Monday, 25 October 2010

Paper for Dissertation Class - The Parallel Between Kafka and His Gregory Samsa in Terms of Their Family Relationships

Gregor Samsa in the short story adores his sister, Grete. He actually has plans for her, like sending her to a conservatorum as she played the violin very well, which he could never make come true after his tragic transformation. And what we know about Kafka from his biography is he had three sisters who were cremated by the Nazis for being Jewish. among his sisters, he had a favourite one with the name Ottla who was the most supportive to him. She even rented a one room place and offered it to Kafka in order to let him escape from the noise of daily life while his father only tried to get him working in a serious job. In our story, it is again Gregor who is stuck in his bedroom because of his transformation and it is beloved Grete who takes care of him while the rest of the family keeps away from the giant bug.
Considering that they are father and son, Gregor and Mr. Samsa seem to be distant to each other. And the father is portrayed negatively throughout the story. He even attempts to kill Gregor the moment he was discovered as a transformed insect. Looking at the life of Kafka, we will see that he also had problems with his father. Indeed his father, Hermann Kafka, found his son quite eccentric.
After Kafka's birth two other sons were born but they could not survive and died when they were still babies, due to the doctors' errors. In The Metamorphosis we have three tenants who stay only for some time, and leave after the discovery of the giant bug. These teants apparently have the minds of children as they believe Gregor to be an extraordinarily large insect. Their short term appearance in the play might well serve as a reference to the short term stay of the siblings of Kafka.

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