Scholars International Journal of Linguistics and Literature Abbreviated Key Title: Sch Int J Linguist Lit ISSN 2616-8677 (Print) |ISSN 2617-3468 (Online) Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Journal homepage: https://saudijournals.com
Original Research Article
Effect of Alienation in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis Dyah Purwita Wardani1*, Diah Anggesti Pratiwi2, Imam Basuki3, Erna Cahyawati4, Ghanesya Hari Murti5 1,2,3,4,5
English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Jember, Indonesia
DOI: 10.36348/sijll.2022.v05i11.003
| Received: 30.09.2022 | Accepted: 06.11.2022 | Published: 22.11.2022
*Corresponding author: Dyah Purwita Wardani English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Jember, Indonesia
Abstract The Metamorphosis is a novella written by Franz Kafka. This novel tells about a young man named Gregor Samsa who has experienced alienation. This research aims to understand the effects of alienation experienced by Gregor Samsa as a major character in The Metamorphosis. Erich Fromm's theory about three mechanisms of escape is used to analyse the effort of Gregor Samsa in solving his psychological problem of alienation. Modern man usually uses three mechanisms of escape by Erich Fromm to reduce the feeling of fear and isolation of burdened freedom when they want to be free. This research uses qualitative research in which the data are in the form of words and sentences in this novella. This study applies the documentary method as the technique of data collection. The data can be taken from various sources, such as documents, books, and journals. This research shows that Gregor Samsa’s alienation has influenced his entire life, family, and society. Keywords: Alienation, Erich Fromm, psychological conflict. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s): This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use provided the original author and source are credited.
INTRODUCTION The Metamorphosis is a novella by Franz Kafka. Franz Kafka was born on July 3, 1833, in Prague, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the oldest surviving child of Jewish parents. His father, Hermann Kafka, is a successful businessman. He could not thank his son for wanting to be his writer. The problem caused anxiety in the relationship between father and son. Ultimately, Kafka's strained relationship with his father became a key component of Kafka's personality, leading to a lifelong sense of guilt, fear, and lack of self-confidence in most of his works. As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he was transformed into a gigantic insect in his bed. He was lying on his hard, as it was armour-plated back, and when he lifted his head a little, he could see his dome-like brown belly (Kafka, 1912, p. 1). The writer of The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), mobilises fantasy resources based on the image of private life. Kundera states that Kafka’s work is the best example of a radical autonomy novel, the poem in the form of a novel (1988). This autonomy pushes Kafka to declare the human condition that can never be expressed by social or political thought. The absurdity of Kafka’s work often is interpreted as a
mental illness and frustration of the author of the modern bureaucracy. It depicts the difficulty of living in modern society and the struggle to be accepted by others when necessary. In this novel, Kafka directly reflects many negative aspects of his personal life, both mentally and physically. Most of Kafka's works are based on actual events in his life. In real life, Kafka had a complicated relationship with his parents. In his literary works, Kafka's characters often encountered a superiority complex. In The Metamorphosis, the delineation of Gregor’s character has been hard-earned to help his family, and then he ignores his life until he changes into a monstrous verminous bug. Finally, he realises that his life looks like a cockroach who spends his time earning money without thinking about himself. The Metamorphosis not only talks about psychoanalysis but also about Marxist theory. There is a relationship between the psychology of the principal character and Samsa's society. On the first page of the novella, Gregor talks about the condition of his works. He has to work as a travelling salesman to support his family and pay off his father's debts from his failing business. Lying in bed, he recounts his life as a travelling salesman. ―Day in, day out--on the road... I've got the torture of travelling, worrying about changing
Citation: Dyah Purwita Wardani, Diah Anggesti Pratiwi, Imam Basuki, Erna Cahyawati, Ghanesya Hari Murti (2022). Effect of Alienation in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. Sch Int J Linguist Lit, 5(11): 387-394.
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