Vladimir Nabokov in his critical article “The Transformation” of Franz Kafka ”noted:“ If the “Transformation” of Kafka seems to be something more than an entomological fantasy, I congratulate him on joining the ranks of good and excellent readers ” . This work, of course, deserves its status as one of the greatest literary creations and is an example of the author’s amazing fantasy.
The book (Franz Kafka, Transformation) tells the story of one man, Gregor Zamza, who wakes up one morning and suddenly realizes that he has turned into a huge insect.
The instant and inexplicable transformation of Gregor, as well as a mixture of everyday and fantastic elements make this dream-like story surprisingly believable.
Critic reviews
Published in 1912, the work caused controversial reviews from critics. Readers noted that Transformation is one of the few works Kafka sought to publish. After the death of the writer, interest in the story was very high. Critics wrote a lot about the thematic content of the work, some noted the novel's realism, contrasting with the completely fantastic plot of Gregor's transformation into an insect. Stanley Corngold noted that not one reading excludes one-sidedness, but every time I want to study a huge amount of criticism devoted to this work in order to better understand it.
Some researchers believe that the novel "Transformation" (Franz Kafka), an analysis of which is brought to your attention, expresses the feeling of alienation experienced by the author at that time.
He was not only a German living in the Czech capital, Prague, but also a Jew during the brutal period of anti-Semitism. Kafka also felt pressure from his father, who wanted him to follow in his footsteps and become a businessman. This strange transformation into an insect is often regarded as the result of the author’s feelings of isolation and inferiority. In this story, you can also see an allegory of genocide, in particular the Holocaust. While the writer himself died in 1924, when the main events of the Holocaust had not yet begun, many members of the Kafka family subsequently suffered from it.
Other critics find references to the works of Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche in the work, viewing the “Transformation” as a simplified figurative interpretation of their complex philosophical ideas. Gregor’s conflict with his father and this dream-like story are often compared in terms of the theory of dreams of Freud and the Oedipus complex. From the perspective of Marxism, Gregor’s inability to work is seen as a protest against cruel and inhuman labor in capitalist society and its destructive consequences for the individual. Some regard the hero’s terrible shell as Gregor’s categorical refusal to obey the values ​​and requirements of society, like the Nietzschean superman.
F. Kafka, Transformation: Summary
One morning, Gregor wakes up and finds himself in the form of a monstrous insect.
Trying to learn how to manage his new body, he spends a lot of time and realizes that he was late for work (Gregor works as a salesman). Trying to get him out of bed, his mother knocks on the door, then his father and sister.
Head visit
The head of Gregor comes from the office to find out about the reasons for his absence from work. While parents are talking with the boss, and the sister is crying in the next room, Gregor sneaks to the door of his bedroom, opens it and appears before them, shocking everyone with his new look. The hero’s mother faints, and the boss runs out of the apartment in horror.
Father grabs the newspaper and the leader’s cane and tries to catch Gregor, running after him around the living room. The hero eventually manages to get to the doors of his bedroom, but he is stuck in the doorway. Father pushes Gregor into the room and closes the door behind him.
What did Franz Kafka portray in the story “Transformation”? Summary continues the following events.
Puzzled and shocked by the terrible new look, Gregor and his family are gradually immersed in everyday affairs and worries. This is how weeks and months go by. While the main character learns about the possibilities of his new body and his new addiction to rotten foods, Greta, his sister, takes care of his brother - feeds him twice a day and cleans the room.
Rearrangement of furniture
Once Greta discovers that Gregor loves to crawl around the room, including on the walls and ceiling. She tells her mother about this, and they decide to take the furniture from his bedroom to give Gregor more space. If before the hero always hid when someone entered the room, this time in an attempt to impede the idea of ​​his relatives, he climbs onto a picture hanging on the wall.
When women enter the bedroom, the mother sees Gregor and faints. Greta runs into the living room to bring her medicine, and our hero follows her sister, trying to help. When the girl turns around, she sees Gregor and in a fright runs back to the room. Excited, he rushes about the living room until he falls exhausted on the table in the center of the room.
Wound
After some time, the father returns home. Greta tells him what happened. His father furiously pursues Gregor in the living room and throws apples at him. One of them hits the back of the hero, paralyzing him. Suddenly, the mother runs out of the bedroom and begs her father to spare Gregor.
In order to heal the wound, the hero took a month. The door to Gregor’s room remains open in the evenings, and he can observe the usual evening activities of the family. While the father is napping in his work clothes as a banker, his mother sews linen, and Greta studies shorthand and French. The family hires a new cleaning lady, an old widow who often talks to Gregor. Parents decide to take in three of their tenants in order to somehow make ends meet.
