Afraid to make his father impatient by this time consuming gyration, and at any minute the cane in his

father s hand threatened to come down on his back or his head with a deadly blow (Kafka, 19) This essay will demonstrate that the novella, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, is based on his personal life in which the reader can see in the fragile relationship between Gregor and his father and the bond between Kafka and his father. However, one can see several other themes such as a political criticism against capitalist oppression, a state of psychosis and even the incestuous attraction. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor is forced to take a job that he hates in order to pay his father s debt just like Kafka changed his studies from literature to law in order to please his father s wishes. He thought, What a grueling job I ve picked! Day in, day out- on the road. The upset of doing business is much worse than the actual business in the home office (Kafka, 4) One of the many ways which Gregor represents Kafka is Gregor s position in the family. He is the submissive character that agrees to the father s wishes. Since the beginning of the novella, Kafka places the family in a tough economic situation where the family is in debt because of the father s failed business. For that reason Gregor is forced to pay the father s debt through a job he does not like. At the beginning Kafka s passion was literature, therefore he started studying literature but he later switched into law studies because of his father disapproval. As just like in the novella, Kafka pleased his father s demands and satisfied to it. Another situation that relates to Kafka is the idea of a man turning into a vermin thus showing how Kafka felt like. Kafka felt like an insect under the shadow and control of an authoritarian and emotionally abusive father. For instance, the fragile relationship between Gregor and his father is the same as the bond between Kafka and his father(HOW? explain). Above all, In The Metamorphosis Gregor is afraid of his father and in many ways was always trying to please his father s demands. If I didn t hold back for my parents sale, I would have quit long ago, I would have marched up to the boss and spoken my piece from the bottom of my heart (Kafla, 4) In brief, Gregor was forced to work as a traveling salesman s, a job which he hated but did it in order to pay his father s debt. The money that Gregor gained didn t even go to Gregor expenses but for the family expenses and for the father s debt. (We can also) Also, we can see the happiness that Gregor has towards his father when Gregor discovers that his father has kept some money, which could have been used to help pay up the debt. However, Gregor is not angered when he finds this out so, he does nothing about it. Moreover, Gregor s father feels disgusted with the metamorphosis of his own son and attacks it in various occasions. As we can see, Kafka exaggerates Gregor s character by making him more nave and easily pushed around as a result to create the feeling of pity towards Gregor. One apple, thrown weakly, grazed Gregor s back and slid off harmlessly. But the very next one that came flying after it literally forces its way into Gregor s back (Kafka, 39) The apple hurting his son(who s son?) and causing him great pain can be interpreted as a symbol of Kafka s feelings towards his father. In the same way that Gregor hurts his son physically, Kafka feels emotionally hurt towards the authoritarian personality of his father. Also, the image of the apple being thrown is like the image of Adam and Eve were God banish Adam and Eve from the paradise by throwing them apples. In this case, Gregor s father representing God exiling his son from the paradise or his home. The novella starts at Gregor s room. Gregor wakes up to see his own rebirth into an insect in his room alone; he also dies in his room alone. Also, The fact that Gregor is always kept or locked in his room by his family, suggests that the family is always trying to keep Gregor where it is more convenient to the

family, in the same way that Kafka s father forced him to change his career. Up to this point, Gregor always does what the family wants; if the family wants Gregor to stay locked in his room, he does so. For example, when Gregor s sister expresses ideas of getting rid of Gregor, Gregor immediately locks himself in his room to dies alone with no resentment towards his family. Beyond that, it could also represent how Gregor never let his opinion out, he was always quiet, reserved and kept his own thoughts in his mind just like how he is locked inside his room. And just as Gregor, Kafka s personality is depressive and reserved. He was also very private of his thoughts and writings that he didn t even want to publish the books that he wrote and even made his last will be to ask for his best friend to burn all of his book. Nevertheless, there are small fractions of the novella where other themes are included such as the representation of the vermin being the oppressed worker in a capitalist regime. In capitalism, the human being is defined their means of production and how much they gain. Grego s job was not seen as a high end job. Also, the fruit of his work would go directly to his father and family. Gregor s metamorphosis into a vermin is the representation of all the oppressed workers that are not even considered human and are exploited by the higher class, which Gregor s father represents. Another theme that can be seen, is the Oedipus complex within the sister and the father relationship. It is possible that Kafka explored Freud s theory of the incestuous attraction between the sister and the father. Gregor s sister often goes to his father and it seems that Gregor s sister has a better relationship with the father than the relationship she has with the mother. his sister rushed over to his mother and held her forehead. His father seemed to have been led by Grete s words to more definite thoughts We must get rid of it his sister now said exclusively to her father (Kafka 51) To show Freud s theory, Kafka gives more depth in the relationship between the sister and the father. The reader can clearly see that Gregor s sister has a closer relationship to the father and after Gregor s metamorphosis, Gregor s sister also undergoes to a transformation where she takes the role of a mother in the family. Certainly there are parts of the novella were other themes are explored, but these themes do not appear in a constant manner. In conclusion, in The Metamorphosis Kafka does explore a variety of themes such as a criticism of the capitalist system, and the Oedipus complex. On the other hand, Kafka based his novella with a lot of his life, relationships and his own personality, which is portrayed through Gregor and his relationship with his father.