Fear of changes in Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka Essay

Change is essential for life. Some people like live doing the same things and avoiding change. However, others think that change might always a good thing. This occurrence is commonly shown on different types of literature. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer are two genuine examples that expose changes throughout the book by leading the reader to develop their own ideas of different events that takes place. Gregor Samsa from Metamorphosis changes physically in the first part and then mentally, while Oskar Schell from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close changes emotionally and also he changed his perception of the world.

One day Gregor Samsa wakes up as a giant cockroach by unknown and unexpected reasons that eventually made him act and think like one. We see this change from the first line  "When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself changed into a monstrous cockroach." (Kafka 87) Gregors life as an insect is not much different from his life as a human. From the first paragraphs we notice the impression that Gregors metamorphosis only transformed him from one body to a less convenient one, although he does not seem bothered by his transformation, but he explores his new body and tries to work and deal with ti. What he observes are numerous legs, pathetically frail by contrast to the rest of him, waved feebly before his eyes. (87) he feels a ache in his side that he didnt recall having felt before. (88), and he recognizes a part of his body that he cannot itch. During the first part of the story, Gregor does not seem to have any emanational changes due to his transformation. This is an evident when he thinks about how he can no longer go to work or when he now can no longer sleep well. After those events occurred, Gregor's voice changes from human into "the voice of an animal," (98) as Gregor's manager said, but the words seemed perfectly clear to Gregor. Additionally, he started seeing things less and less clearly so Gregor experienced a changes in his vision. An example, found on (100), would be Gregor seeing the hospital less and less distinctly because of his shortness. After the 1st part of the book, now we can notice a mental change in Gregor occurs when he starts not caring about or having no consideration for his family anymore as said in one of the quotes of page number 135 "He was no longer a particularly surprised at his lack of discretion, were previously this discretion had been his entire pride. Above all, now because of mental and physical changes Gregor is forced to stay alone and we can support this fact by knowing that his parents lock him up alone in his own room. He is no more accepted by the society. He is now physically detached from his family and he is literally treated like a bug.