Death
One night, tenants invite Greta to play the violin in their room. Gregor in delight from the game crawls right into the middle of the room, inadvertently falling into the eyes of the audience. Arriving at first in confusion, and then in horror, the residents announce that they intend to leave here the next day without paying the rent. After they are removed, the family consults on what to do next. Greta insists that Gregor must be disposed of at all costs. Our hero, who at that moment still lies in the center of the room, returns to his bedroom. Hungry, weary and upset, he dies early the next morning.
A few hours later, the cleaning lady discovers Gregor's corpse and announces his death to his family. After the tenants leave, the family decides to take a day off and go to the village. So ends the story "Transformation" Franz Kafka. You just read the summary of it.
Genre - Magical Realism, Modernism
This work, published in 1915, was written by Franz Kafka in 1912. The Transformation, the short summary of which you just read, belongs to the genre of modernist literature. The fate of Gregor, a lonely salesman, expresses a general modernist concern about the effect of alienation that appears in modern society. As in other works of this genre, the “stream of consciousness" technique is used here to depict the complex psychology of the protagonist. The story "Transformation" is a book (Kafka F.), which is also attributed to modern magical realism with its comparison of fantastic events with reality.
Time and place
It is impossible to say exactly where and when the events of the story take place (Kafka, "Transformation"). The summary does not answer the question of the exact time and place of action, nor does the work itself. The narrative does not indicate a specific geographical location or a specific date. With the exception of the final scene, when the Zamzy are sent out of town, all the action takes place in their apartment. This apartment overlooks the busy streets of the city and the hospital across the road, located near the window of Gregor’s bedroom. Apparently, the apartment is located in the city center. She herself is rather modest.
Sandwiched between the rooms of parents and Greta, Gregor's room is adjacent to the living room. Limiting the space of the story of the apartment, the author emphasizes the isolation of the protagonist, his estrangement from society.
Gregor's character: analysis. ("Transformation", Kafka)
Let's take a look at two ordinary young people. None of them stands out with a special mind, beauty or wealth. You could even say that they are somewhat cowardly. So they both wake up one day and suddenly realize that they have the ability of insects ...
One of them becomes a superhero (Spider-Man). Wins the bad guys. Conquering a girl. He easily climbs the skyscrapers in his signature suit, causing admiration for others.
What is different, Gregor Zamza, about whom the story tells (F. Kafka, "Transformation"), the summary of which you just read? He remains walled up in the room and eats garbage. His family ignores Gregor, if not openly hostile. Dirty, in trash and scraps, he dies of loneliness. This is how the hero of the story "Transformation" (Kafka) ends ingloriously. Reviews this story is very controversial ...
Gregor’s transformation is so involuntary and grotesque that one involuntarily wants to turn to the past when trying to answer the question of what led to the fact that the ordinary guy ended his life so ingloriously after experiencing such a transformation. Kafka, reviews of whose works have always been very ambiguous, and this time does not give a clear answer about the reasons for such a sharp turn of events in the life of his hero, leaving critics wide open for hypotheses. Unloved work, the need to support a family, dissatisfaction in personal life - all this, of course, is very unpleasant, but not so much as to call such a situation intolerable. Common problems of an ordinary person, right? Even Gregor’s attitude toward his conversion confirms this. Instead of thinking about his new position, the hero is concerned not to be late for work. This is specifically emphasized by Franz Kafka ("Transformation"). A summary of the work, see above.
New opportunities
But ironically, Gregor’s mediocrity, which manifests itself in relation to this situation, does not prevent him from discovering some abilities of his new body. The fantastic situation, which has become a new reality for him, prompts Gregor to reflect on his existence as he would never have thought, being involved in the routine of everyday affairs.
Of course, at first this position does not cause him anything but disgust, but gradually, mastering new skills and abilities, the hero begins to experience pleasure, joy, even an experience of contemplative emptiness, referring to Zen philosophy. Even when Gregor is tormented by anxiety, the natural impulses of the body of the insect bring him some relief. Before dying, he feels love for his family. Now the hero does not at all look like who he was before - unsatisfied with the life of a traveling salesman, as we see Gregor at the beginning of history. Despite the outward miserable state, he seems more humane and humane than the other heroes of the story.
The final
We will not, however, embellish his fate. The story "Transformation" Kafka ends up with Gregor dying in the guise of an insect, covered in garbage. He was not even buried properly. The gloomy fate of the hero, her analysis (“Transformation” Kafka wrote so that any reader involuntarily thinks about the fate of Gregor) reveals both the advantages of an unusual life and the hardships that those who are different from others and for one reason or another have to refuse from a full life in society.