"The Metamorphosis" From the Franz Kafka story; A.C. Farley; 1986;Print size; 11" by 17"; Lightfast permanent colors on 100% rag acid-free paper; Altered Earth Arts Printshop; http://www.alteredearth.com/farley/farpnt2.htm
The Metamorphosis, when read with no prior knowledge of when or by whom it was written, seems the product of a deranged mind. Once some research is performed on the author the deeper meaning becomes apparent. Franz Kafka describes in his tale, a grim scene in which the main character is transformed into a dreadful creature. Over the course of his lifetime, Kafka lived this mournful metaphor. Being a Jewish man raised during the emergence of anti-Semitism in Germany, societies view of him shifted from a man to a vermin. This literal element of this metaphor, he forever captured in the writing of Metamorphosis.
Kafka didn’t want his books sold for money and didn’t want them published at all. He wrote those books for the sole purpose of expression. He needed, as all do, to express how he felt and the only way he could do this with any effectiveness, without the risk of punishment, was with his silent words that now echo so loudly within the minds of the book‘s readers. In this way all non-anti-Semitic literate people are he audience but the intended one was himself and Yahweh.
I feel that this book most effects my emotions but it is partly through my logic that it does so. Logic says that a family’s love shouldn’t be conditional and that all things are equal and thusly deserving of equal treatment no matter how misperceived they may be. Few would have been able to write a work with such a profound underlying meaning in this subject. As stated before, Kafka lived his book, metaphorically. Writing from the point of view of the newly verminized, he is, in fact, telling his own story and, obviously, no one is more qualified for that!
This short tale, of a mournful transformation into something hated while others stand by, conjured all the emotions associated with the misperceptions leading to the mistreatment of someone different as well as compassion for the main character and hatred for his transformation as well as anger at those who mistreat him for what he has become. I highly recommend this tale, as long as you have a strong stomach!
