Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Albert Camus’ The Stranger

A man alone builds himself through his thoughts and actions, yet one can not deny the influential power of one’s parents. The people who instill the first concepts of right and wrong, up and down, and love and hate, are our parents. Later on in life we may choose to question and possibly discard many of their ideas, but deep down, they have had a very powerful effect on us. Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Albert Camus’ The Stranger described the main characters’ parents directly and indirectly, often being expressed through the protagonists’ actions, feelings, and characterization.

Camus uses Maman as more of an indirect influence in his story than Kafka’s use of Mr. and Mrs. Samsa, and Meursalt’s father isn’t even mentioned in the novel at all. However, Meursalt’s docile attitude toward life suggests that he has had no strong male figure in his life to inspire more masculine roles of responsibility in him, so as to counteract his mother’s meager ways. With this lack of a father, Meursalt seems to only understand the basic needs of a man, like his lust after Marie, but he has no fire. A

father could have inspired Meursalt to take pride in his work, seek a wife to love him, and to relish in being able to supply for not only himself, but a family. Surely his mother did not instill that in him, for she was just quiet and watchful as her son grew up, as Meursalt says “When she was at home with me, Maman used to spend her time following me with her eyes, not saying a thing.” (5).

Looking at the denouements of these books, one can see how both the death of Meursalt and Gregor are initially the result of either a bad up-bringing or just mistreatment from their parents. Perhaps if Meursalt’s mother had been strict in raising him with strong morals, or even with the concepts of how terrible it is to kill and support violent acts, he would have thought twice about his horrid deeds. It would have been possible for Mr. and Mrs. Samsa to try and help their son through his awful misfortune, but instead their cruelty and neglect directly led to Gregor’s demise. Camus and Kafka addressed some absurd concepts in their stories, but the effect was a powerful picture of how not to run one’s life and behave in challenging times.

It is true dramatic irony when the story emphasizes that while Gregor grows continually weaker; his family blossoms, showing their hidden potential. After growing accustomed to their new way of life, Gregor’s sister even says in regard to her brother that “It will be the death of you two, I can see it coming. People who already work as hard as we do can’t put up with this constant torture at home, too.” (51) This sums up the attitude and mindset of those times in Europe. The socialist idea that people need to be provided for by someone other than themselves has settled into the

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