NAME: EESHITA

SECTION: A

ROLL NO: 21/ 83045

SUBMITTED TO: Viraj sir

Q. Bring out the various implications of the human-animal dichotomy in Kafka’s Metamorphosis.

Ans. There are various instances of implication of human-animal dichotomy in Kafka’s

Metamorphosis. In the novella, Gregor Samsa, the protagonist, turns into a giant insect one night.
This changes the entire life of his and his family. Before turning into insect, Gregor was the provider
of the house, and he was working to clear the debt of his parents. He wished to get out of his job
once he has cleared the all the debt. After the incident of Gregor’s metamorphosis into an insect,
some questions of humanity, identity, alienation and many more, are raised which are discussed
below.

Gregor starts to question his own sense of identity and selfhood. Prior to his metamorphosis, he was
a dutiful son, he was perfectly following societal norms. His first reaction to his transformation was
the worry for his job and family. After transformation, he was no longer provider of his house which
made him question his identity. He was trying to make sense of his human mind/ consciousness and
his insect body. He was worrying about his job and family but with insect like body there was nothing
he could do about it. He wanted to help his family and take charge of the finance just like before his
transformation, but could not due to his body.

His family was in great shock and distress at first. Mrs. Samsa was worried about his son’s health
when he did not open his door. Grete rushed to get the doctor and his father was worried as well.
They express shock and disbelief initially, but even later could not accept Gregor’s form. His mother
could not even see him and everyone was trying to avoid to get a glimpse of Gregor without feeling
disgusted or sad. Grete used to clean his room, bring him food carefully thinking about him.
However, as the novella moves forward, we see that none of the family member could accept Gregor.
There was no longer concern for him but only hatred. Grete could not care less about his brother’s
food or health, whether he is eating or not, if his room is cleaned or not. Everyone started to take
him as burden. His after started to throw apples at him violently, when he thought he was causing
harm to his wife. Such sort of violent reaction from his own father must have felt like a rejection. A
rejection because he was an insect, and not his normal societal accepted son.

This also made him feel like a worthless insect, he started to devalue himself more and more. He was
trying to save his room and identity when his mother and sister were moving out chest and desk
from his room. When Gregor was the primary breadwinner of his family, when he was a dutiful son,
he was accepted by everyone. However, when his transformation caused the family member to get
out of their comfort zone, when he needed some special attention due to his transformation, with no
fault of his own, they started to hate him. He used to love her sister, and he was planning a surprise
for her since he knew how much she loves playing violin. But he came burden to the same sister after
his transformation because of his looks? She tried well at first to be same to her loving brother but
she could never accept her brother in form of an insect. His inability to communicate his feelings
made him for isolated from the family. He tried to communicate his feeling but was failed to be
understood by others.
Gregor was ashamed of his new self as well. He tired to adjust and not give hard time to his sister. For
instance, he hid himself under the blanket, which was completely suffocating for him, so that his
sister could clean the room without feeling weird with her insect like brother. But this brother -sister
bond faded away quite quickly. Grete was the one who asked her father to get rid of Gregor.
However, this human-animal dichotomy was mainly just physical. Gregor was still in touch with his
humanity than any other member of his family. He cared about his family even when they were
being rude and inhumane to him. His father attacked him violently with apples, his sister said cruel
words about him, yet he never stopped loving them. It shows that physical appearance does not
make one human, but the mind/ consciousness and humanity does. Throughout the novella, his
family member tried to dominate and control him, treat him like a lesser being, which tells the basic
power structure that exist is society. Though, after Gregor’s transformation his instincts became like
insect, he was prone towards sleep and food more.

It also shows how Gregor had little or no control over his life after his transformation. His destiny and
life were totally dependent on the people around him. This shows how fragile and important human
freedom, how much power it comes with. Freedom depends not only internally but also external
circumstances. These were the implications of human-animal dichotomy in Kafka’s metamorphosis.