INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH CULTURE SOCIETY Monthly Peer-Reviewed, Refereed, Indexed Journal Volume - 06, Issue - 02, FEB - 2022
DOIs:10.2017/IJRCS/202202003
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ISSN: 2456-6683 [ Impact Factor: 5.743 ] Publication Date: 20/02/2022
Research Article
Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis: A Study through the Lens of Critical Disability Theory Dr. Ranjana Bhattacharyya Associate Professor, Department of English, Nalbari College, Nalbari, Assam, India Email - ranjanabh4@gmail.com Abstract: The able body is always considered as the gifted body and it defines the traits of being a person. For centuries in human societies, any disability in the physical and mental build-up has been regarded as non-normal and they are frequently cut off from human society making them socially isolated and their opportunities limited. More often families abandon disabled members to the asylums or poorhouses due to the burden that they perceive the disabled members heaped upon them. Other families force these disabled members into isolation within the home, keeping them from the public eye to save their place in society. The alienation experienced by such disabled beings made them suffer tremendously. This paper is a humble attempt to look into the representation of alienation and sufferings felt by a deformed human being in The Metamorphosis, one of the seminal works of the 20th century composed by Franz Kafka. The basic research question is how Franz Kafka has adopted the themes of anxiety, alienation, absurd, freedom of choice etc. in the metamorphosed character of Gregor Samsa, the protagonist of the novel. How does the narrative convey the critique of the existential loneliness of a disabled person will also be investigated. Key Words: Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis, Disability, Anxiety, Alienation, Absurd, Freedom of Choice.
1. INTRODUCTION: Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis written in 1915 presents the story of a salesman who has experienced a drastic transformation of his body one early morning. This novella has become immensely popular as soon as it was published and many interpretations appeared within a very short period. The transformation of a human body to a large insect is an absurd occurrence. Among many critical reviews of the story outline of The Metamorphosis, the rewording of the story in the light of critical disability theory assumes a deep significance. Applying this theory Gregor Samsa, the protagonist’s transformation into a bug can be seen as a metaphor for the response to, and treatment of, disabled people in modern society. From his physical and mental changes to how his family treats him, we can see how Samsa’s predicament in The Metamorphosis serves as a literary parallel for the pathetic plight of disability in a social framework. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW: Critical disability theory analyses the challenges a disabled person faces in a society of able-bodied people. It was first outlined in the 1980s, later becoming a diverse discipline of critical theories that seek to understand social implications and how disabled people are treated by non-disabled people. “Over the last couple of decades, two disability studies have led many literary and cultural critics, with increasing momentum, to rethink what bodies are and to rethink what minds are: all minds, and all bodies, and sometimes the idea that we can draw a sharp distinction between minds and bodies” (Parker 367). Initially, the critics of disability claimed that no bodily impairment is disabling. Their view is that the disability is a social construct, a state of affairs, not an inevitable consequence of impairment. It is the individual as well as a social response to the impairments of a person. Social exclusion is caused by familial, institutional and social attitudes which fail to recognize the needs of the people who are bodily impaired and who don't match the social expectation of 'normalcy'. The failure of society to accommodate the distinctive individuals limit their space either at their home or outside. Critics like R Devlin and D Pothier probed deep into the concepts of disabilities and questioned the aspects of personal 'dependence' and 'interdependence', 'normalcy' and 'abnormal', fundamental values of individual dignity and Available online on - WWW.IJRCS.ORG
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