Lopez 1

 
Julius Phillip L. Lopez 

Professor Beadle 

English 115 

17 October, 2019 

“The Metamorphosis” of Society 

 
Do you feel like your society accepts you for who you are? In the short story, ​The 

Metamorphosis​ by Franz Kafka, he opened his story by introducing a character who woke up as 

a “Vermin” and his name is Gregor Samsa. Franz Kafka is a type of author who writes in a 

sterile way and makes the audience clueless of what’s happening, then the audience subsequently 

find their own interpretation of his story and that is called the “Kafkaesque”. The 

Metamorphosis​ is such a bizarre story that leaves the audience confused; furthermore, this makes 

the readers explore for more hidden meaning of his story. Gregor’s transformation into a 

cockroach mirrors the real-world of how society is consist with people who suffers from 

judgements/ alienation, people with mental illness that leads to miscommunications, people with 

different perception, and dehumanization not only from our loved ones, but also from the society 

we live in. 

Some people are judged to be different by their society which further rises issues such as: 

impaired communication and alienation. Allen Beveridge, a consultant psychiatrist at Queen 

Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline, mentioned in his article, “The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka” 

how Kafka lived in Prague and experienced the emergence of the Nazis and that the Jewish 

people were viewed differently. They felt unwanted by their own society, “The self-abasement of 

Kafka’s characters in the face of authority and their desire to please their tormentors is taken as a 
 Lopez 2

reflection of the author’s experience of being a Jew in a hostile world. The victims, internalising 

their persecutor’s malign criticism, see themselves as inferior or, like Gregor Samsa, as vermin.” 

(Beveridge 460). This is how both Gregor and Kafka felt when their families were being distant 

from them… especially their fathers and their society and the hostile and alienated world they 

live in. 

In addition to that, Allen Beveridge also suggested that Kafka’s family and his society 

has mental illness since people with mental illness have miscommunication with the people they 

talk to, “Mental illness often results in a breakdown in communication. It is as if the mentally 

disturbed person is stranded in another world, whose language is not comprehensible to others. 

Kafka’s story captures this experience very well.” (Beveridge 460). This mirrors how Gregor 

was trying to communicate with his Boss and his family, but they don’t understand him, while he 

understands them. This is an experience that many people are familiar with. People feel that they 

are talked about by other people they know that they feel talked about and that they would feel 

rejected by their society. Isabella Pezzini talks similarly to Allen Beveridge, but more of 

different perceptions of people from their society and dehumanization. 

​ Isabella Pezzini is Professor of Philosophy, Theory of Language, at the Department of 

Communication and Social Research, teaching Semiotic sciences of texts and languages to the 

Faculty of Political Science, Sociology and Communication at the Sapienza University of Rome. 

Her Article titled, “​From a Cockroach’s Point of View: The Metamorphosis of Perception in 

Kafka”,states that ​Gregor’s perception as a cockroach might be different from his family and the 

rest of the society, but he is still the same Gregor inside. She explained that by mentioning,  
 Lopez 3

“​This event constitutes the starting point of a shift that involves phases and components of 

perception both of the self and of the world as well as the relations among the inner and the 

external world, the most elementary awareness and feelings and the most complex ones, which 

are affective, cognitive and related to interactions, expressed with particular emphasis by the 

dynamics of the spatial dimension of the story.” (Pezzini 421). One side of this is Gregor as a 

salesman who turns into a cockroach who behaves, sees, eat, taste, and has the same impressions 

as a cockroach. But despite all that he still has the same soul deep inside him. This suggests that 

perceptions of people are different within their own bubble and the outside world they live in. 

This is how Kafka felt as a Jew. He felt like he sees, hears, and behaves differently from other 

people.  

Another criticism in society is that it feels dehumanizing when rights and belongings are 

taken away from you. This happened in​ ​The Metamorphosis,​ when Gregor’s family was 

taking away his possession from his room and losing faith that Gregor would ever come back. 

