"Metamorphosis" traces the physical, emotional, and intellectual dehumanization of Gregor Samsa. I therefore most agree with the illustrious Expert #3. Though this lauded expert expresses that Gregor’s dehumanization is foreshadowing of dehumanizing events in the twentieth century such as the Holocaust and the two World Wars, I think that Gregor’s transformation from a human to an insect is particularly symbolic. Kafka is demonstrating the loss of humanity through servility and blind submission to authority and circumstances.
Before he is an insect, Gregor behaves in a very insect-like manner toward both this employer and his family. He allows his employer to treat him appallingly and does little to defend himself when he is accused of embezzlement for merely being late for work. His family lives off of his salary like parasites and though Gregor may or may not recognize it, he willingly allows it to occur for fear of losing their approval. Since his family shows no apparent emotional connection to him, he appears more insect-like and thus less human to the reader. By behaving in such a cowardly and docile manner, he loses his humanity both literally and figuratively. Since he does not question the authority figures in his midst and robotically obeys every order he is given, he willingly begins to surrender his soul. When he is literally no longer human, he does nothing to attempt to correct the situation and does not question why such a thing has happened to him.
When he is alienated from his essential humanity (in the wise words of the glorious Expert #3) he is able to see the emptiness of his former ambition and how little he meant to his family. His humanity slips away almost entirely when he loses the ability to feel any joy and sinks into the symptoms of depression. Before his transformation he had no will to live his life as his own and for himself. Thought he eventually loses his will to live entirely, he did not have much of a life to give up anyway. In this way, Kafka is using "Metamorphosis" as a cautionary tale against living one’s life in order to avoid the wrath of authority figures. Doing so removes the meaning from life and can even literally destroy one’s humanity. (377)
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Cheese--I like the way you read that expert. You fit the story onto the mentality of all those who blindly followed authority during the holocaust. I think it makes sense, although I confess that wasn't what I had in mind when I wrote that paragraph. I was thinking that what made the holocaust possible, or slavery, or any act of genocide, was the mental act of thinking of other people as less than human. Once we do that, once we deny another's humanity, any horror is possible.
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