EXISTENTIALISM

A philosophical movement in the 19th and 20th centuries

Noted Existentialists:

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)

AND Franz Kafka (1883-1924)

Beyond Good and Evil

Nietzsche, among others, believed that there was no absolute good or absolute evil in the world. All was relative

In The Metamorphosis Kafka does not judge his characters.

The narrator does not castigate characters with guilt for neglecting and eventually turning on Gregor.

Important Principles:

Human beings are “thrown” or “abandoned” in the world

There is no justification for our existence There is no predetermined direction for our lives If God exists (which many Existentialists deny) we

are too distant for it to make a difference Despair and suffering are a part of life The result: There is no purpose or meaning to life

Application to Metamorphosis

Destiny is chosen Individualism leads to personal anxiety

(angst) The universe is indifferent and hostile to

humans Isolation, anxiety, and despair are a part of

life Freedom of choice exists, but so do

consequences

Application to Metamorphosis

Sister’s affection that Gregor covets can be seen as a look of approval.

Father - Gregor fears him, through the look roles of power are established.

Gregor’s and his family’s fears of being judged by society.

The Existential Framework

Inside the existential framework, Gregor is a total failure, and he becomes a victim to forces in the world around him.

Gregor’s primary failure is his neglect of self-definition.

His spinelessness is manifested symbolically in his insect form.

Existential Angst

Describes the internal conflict experienced by every conscious individual due to the fact that the world is not a rational place and existence can be maintained only by constant struggle.

Existential Angst Cont.

Birth (leaving the safety of the womb for the harsh realities of the world) is the crucial moment existence is defined.

In The Metamorphosis, it is this womb-like state, without conflict, decision, or self-definition that Gregor longs to return to.

Existential Angst

Free choice also contributes to this angst since it is seen as one of the biggest burdens a human has.

Gregor fails in this vein as he seeks to avoid decisions at every turn.

The motif of escape manifests itself in Gregor’s sleeping, avoiding decisions, his eventual physical and mental exhaustion, and his ultimate death.

Existential Angst

The Irrational World - at any moment everything could change. There are no universal truths. There is only uncertainty.

Gregor’s transformation - coming out of a sleep to find that things were far from the way he had left them - is a powerful illustration of this idea, this fear of the existential thinker.

Grotesque

The Grotesque, the absurd or bizarre, date back to the mid 19th century.

Kafka came to view humans as grotesque, pathetic beings that would be mired in their own filth if not prevented from doing so by society.

Gregor’s transformation, whether seen symbolically, allegorically, etc, is grotesque and further emphasizes the ideas of alienation and isolation.

A Literary Style

As a literary style it went away from sentimentality and romanicism, toward realism.

Kafka’s language is plain and efficient.

Story told from the third-person point of view, but the perspective is limited to Gregor’s subjective experience.

All judgments are left to the reader.

Kafkaesque

Ivanna Edwards, in her New York Times article, “The Essence of 'Kafkaesque'” defines this term.

"What's Kafkaesque...is when you enter a surreal world in which all your control patterns, all your plans, the whole way in which you have configured your own behavior, begins to fall to pieces, when you find yourself against a force that does not lend itself to the way you perceive the world.”

"You don't give up, you don't lie down and die. What you do is struggle against this with all of your equipment, with whatever you have. But of course you don't stand a chance. That's Kafkaesque."

In Discussion Groups:

Brainstorm a list of events from the novella that exemplify existentialism.

Why is The Metamorphosis considered an existential text?