![]() ![]() ![]() One should also note that Gregor’s alienation took the literal form of being isolated from his family. He found out that he was only a small portion of the grand scheme of things just like an insect (DeNicola 54). The transformation into an insect was a form of revelation to the protagonist about his real position in society. These unmet desires are also what explain the source of alienation of Gregor in his family. His family obligations prevented him from really doing what he wanted to do. However, there were no opportunities for leadership there. Gregor wanted to do work on his own terms he needed to have ambitions and reach out for them at his workplace. It is likely people will become alienated if a system takes away these elements. Humanity has the ability to dream and aim for greater things. The transformation into a bug was mostly a physical one because mentally he was already in an isolated and dehumanized state. Gregor Samsa underwent all these experiences and was a man who epitomized the dilemma. Marx argued that, aside from the owners, all individuals in the capitalist economic system lack mental and physical energy because they do not exercise their ingenuity. These individuals did not control wealth, so they could not even purchase what they created. Samsa’s physical appearance was inconsequential to that feeling he had always been lifeless even as a real man.īloom argues that jobs in Karl Marx’s world disillusioned employees because workers did what was alien to them (107). This only shows that others dehumanized him before he literally became non human. ![]() The bug worried about potential excuses he could use to explain away his tardiness. It is for this reason that when Gregor woke up as a bug, his number one concern was work. The industrial revolution thus dehumanized employees by only seeing them through a utilitarian lens. Their bosses controlled when they could leave, enter, eat or even spend time with their families. The masses thus felt enslaved at their workplaces. Attempts to demand for more from their employers were often met with resistance and sometimes redundancy from work. On the other hand, workers must keep at it because they need to earn a living to feed their families. This often manifests as exploitation through low wages, hazardous conditions and long working hours. Furthermore, for the elite to maintain their positions, they must extract as much out of their workers as possible. They are only worth something if they add value to the controller’s wealth. Capitalists treat individuals as cogs in a money-making machine. Karl Marx stated that one of the worst consequences of the economic system in his era was depersonalization of work. It may thus be said that Gregor’s alienation was a dramatic result of the unsustainable socio-economic structure of the industrial revolution. A large number of these individuals failed to balance the two worlds and became disillusioned. People had to modify social relationships in order to conform to the new workplace order. Kafka wrote the book at the time when society was just adjusting to new era of industrialization. Society today can learn a lot from the story of Gregor Samsa, as the theme of alienation is deeply disclosed in this work. ![]()
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