illustration of a giant insect with the outline of a man in a suit standing within the confines of the insect

The Metamorphosis

by Franz Kafka

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Language and Communication in The Metamorphosis

Summary:

In Kafka's The Metamorphosis, language plays a crucial role in illustrating Gregor Samsa's transformation and isolation. Initially, Gregor can communicate, but as he becomes more insect-like, his ability to speak diminishes, symbolizing his loss of humanity and connection with his family. Kafka uses vivid imagery and symbolic language to emphasize Gregor's alienation and despair. The narrative shifts from Gregor's perspective to an objective third-person view, highlighting his increasing isolation and the family's eventual detachment and hope for a new life.

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How does Gregor's communication change in The Metamorphosis and what is language's significance?

Gregor loses his ability to communicate with his family over the course of the story.

The story begins with Gregor's discovery of his shocking transformation and his subsequent struggle with another challenge: a markedly lessened ability to speak and to make himself understood. In the aftermath of his transformation, Gregor struggles in vain to retain the last vestiges of his humanity: his ability to wield language to his advantage.

Gregor was shocked when he heard his own voice answering, it could hardly be recognised as the voice he had had before. As if from deep inside him, there was a painful and uncontrollable squeaking mixed in with it....

At the other side door his sister came plaintively: "Gregor? Aren't you well? Do you need anything?" Gregor answered to both sides: "I'm ready, now", making an effort to remove all the strangeness from his voice by enunciating very carefully and putting long pauses between each, individual word.

As time progresses, Gregor ceases to sound human.

"You'll have to go for the doctor straight away. Gregor is ill. Quick, get the doctor. Did you hear the way Gregor spoke just now?" "That was the voice of an animal", said the chief clerk....

Gregor's father seized the chief clerk's stick in his right hand (the chief clerk had left it behind on a chair, along with his hat and overcoat), picked up a large newspaper from the table with his left, and used them to drive Gregor back into his room, stamping his foot at him as he went. Gregor's appeals to his father were of no help, his appeals were simply not understood, however much he humbly turned his head his father merely stamped his foot all the harder.

Here, Kafka shows the significance of language: a common language is a vehicle for sharing perceptions, experiences, and thoughts. Basically, language is a means of expressing the human experience. More importantly, language inspires intellectual or cognitive growth through the assimilation of knowledge.

In the story, Kafka shows what happens when one's ability to communicate is lost or when one becomes language-less:

He had used to feel a great sense of freedom from doing this, but doing it now was obviously something more remembered than experienced, as what he actually saw in this way was becoming less distinct every day, even things that were quite near; he had used to curse the ever-present view of the hospital across the street, but now he could not see it at all, and if he had not known that he lived in Charlottenstrasse, which was a quiet street despite being in the middle of the city, he could have thought that he was looking out the window at a barren waste where the grey sky and the grey earth mingled inseparably.

In the above paragraph, Kafka shows that Gregor's new language-less state has adversely affected his cognitive aptitude and perceptive capacity. Essentially, he can no longer see the world as he once did. As each day passes, he becomes more and more disconnected from the human experience. It is certainly a very frightening position to be in. The significance of language cannot be ignored in this story: without the ability to communicate with his family, Gregor loses his will to live. Tragically, his death is little mourned, and he dies alone and comfortless.

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How is language used in The Metamorphosis?

Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is written in the third-person narrative perspective, and the story is filtered through Gregor Samsa’s point of view. This means that the reader is able to access Gregor’s thoughts about the events that unfold without being restricted to experiencing only what he directly experiences.

Kafka also employs symbolic language throughout the story. For example, from his window Gregor can see "part of the endless, grey-black building on the other side of the street—which was a hospital . . . with the austere and regular line of windows piercing its façade.” The hospital symbolizes the mysterious illness or disease that has befallen Gregor, and also the medical care he is so desperately in need of. It is also a symbol of the seeming hopelessness of Gregor’s situation, and of his consequent frustration. The hospital is so close, but still, for Gregor, unreachable. Later in the story, Gregor looks for “the ever-present view of the hospital across the street,” only to realize that, because of his changing vision, “he could not see it at all.” Symbolically, the disappearance of the hospital alludes to the now complete hopelessness of his situation. All possibility of hope has vanished from sight, both literally and figuratively.

Another recurring language feature of The Metamorphosis is the rhetorical question. Gregor’s inner thoughts often take the form of rhetorical questions, emphasizing his confusion, his disorientation, and his helplessness. For example, when he awakes, he asks himself, "What's happened to me?" And a little later, questioning why he overslept, he asks himself, “Had the alarm clock not rung?” The frequency of rhetorical questions emphasizes his confusion, as noted above, but it also draws attention to the fact that, after the transformation, there is nobody that he can properly communicate with.

There is also throughout the story a semantic field of language relating to Gregor’s new insect-like body. He finds his way to his door, for example, by “feeling his way clumsily with his antennae.” He has an “armour-like back,” a “brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections,” and “many legs, pitifully thin,” which wave about helplessly when he is laid on his back. These descriptions paint a very vivid, and disturbing picture of Gregor’s new body.

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How is language used in The Metamorphosis?

It is important to first realize that "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka was first written in German. I am assuming that you are reading an English translation. This creates a problem when analysing language. When we discuss diction, imagery, and syntax, we do so based on connotations associated with the words we read. When a work is translated, some associations are lost, and it is much more difficult to determine the author's intent.

What we can say, from the English translation, is that the language is direct yet extremely descriptive. Kafka is a master of imagery. He creates a clear picture without being overly wordy. 

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How is language used to create tone in The Metamorphosis?

The language changes as the story shifts from Gregor's point of view to an aloof third person account.

Since the setting is primarily the Samsa house, Gregor's room in particular, the tone is that of someone who feels trapped or isolated. There is an outsider feel to Gregor's tone.

Later, the tone shifts to illustrate how Gregor is forgotten and how the family's move to the countryside is a sign of hope.

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