Character Analysis of Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka Essay

Metamorphosis 20th Century AlienationGregor Samsa, the main character in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, wakes up one morning to find himself as a large unappealing bug. Through symbolism, Kafka creates a totally new story out of The Metamorphosis. He actually is not a bug. Being a bug just symbolizes individual alienation. The part of him being the bug indicates his separation from the rest of the world. Just like bugs, Gregor tries to succeed in going on with his own business. After Gregor's "transformation", the only thing that he worried about was his job. Take an ant for example. When you take an ant and move him somewhere else, the only thing it worries about is how to get from location A to B. The same thing is happening with Gregor. He just wants to get to the train so he won't be late for work. Why is this so? A train leaving him behind is like, the twentieth century changing in it's own way. Kafka uses the number three to symbolize that people are less needed in today's society. Gregor has three lodgers working there, three servants, three family members, three windows, three doors, three sections to his body, and he talks about being late to three trains. Now when you would ask a person, what they think of when they hear the number three? They would reply death. A phenomena about death says that people die in threes. By relating three to death, Kafka is implying that people are being taken over by something. Long ago men worked together more than they do now. Take the Egyptians for example. They all worked together to hoist stones up hills. This operation later became known to us as the great pyramids of Egypt. Today only a few people would be needed to create another pyramid, thanks to the help of machinery. Instead of thousands to help build, maybe a few engineers and some constructors could do...

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