I think the supposed Nihilism in this book is the complete opposite of what was trying to be presented by Franz Kafka. I think the real philosophy being presented here is existentialism. Existentialism is the act of being plunged in to the world of absurdity and realizing that life, is in fact, absurd. But there is a point to it. Nihilism is the philosophy that nothing matters and you might even think you are not real. Existentialism is realizing that you are an individual with self-worth, even though you don't know what that worth is. The point is to the travel to get to that self-worth. Gregor tries to make this travel but dies in the process.
I was told the first step to existentialism is to wake up. This is exactly what happens in the very first page of The Metamorphosis. "When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin," is the very first passage of the book. From that passage you can already tell that Gregor has been plunged into the very absurd reality. He asks himself, "What's happened to me?" This is his eyes being opened. Once his eyes have been opened he cannot go back to normalcy. Throughout the first page he is seen as trying to get back to that normalcy, that life he once knew. The life he was comfortable with. But instead he is forced to roll around and try to get up, but cannot. He suddenly feels foreign and very alien to everyone around him. He even feels this way to the point of hiding himself so his sister will not have to see him.
The worth that Gregor is is not to himself, but is to others. His family is happy that he dies because once he had stopped providing money, he had suddenly become worthless. Gregor does not feel worthless though, I believe. He feels that there is something more, he feels that there is worth but he cannot figure it out. And when your family is not helping you at all it is even harder to find that purpose. He dies in the despair on that travel to find his self-worth. The last step to existentialism is self-actualization. That self-actualization is when you not only find your own worth in your life, but you give it back. You aren't worth what you think, you are worth what you give back to the community.
What is the significance of the apple? I believe that the significance is a correlation between realizing and the pain of feeling so alien. As the pain grows and grows, so does the alienated feelings of Gregor..
-William Valeri
you are going to want to change your username so that brian knows who you are. Or at least include your name in your post.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I think BoneCrusher is a great name. Secondly, I completely agree with you. The thing that I thought proved it even more was that his family DID get themselves financially stable. His sister was going to marry. Directly or indirectly, Gregor's transformation into a bug allowed them to achieve that. Even though they were pretty brutal. But I couldn't have put it in to better words, good post.
ReplyDeleteWow, you must have had a very interesting chat. This is really interesting commentary on this story and on the character of Gregor. I like how you comment on how it is hard to find your worth when your family is not helping you. It is commented on a few times in the book that Gregor wishes his family would cheer for him. Like in the beginning when he is trying to open the door, he wishes his family would be saying “Come on Gregor” and “Keep going, keep working on the lock” (Kafka 25), but his family never roots for him at all.
ReplyDeleteI think that although the nihilism isn't the whole point of the book there is some merit to it as a theme. Gregor spent his entire life, it seems, taking care of his family and when he needs to be taken care of there is little to no moral obligation from them to do so. Grete attempts, very feebly, and then drops him when she's had enough and his parents don't even go that far. That speaks nihilism to me.
ReplyDeleteBut that isn't the point. Because the point is Gregor has been working all his life to provide for his family. When he realizes this, he realizes that that is not the only point to his life, he must become something more, something more self-rewarding. And when he cannot achieve this, he dies in his travels on to self-actualization.
DeleteThat is something interesting. He does work hard to provide for his family and they do not appreciate it. He knows that no matter how hard he tries, they won't change.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of how Edna dies in the Awakening even though she was not hard working like him. Edna wanted to have her own self control and in the end decides that she will only get it if she kills herself.
William,
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad that this book has sparked you to really get into the conversation.
I do agree heartily that this is an existentialist novel. I don't deny this whatsoever. However, I do disagree that there's no nihilism within it.
According to Webster's (definiton 1a), nihilism is the belief that "existence is senseless and useless." I'd argue that Grete certainly has this attitude about her brother's existence at the novel's end, in spite of the fact that's still very much alive. She acts like is garbage to be disposed of.
Also, existentialism and nihilism are NOT complete opposites, and there is modern research and scholarship to support this idea. There is such a thing as "existentialist nihilism," for example. To me, that suggests that the two are not completely removed from each other. You might want to look at D.A. Crosby's *The Specter of the Absurd*, in which the author talks about this notion (of "exisentialist nihlism") in further detail.