DISABILITY IN T HE METAMORPHOSIS Tanisha Shende
Bergen County Academies
Better to understand disability as well as the social norms and conditions that define particular attributes as impairments and proceed to challenge the disabled, critical disability theory is applied to literature. Doing so reveals how society treats such individuals and how the perception of disability changes over time. The disabled identity can be found throughout literature, even in characters that aren’t outwardly identified as disabled, which can provide nuance and subtlety to the study. One such example is Gregor Samsa in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. From his physical and mental changes to the treatment he receives from hisfamily, Gregor’s predicament serves as a literary parallel for disability. In The Metamorphosis, Kafka illustrates the experience of disabled people in modern society through the internal and external conflicts of his central characters. One of these is the external conflict between Gregor and society. By extension, Kafka examines the designations every member of society falls into and how one will be treated if one does not conform to those standards. After his transformation, Gregor cannot speak, he cannot move without pain, and his outward appearance as a “monstrous vermin” terrifies others (Kafka 7). As soon as Gregor makes contact with the outside world, he is met with revulsion and antagonism, seeing his father threatening him, his mother fearing him, and “the head clerk, standing closest to the door, pressing his hand against his open mouth and backing away slowly” (Kafka 16). To the people outside of Gregor’s world, he is inhuman, and the change is so disorienting that they fear him. This reaction is caused by societal standards that define the boundary of what is human and what is not in order to create a sense of identity. There is what is accepted in society, the Subject, that which is tolerated in society, the Object, and that which is expelled from society, the Abject. “What strikes [Gregor’s] other able-bodied observers is the gross ugliness of his transformation. His appearance, which is a vivid reminder of his otherness, becomes the core of his new identity” (Ghosh 2). Society cannot stand to look at Gregor because he violates the social parameters of personhood and serves as a reminder of the instability and flexibility of bodies and mental states. Thus, Kafka reveals society’s expectation to look and behave a certain way by displaying an antagonistic reaction when a person behaves outside of the norm.
Scholarly Essay
Just as Gregor’s rejection by society was an indication of the expectant relationship between an individual and the rest of society, his rejection by his family addresses another defined component of personhood: the ability to produce capital. Before his transformation, Gregor had “begun to work with consuming energy and was promoted, almost overnight, from a minor clerk to a traveling salesman with much greater potential to earn money” (Kafka 26). By working to pay off his father’s debts and maintaining his family’s good quality of life, Gregor establishes himself as a prized breadwinner and a valuable contributor to society. Notably, Gregor would produce enough “cash that he could then lay on the table before the astonished and delighted family” (Kafka 26). His family is specifically delighted by the money, showing they care more about Gregor’s ability to produce income than his work ethic or personality. Therefore, when he transforms into an insect and must now rely on his family to provide for him, Gregor has taken away their effortless life and spurred their animosity since he can no longer support them. Instead of caring for him in return for his care, the family resents his change, and both his physical appearance and newfound dependency transform him into an abject creature to his family. Over time, this resentment grows until even his sister Grete, who seems to be the only one who still cares for him, will not come inside his room if
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