Babienko English Kafka The Metamorphosis Questions to help you ...

Babienko English
Kafka The Metamorphosis
Questions to help you pick out significant pieces of evidence for analysis:
Part I
1. What, exactly, does Kafka tell us about the “monstrous vermin” Gregor finds himself
transformed into? Why does Kafka maintain ambiguity here?
2. Describe Gregor's room. What is the picture hanging on the wall? What is the significance
of the picture of the woman in furs?
3. Describe Gregor's own attitude and his reaction to his new predicament. What’s funny about
his reaction? What does Kafka’s use of humor show us?
4. Describe what life was like for Gregor before his metamorphosis, both at home and on the
job.
5. Describe everyone's reaction as they see Gregor come out of his room.
6. What does the clerk tell us about Gregor’s work performance of late?
7. In what ways do you think Gregor was like a "bug" even before his metamorphosis?
Part II
1. Describe how and what Gregor eats.
2. What is his family situation like?
3. What do we learn from Gregor about the Samsa family “history”?
4. How does Gregor's sister treat him differently from the way he is treated by his parents?
5. How does Gregor entertain himself?
6. Why doesn't Gregor want his furniture moved out?
7. What kind of changes does Gregor notice in his father?
Part III
1. How does Gregor's family try to make life seem "normal" for themselves?
2. What prevents the family from moving to a smaller apartment?
3. How do they try to manage financially?
4. How has Gregor's attitude toward his family changed?
5. How has Grete's treatment of Gregor changed? Give some examples.
6. What changes take place in Gregor's room?
7. What is Gregor's attitude toward the roomers? Why?
8. How does Gregor’s voice change over the course of the novella?
9. Describe Gregor's reaction as he hears his sister play the violin.
10. Why do the roomers threaten to leave?
11. Describe the scene of Gregor's death.
12. Describe how each family member reacts when they hear that Gregor is dead.
13. How do they celebrate Gregor's death?
14. Explain the purpose/significance of the final three sentences of the story.

Babienko English
Kafka The Metamorphosis
Interpretive questions to help you explore MEANING
1. What is the narrative perspective? How does the narrative perspective affect the meaning
of the work? What parts of the story/pieces of evidence suggest a potentially unreliable
narrator?
2. Why did Kafka choose a beetle-like creature for Gregor’s transformation? What are the
connotations of “bug”?
3. Consider Gregor’s metamorphosis as metaphor – for alienation, dehumanization,
fragmentation, etc.
4. To what extent is Gregor more human after his metamorphosis? To what extent was he
more “bug-like” before the metamorphosis? Look at irony and its purpose.
5. How does the title “The Metamorphosis” apply to other characters and the relationships
between them? In what ways do the family dynamics– not just Gregor – transform with
Gregor’s metamorphosis?
6. What objects serve take on symbolic meaning in the story? What do they symbolize?
7. Is the metamorphosis Gregor’s “fault”? Did Gregor bring about, or perhaps even wish
for, this transformation?
8. How are familial and gender roles portrayed in this work?
9. Consider the themes of freedom and entrapment in this work, the irony surrounding them,
and how they contribute to meaning.
10. How can “The Metamorphosis” be viewed as a socially critical novella?
11. How does Gregor’s ability to communicate change over the course of the story? What is
significance of the connection between language and music? What is the significance of
language in this work?
12. Why is The Metamorphosis divided into 3 parts? Look at what occurs in each "chapter";
from there, come to a hypothesis.
13. To Kafka, "writing is a form of prayer." Discuss The Metamorphosis as a religious
novella. Look especially at symbolism.

Metamorphosis Questions and Ideas (in no particular order)
How does Gregor initially react to the discovery of his metamorphosis? Does his thinking
change? How might this aspect of the narration be interpreted in terms of meaning?
Significance of the loss of sight and language (ability to be understood)
Woman in fur – unfulfilled sexual desire? Where else?
To whom or what does the title refer? What is the significance of the title of the work?
Possible irony?
Possible interpretations of the metamorphosis:
o Gregor’s metamorphosis as punishment for usurping the role of the father
o Gregor’s metamorphosis as desire for escape/liberation from…?
o Gregor’s metamorphosis less as a transformation, but more of an expression of his
already established place in society
Kafka’s novella lends itself to various schools of literary interpretation, including
Marxism. What aspects of capitalist society are portrayed in the novella? How might the
novella be viewed as a social critique? Are we all “dung beetles”?
Comedic aspects of the novella – What are they, and what purpose do they serve? What
scenes evoke “thoughtful laughter” and how do they contribute to the meaning of the
work?
Psychoanalysis - Familial relations, especially father/son relationship. Consider Kafka’s
letter to his father (look at the paragraph that begins with “There is only one episode in
the early years”).
Consider Flannery O’Connor’s statement: “I am interested in making a good care for
distortion because I am coming to believe that it is the only way to make people see.”
How do the distortions in the novella contribute to the effectiveness of the work? How do
they make us see reality more effectively than literary realism?

