A Review on Kafka's Existential Vision in Metamorphosis: Trapped Between Identity and Absurdity

Abstract

Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis is a dense book of fiction that involves existential estrangement, identity dissolution, and the surrealism of contemporary life. To approach Kafka from the perspective of Gregor Samsa's psychological and symbolic transformation from the traveling salesman he is into a grotesque insect, waking one morning to discover he has undergone this new and unexpected creature-hood, is an exercise well worth trying. Kafka's description of Gregor's metamorphosis is a living metaphor for human existence under weights of existential stress, in which individuality collapses under the weights of social expectation, familial duty, and bureaucratic insensitivity. Based on existential philosophers such as Sartre, Camus, and Kierkegaard, this article translates the collapse into absurdity both symbolically and literally. It discusses how Kafka accounts for identity as not inherent but susceptible to judgments and rejections. In addition, the conversation touches on the Kafkaesque aspect of absurdity: that life is meaningless and that attempts by man to discover reason or purpose are most frequently for naught. Gregor's unspoken agony, growing isolation, and eventual death highlight the tragic destiny of a life without genuineness and purpose. Combining literary analysis and philosophical criticism, this essay analyzes the existential dilemma of being caught in a world that provokes conformity but not individuality. In the end, Kafka creates a world in his novel that challenges readers to make a distinction between social acceptability and personal decision. This essay situates the works of Kafka within the framework of existentialist philosophy and highlights their significance for the analysis of the problems of identity in the modern world.