Metamorphosis Essay #2

Franz Kafka's novel The Metamorphosis uses many symbols to illuminate the role. Symbols hold a vast importance throughout the entire novel, bringing forth the special ideas that Franz Kafka wants to share with the world.

Kafka writes most of his stories as allegories. The Metamorphosis is one of his most famous novels where even the smallest, insignificant thing represents something. Many of the furniture and things that make up Gregor's bedroom are symbols for something else. For instance the window that Gregor sits and looks out of represents the outside world and Gregor's freedom. The furniture as a whole represents the past and how Gregor will never be able tot go back to the way his life was. The door is also a main symbol in this novel. The door represents freedom like the window, however the way that the family leaves it open for Gregor to watch them out of represents more than just freedom. Looking at this, makes the door possibly represents the deeper part of Gregor's feelings along the lines of how he really, deep down, resented his family. Because of them he had to work for this company that he did not like and he was not able to go off and have a life of his own because he was the only one around to take care of his family. The standing open door with him watching the family represents how although Gregor resented being with them he actually does now.

These symbols may not only stand for other things in the book. They can stand for things that were going on in a country around the world. When Gregor's family decides to let him go, get rid of him, and stop taking care of him acts like a form of betrayal. This betrayal symbolizes a much greater betrayal going on in the world. Kafka tries to use his novels to show impurities in life. The Metamorphosis was written to do something just like that; to possibly show how corrupt our families and lives can be and also show how a family may not have faith in a person once they go through a profound change.

The Metamorphosis holds strong literary merit as an allegory. The symbols that Kafka uses helps to show the reader specific ideas he has about the world and society.