Kafkas Humor Essay - 1388 Words

Kafkas Humor In Franz Kafkas short fiction, The Metamorphosis, the author was able to skillfully express deep emotions while keeping his readers interested throughout the story. Some may say that the story is sad and horrifying, yet Kafka creatively intertwined humor, which is many times quite ironic, into this seemingly sad story. This gives the reader the opportunity to view the situation from a different angle rather than just to focus on the horrific circumstances that Gregor Samsa, Kafkas protagonist, must go through in The Metamorphosis. Margaret Church, a critic in contemporary studies explains, with Kafka we are in the mind of Gregor and are forced to accept this world of Gregor and to recognize it as our own (189).†¦show more content†¦His many legs, which seemed pathetically thin when compared to the rest of his body, flickered helplessly before his eyes (Kennedy 337). This captures the readers interest immediately. We can all agree that this will probably never happen to us. The fact that Kafka even thought of an event like this is already comical. If we were in Gregors situation, we may feel extremely disturbed or even suicidal. However, Gregor instead thought of how to get out of bed and go to work. Gregor also thought of how to explain his situation to his family and the manager from the office. A conventional person would not even think of explaining the fact that one has been transformed... into a monstrous insect, but would rather be overwhelmed by the fact that his or her life is ruined. Here Kafka made such a disastrous situation into what seems to be a temporary annoyance one may face in daily life. What Gregor awakens to on the morning of his metamorphosis is the truth of his life. His ordinary consciousness has lied to him about himself... (Greenburg 70). 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