[1] Franz Kafka's works the Metamorphosis and the Trial are both unified by a theme of transformation, where the protagonist awakens to suddenly find himself the victim of some terrible event. In the Metamorphosis, it is Gregor Samsa who has spontaneously changed into an ungeheueres Ungeziefer, or "monstrous vermin." In the Trial, Josef K. is inexplicably arrested "one fine day" (the morning of his thirtieth birthday, no less) and subjected to the indefatigable will of law. Both works provide ample room for myriad interpretations, but the two elements of interest here are the concepts of tenuous social status and rites of passage.
For Gregor Samsa, right up until the point of his metamorphosis, he has lived his life "correctly," in accordance with society's expectations. Despite maintaining a tedious and lonely occupation, he exemplifies outstanding work ethic. Mr. Samsa subordinates his own fantasies to the mores of his time, working his life away to support his family. Once the change has occurred, however, the delicate strands which bind him to society begin to unravel. Repulsed and confused by his sudden change, the family restricts him to his room. He is unable to communicate, but remains capable of understanding the speech of others. In their disgust and apprehension, the family too undergoes a sort of metamorphosis. The once-frail father is forced to take on employment, which has a reinvigorating effect. As the story progresses, the father seems to resume a sort of alpha role, defiantly driving back Gregor in several incidents, and occasionally verging on murderous violence. The mother personifies fear, praying that her son will somehow revert to normalcy. She is never able to cope with the bizarre event which has transpired, and physically shuts down at the sight of Gregor. Even his sister (with whom he is closest) eventually loses her patience and demands that the family kill or drive out this monstrosity, before he destroys their own livelihood.
The motif at play belies the assumption that social bonds are robust. The changed relationship of Gregor to his family, his employer, and to strangers, is a poignant statement on the fragility of social status. Despite his impeccable employment record and the personal sacrifices he has made for the sake of his family, Gregor becomes a pariah overnight, his contrast too alien to be suffered. The treatment of Gregor is a reminder that, no matter how firmly cemented we believe our own social positions to be, there is always a limit to society's tolerance of nonconformity. Status is dynamic. Eventually, if one is aberrant enough, no bond (even familial) will hold. The offensive variance will be exiled or crushed, so that the social group can maintain its strict cohesion.
In the Bantam Classics version of the Metamorphosis, Stanley Corngold provides an excellent collection of explanatory notes to the text [2]. Among his observations, he stresses Kafka's intentional use of the term ungeheueres Ungeziefer (monstrous vermin). He explains the etymological grounding in late Middle High German, where the term originally referred to an "unclean animal, unsuited for sacrifice." Corngold refers to ungeheueres Ungeziefer as "a word in which the undertones of the uncanny, the supernatural, the daemonic, and also all possible conceptions of taboo vibrate in resonance" [Ibid.].
In cultural rites of passage, the process generally consists of three stages: Separation, Liminality, and Reintegration. Liminality is routinely punctuated by elements of uncertainty and danger. For example, when a girl of the South American Nambicuara tribe begins puberty, she is immediately quarantined from the rest of the tribe and placed in a "menstruation hut," where she remains for months. Thus begins the liminal phase in her rite of passage. During this period, the girl is not allowed to speak, nor to leave her hut. She is, in a sense, held in spiritual limbo, and at this time there is a high risk that if she were to be seen outside the hut, a great bird of death might swoop down and devour her. The situation's peril is further heightened by the fact that her condition (and associated risks) are contagious; her misfortunes could be spread to her people. So severe is this term that, even in times of war or disaster, fleeing tribesmen will carry the entire structure, the young woman still inside, to their new destination.
In the Metamorphosis, Kafka employs the moment between dreaming and waking life to serve as the inception of this liminal phase. Something has gone wrong, however, and the dangers of liminal vulnerability have been actualized. Reintegration is impossible, and so the social separation continues and magnifies, until the schism can only be resolved through Gregor's death. The etymological root is particularly interesting to this aspect, because it so eloquently describes the change in Gregor's position. Where before the transformation he was a sort of martyr, a creature of tedious routine who sacrificed his own bliss for his family's well-being, after his metamorphosis he is "unclean" and no longer fit for sacrificial duty.
Die Verwandlung works well as a narrative analysis of social machinations, emphasizing the limits of social acceptance and the power of taboo. Kafka's use of liminality conveys the tenuousness of social relationships, illustrating that these bonds are easily broken when the "peril" of nonconformity becomes too great a risk for the collective. In Der Process, Kafka likewise exposes the frailty of society's bonds, but does so through a rather different, "top-down" approach. This theme will be dutifully examined in Part Two of this post.
REFERENCES
1. Metamorphosis of Kafka by James LeGros. Acrylic on Watercolor Board.
2. Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Translated and edited by Stanley Corngold.
Bantam Books: New York. 1972.
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