognition
of his humanity. The negligible ambition that remains within Gregor is drawn out by his family through
neglect and exclusion. As a monstrous vermin, Gregor does not feel a purpose for the continuation of
his life. Alone in his room, he concludes on taking his own life and surrendering, in purpose of his
thought to be best decision. Kafka demonstrates this suicidal aspect through the application of anticlimax.
In his last moment, Gregor can see that outside the window everything was beginning to grow light,
and in sequence, his head sank down to the floor, and from his nostrils streamed his last weak breath
(Kafka 39). As he illustrates this appearance of light, the symbol of a rebirth and cleansing, Kafka brings
about the optimistic aspect to the unfortunate resolution of the novella. The last thing that Gregor
distinguishes before he releases himself is the light, which prompts him to reach his point of rebirth and
purity, and to be cleansed of all prior conflict. Gregor sees that without his dissatisfying and rejected
nature, the reality and presence around him is a brighter, more appeased setting. Gregor has awareness
that he is a burden, and through love for his family, and for the bettering of himself, he terminates his
metamorphosis in the same place it started, because he is never given the opportunity to expose his
alienation to the norms of society. Gregors final moment of reflection upon his life prior to and during
the extent of his transformation brings just reasoning to his final decision.
Gregor Samsa is denied the ability to efficiently care for himself in his disoriented state of being,
and in addition to the neglect and mortified feeling towards Gregor by his family, his purpose and sense
of ambition in life is absorbed by the emptiness that surrounds him. In entirety, each detail and event
incorporated and depicted throughout Kafkas novella uphold responsibility for Gregors harsh
transformation and experiences within it. By separating the plot into three prominent parts, the periods of
Gregors life and transformation journey are clearly recognizable. The events which occur in each period
of Gregors life catalyze his concluding decision significantly. In the information depicted by Kafka
throughout the text, Gregor never reaches a point of happiness and content nature, in cause of his family's
strain on him. Through the effective syntax and numerous impressive literary techniques used by Kafka,
he successfully portrays the concept that, through much experience and contemplation, the most troubling
decisions are made in seek of the betterment of others.

Word Count: 1372

Work Cited

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Trans. Stanley Corngold. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1996. Print.

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