Babienko English
The Metamorphosis
Find evidence from the text related to the following – be prepared to present your
evidence and analysis of the assigned topic(s) to the class.
The motif of clothing, especially uniforms and undergarments - How is clothing
symbolically significant to the story?
Symbolic significance of furniture?
Symbolic significance of the newspaper?
The motif of food – How is it symbolically significant to the story?
Themes of unity and alienation/estrangement – who is unified, who is alienated?
When?
Motif of speech and language – significance? How is speech/language related to
unity and alienation?
Reversal and switching of roles – how do the family dynamics metamorphose?
Symbolism of the apple attack – what is going on there?!!
• Punishment for attempting to “kill” the father
• Revenge on family for enslaving him – freedom to act on his repressed desires
• Gregor’s bourgeois enslavement and desire for liberation
• Gregor’s enslavement as “man” > critique of patriarchal society
• Gregor’s desire for the female other/to be the female other
• Critique of language – inherent instability of language & system of
representational logic (in which something represents something else:
signifier/signified) > metaphor especially cannot be identical to signified >
exposes fallacy of stability in language, naming, identity, knowledge…. What IS
Gregor? Undefinable> Communication/connection between beings relies on
stability/decidability of language > otherwise=alienation & estrangement from
others > “cut off”
o Yes, this is where deconstruction comes in (critique of representational
logic/language). No, deconstruction is NOT simply: X is only X, because
it is not Y; this is a serious oversimplification.

Babienko English
The Metamorphosis
Springboards for interpretation – these are beginnings of ideas to help you develop ways
to think about the text using critical theory. I am just brainstorming here, so these may
indeed overlap:
The Metamorphosis as:
• punishment for attempting to “kill” the father (Oedipal)
• revenge on family for enslaving him – freedom to act on his repressed desires
• a representation of Gregor’s bourgeois enslavement and desire for liberation
• a physical manifestation of Gregor’s enslavement as “man” > critique of
patriarchal society
• a story of selfless suffering > Gregor as Christ figure who must be sacrificed in
order for his family to be resurrected (apple, cave, nailed to the spot, etc.)
• representative of a metamorphosis in gender roles and the consequences of
upsetting traditional gender roles > the “horror” of no male patriarch > the female
in charge as monstrosity, an abomination that must be dealt with/traditional order
must be restored
• an expression of Gregor’s desire for the female other/to be the female other/ to
have a balance between the feminine and the masculine (anima/animus)
• a critique of language & representational logic that serves as the basis for
language – inherent instability of language & system of representational logic (in
which something represents something else: signifier/signified) > metaphor
especially cannot be identical to signified > exposes fallacy of stability in
language, naming, identity, knowledge…. What IS Gregor? Undefinable>
Communication/connection between beings relies on stability/decidability of
language > otherwise=alienation & estrangement from others > “cut off”
o Yes, this is where deconstruction comes in (critique of representational
logic/language). No, deconstruction is NOT simply: X is only X, because
it is not Y; this is a serious oversimplification.
The metamorphosis represents:
• the desire to reclaim the repressed, “animalistic” side of his humanity.
• a realization of Gregor’s truly loathsome state as a human (self-hatred)
• a realization of Gregor’s true powerlessness within the family.
• a realization of Gregor’s true powerlessness within society.
• a manifestation of society’s rejection of the “other” – e.g. the artist as “useless”
and even “criminal/asocial”
• as process of recognizing the “truth” of his condition/situation – as “vermin” to
his family – shattering of delusion of self-importance, “savior” image
• Gregor’s realization of guilt (Schuld is both debt. and guilt in German) for
“various transgressions”
o father punishing son for…..
o desire to replace father
o desire to be more “feminine”
o what else?