Franz Kafka's literary works and influence

Symbolism of the 'Self' in Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis"

In the domain of modern literature, particularly in 20th century literature, Franz Kafka ranks as one of the most revolutionary writer, who used the techniques of expressionism and symbolism to discuss the theme of the "Self" of an individual and his/her integration in the society.

Franz Kafka's experience as a writer had been influenced by his experiences in his family life and as he grew up, contemplating how the individual finds it hard to integrate himself/herself in the society. Kafka was born to Hermann and Julie Kafka on July 3, 1883 in Prague. His family was Czech-Jewish in nationality, and he was educated at the University of Prague, where he studied law. Although he kept a civil service post as a job, Kafka most often writes novels and short stories. Indeed, writing is his passion, and the only medium through which he can channel his insecurities and questions about life. Though successful in his writing career, Kafka was still triggered with depression and anxiety, and on 1917, he contracted tuberculosis, and eventually died in Austria on June 1924 (Brod, 1960:3-22, 39-44).

Among Kafkas's great works are the short stories The Judgment (1913), The Trial (1915), The Metamorphosis (1915), Jackals and Arabs (1917), Country Doctor (1919), In the Penal Colony (1919), and The Castle (1922). Among these literary works of Kafka's, the most acclaimed is the short story The Metamorphosis, which chronicles the life of Georg Samsa, an insurance salesman who one day finds himself a man who morphed into an insect. Georg's life as an insect that has been locked up from the human society is the most interesting part of the story, where Kafka provides a detailed description of the gradually decreasing contact of Georg with his family and society as he failed to return to his normal, human self again.

One of the most important themes that Kafka delves into in his literary works is the Self, particularly, how individuals try to immerse themselves, successfully or not, into their society. In his stories, he uses the technique of symbolism in order to convey his illustration of how the Self is discovered and concealed, and how society relates and is significant to the revelation/concealment of the Self of an individual.

In Metamorphosis, Kafka's use of symbolism to explain Georg's transformation from a human being to an insect produced numerous interpretations, especially when discussing the short story on a psychological perspective. More specifically, these interpretations on Georg's metamorphosis is "... The escape into freedom, that longing for man's "unknown" nourishment" (Emrich, 1968:144). A significant account in the story that illustrates this point shows how Georg has unconsciously acknowledged and realized the new 'freedom' that he acquired upon his transformation into a "gigantic insect": "Hardly was he down when he experienced for the first time... A sense of physical comfort; his legs had firm ground under them... they even strove to carry him forward in whatever direction he chose; and he was inclined to believe that a final relief from all his sufferings was at hand" (Kafka, 1972:102-3).

This passage show how Georg, the hardworking eldest son of the Samsa family, felt relieved (unconsciously, however) how he finally became free or independent from his hard life upon transforming himself into a giant insect. Driven to live a life full of responsibilities and monetary problems within the family, Georg did not only feel burdened by his role as the breadwinner of the family, but also the stress and pressure of performing well at work in order to keep his job, which is important because this is where he gets his daily income for him and his family.

Analyzed at a more meaningful level, relevant to Kafka's personal experiences, critics of Kafka's works studies The Metamorphosis as a story that seeks to discover the "Self" once again, after being replaced by the "impersonal one." The concept of the "impersonal one" is characterized as an individual who lived not for himself, but for other people. Like in the story, Georg's preoccupation to help his family made him forget his own happiness that, when he became an insect, he was glad to have found a way to finally "escape" all the difficulties in life that he faces. Kafka's use of animal symbolism in the story "represent the subliminal dreamlike world, the state of man before he thinks, that part of him that is prehuman and early human, a part that is always present along with everything else within his soul" (Emrich, 1968:141).

Indeed, Kafka's use of symbolism to illustrate the 'untapped' Self within an individual's psyche is a common and prevalent theme already in his previous literary works, particularly in The Judgment. In this story, Gregor Bendemann, the protagonist, is illustrated as a superior man, who has a friend for a failure in St. Petersburg, who me corresponds with regularly. However, as Gregor faces his adversarial father, the audiences discover that what has been narrated about Gregor at the initial part of the story are all cover-ups; his letters become symbols of the Self, where Gregor attempts to cover-up his failures in life by portraying himself as a successful man through his depiction of his friend in St. Petersburg. According to Thorlby (1972), Gregor's letter writing "symbolizes his belief that he has made sense of his life in words," while his father symbolize "... his relationship to the sources of his own life, to the inscrutable and frightening act of being alive, which he... tried to 'cover-up'... pretending it was normal when deep down he knew it was monstrous and absurd (46-7). Similar to Georg in Metamorphosis, Gregor (evidently an anagram for Georg) is also another Kafka character who confronts his Self at the end of the story by confronting death. Both Georg and Gregor decided to reject their self-realization in exchange for being integrated in a hostile society (represented by Georg's family and Gregor's father).