The Use Of Metaphors In Kafkas’ The Metamorphosis

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The Use of Metaphors in Kafkas’ The Metamorphosis Change is brought about in The Metamorphosis in two different ways. The first way is by allowing time and circumstances to determine one’s decisions. The next way is by using courage and conviction to make one’s own decisions. Kafka brings about change with the use of metaphors in The Metamorphosis. The hidden metaphors are there and seen if one can recognize and understand them. Kafka’s cunning use of metaphors throughout his story includes many uses of different items. Finding the hidden and direct metaphors gives one a sense of adventure and challenge. The transformation of Gregor into an insect is a very evident metaphor, which can be thought of in more than one way. One may be apt to associate “this man turned bug” as a grotesque display representing one of the lowest forms of life. Gregor’s manager and family are disgusted by his unexplainable physical appearance. Stunned, the manager retreats out of the house in horror, the mother falls to the floor in grief and the father, in an attempt to get Gregor out of sight, forces him into the doorway of his room. Gregor’s beetle body is too large for the doorway and he finds himself stuck and unable to move, “when from behind his father gave him a hard shove, which was truly his salvation, and bleeding profusely, [Gregor] flew far into his room” (Kafka, 2314). Another way one might define the metaphor of this transformation is looking at Gregor’s disassociation with the human world. A beetle cannot communicate in language. Therefore, there is no way for Gregor to explain his dilemma to anyone. We can see this when he tries to explain to his manager why he wasn’t on time at work, the manager asked, “Did you understand a word?” and then he stated, “That was the voice of an animal” (Kafka, 2309). Gregor in his new state is cut off

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