She says, “​At the same time, the ​becoming​ of Gregorio’s family will be antiphrastic to the one 

experienced by him: from inept, passive parasites of their skin, as they are depicted at the 

beginning of the story, his family members will gradually turn into active bourgeoisies full of 

projects, rejecting Gregory up to eliminate him: they are the ones dehumanizing themselves, 

while Gregory refines his sensitivity in suffering, even to the sacrifice.” (Pezzini 433). It seems 

like Gregor’s family is dehumanizing him, but truly, they’re dehumanizing themselves since they 

were willing to get rid of their own, son, and brother which is something society looks down 

upon. This further shows how people living in the same world, dehumanizes themselves just to 

get what they want. An example for that would be Colonialism, Genocide, Holocaust, etc. The 
 Lopez 4

purpose of all of them was to kill other people and gain power for themselves and further results 

of their own dehumanization. Some people might disagree with this due to different perspectives. 

Of course some people might think that Gregor is responsible for his own actions, 

judgements that he received, miscommunications within the family, his own alienation, and 

dehumanization. This suggests that people wouldn’t be judged if they didn’t do anything wrong. 

Miscommunication is normal in humanity, since we are all humans after all. Alienation only 

happens when you did something wrong to your fellow people and that you’re different from 

them or that you have different perception. Since he transformed into a cockroach it would be 

expected that his family would not understand him since he can’t talk, so he should be looking 

for ways to prove to his family that he is still Gregor. He should have tried harder to connect 

back to his family and his society. This suggests that if judgements arise, the society would agree 

to the majority of what is right and wrong, so if the majority thinks differently from you, then 

you have to accept limitations. Most people would think that if something is unusual then it must 

be wrong, so Gregor’s Metamorphosis is considered unusual, that’s why his family alienated him 

and wants to get rid of him. In the real world, if something gets in the way of achieving the goal, 

then get rid of it. Like getting rid of misfortunes that Gregor brought to his family. Also some 

people are afraid to try harder just like Gregor, he spent most of his time under the sofa rather 

than finding a way to connect back with his family. Even though these are all true, there are 

some factors that need to be considered. 

First, It’s hard for Gregor to connect back to his family since he turned into an insect and  

that is unusual for humans to believe. People tend to get scared of things they can’t explain like a 

human turned into an insect then he just received rejection and got alienated from the people he 
 Lopez 5

loved. In addition to that judgements doesn’t necessarily happened after something is done 

wrong, but things need to be considered, analyzed, and accepted rather than making conclusions 

that are not true, that’s how society is now, judgements everywhere which deteriorates 

self-confidence. Miscommunications will always be there, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be 

prevented. People could analyze and process on what’s actually been said rather than “Judge and 

assume things”. Gregor’s alienation was not because he didn’t try harder, but because the people 

around him discriminated insects as dirty, something people wouldn’t want in their house, and 

could “kill”humans. People tend to label things which causes chaos which conveys the idea of 

racism, culture division, discrimination, and etc. An example for that would be labeling Tutsis as 

“cockroaches” from the Rwandan Genocide or in short if you have different perception, they 

reject you and dehumanize you and themselves as well. 

Hence, ​The Metamorphosis ​by Franz Kakfa, has multiple hidden meanings and some of 

them carried how the society is. Most people from the society tends to judge too quickly instead 

of understanding what’s actually happening, this further causes alienation and rejection from the 

rest of the society and blame it to the victims rather than the perpetrators. In addition to that is 

dehumanizing oneself to get what they want and benefits themselves. Even if judgements can be 

caused by wrong doings, it doesn’t mean you have to believe what the other people said. It’s 

ones responsibility to consider if you think you’re doing the right thing or not. In other words 

you are left accountable for your own actions but not if it’s not intentional. If your actions 

doesn’t follow the law, that means you’re dehumanizing yourself or the government is being 

corrupt and using their power to dehumanize people and themselves as well. This concludes that 
 Lopez 6

criticism in societies are consist with: judgements, miscommunications, alienation, people with 

different perception, and dehumanization within the society, the universe rather. 

Works Cited : 

Beveridge, Allen, ​Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka,​ Published by The Royal College of  

Psychiatrists, Advances in psychiatric treatment (2009), vol. 15, 459–461 

Pezzini, Isabella, ​From a Cockroach’s Point of View: The Metamorphosis of Perception 

in  

Kafka, ​Published by Springer Netherlands,​ ​International Journal for the Semiotics 

of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridiqu​e, September 2018, Volume  

31, ​Issue 3​, p​ p 421–440 

Kafka, Franz, and Stanley Corngold. ​The Metamorphosis,​ Bantam classic ed. Toronto ;   

New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, 1981. 1-55