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Fantasy in Kafka

            
             Kafka's "Metamorphosis" is a story of despair and futility in the life of Gregor Samsa. Samsa's sense of being a nonentity leads to his consequent alienation from his present existence to his transformation into an insignificant insect, capable of merely existing. From Samsa's internal feelings of failure comes the external manifestation, as being an insect gives evidence to the hopelessness of his situation. .
             Samsa's repulsive appearance alienates and yet relieves the guilt of his family and his boss. At first, Samsa views his new form as an inconvenience to his family, not only to himself; however, he soon shows that he no longer cares by crying, "Am I less sensitive now?" (pg 91). The dependence that his family has upon him makes him feel trapped; "If I didn't have to hold my hand because of my parents, I"d have given notice long ago- (pg 69). Even his love life is problematic; there was a "cashier in a milliner's shop, whom he had wooed earnestly but too slowly" (pg 114). Having never lived for himself and always for others suggests that Kafka rejects the Christian tradition and ideal that insists upon being dead to self and having contempt for worldly things. Kafka's disassociated tone in this story (as well as his others) increases the horror and the isolated feeling.
             Perhaps it is this tone that places Kafka's works among the fantastic, along with the reversal of motivation and resolution so prevalent in his tales. Kafka's imagination and skill in developing such close and powerful analyses of man and his psychology that is so near to reality make the jump into the fantastic hardly seem like a departure at all. .
            


Essays Related to Fantasy in Kafka

1. Kafka

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (July 3, 1883 - June 3, 1924) has come to be one of the most influential writers of this century. Since his death, Kafka has been recognized as symbolizing man's fantastic realities in a modern world by mixing elements of fantasy and reality to give his writing a feeling of science fiction. Today people go through life encountering "Kafka-esque" experiences, when something occurs in reality that could be easily mistaken for fiction. ... He is reborn in the "new world" where reality feels like fantasy and fantasy feels like reality. ... The dark feelings...

  • Word Count: 669
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Parallels between Kafka's life and

This is a story of fantasy when one morning, Gregor Samsa "...found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.". With this novel, we can perhaps understand better Kafka's relationship with his parents, especially with his father and Kafka's internal self. ... Kafka had contempt for himself because many characters of his books are pathetic and many of them have characteristics which describe Kafka himself, just as Gregor does. Even Gregor's last name rhymes with his own; Samsa and Kafka. ... What is really interesting, is that Kafka reflects Gregor's inner fears...

  • Word Count: 1062
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3. The Revolution of Literature: 19th-20th Century

Among the many Writers/Novelists of this time period some of the most influential writers include: James Joyce, Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, Stephen Crane, Gustave Flaubert and, Frantz Kafka; All of whom are not only prime examples in rejecting the romantic perspective in their writing, but are also masters in exhibiting freedom in altering the form, and substance throughout their writing to adequately exemplify motifs of modernism. While Joyce, Crane, James, Hemingway, Flaubert, and Kafka all master the incorporation of modernist ideals in their writing, each writer individually has a uniq...

  • Word Count: 3767
  • Approx Pages: 15
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Metamorphosis

"Metamorphosis" Published in the early 1900's, Franz Kafka wrote the story "Metamorphosis"; this tale is based on a young man named Gregor Samsa. Kafka uses symbolism in his story as tool to get the reader to try to figure out what is going on in his head. ... Kafka uses these events to depict how people can become dehumanized by society and ones own family because of a difference in behavior or appearance. ... The realist elements in this story include a characteristic of fantasy that there is a magical element in a realistic world. ...

  • Word Count: 1200
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5. The Symbolism of Alienation

Franz Kafka's novel The Metamorphosis deals with this theme of alienation. ... Kafka uses symbolism to emphasize Gregor's alienation from outside society, from his family, and even from his own humanity, demonstrating how modern society estranges man from his fellow beings, preventing friendship and intimacy. ... One recognizes instantly the preposterousness of Gregor's fantasy, however, not only because of his horrifying physical appearance, which would cause his sister to die of fright if he tried to sit by her on the couch, but also because of the social and emotional taboos ...

  • Word Count: 975
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6. English Literature in the Twentieth century

The twentieth century really begins before the end of the nineteenth century. Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1887 was felt by many to represent the end of an era. An end-of-century stoicism, and a growing pessimism among writers and intellectuals, may be traced to several sources, not least the publication in 1859 of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species which put the existence of God into radical question. Across the whole population, and in the face of rapid economic and social changes, radical doubts about the stability of the existing order were expressed. By the end of the nine...

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