Background of Study INTRODUCTION

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of five parts. The first part is the background of the study, which explains the reason why the researcher chose The Metamorphosis novel. The second is the problem formulation, which gives the general information about what is discussed in this study. The third part is the objectives of the study, which answers the problems stated in this study. The fourth is the benefit of the study, and the last one is the definition of terms used in this study. 1. 1. Background of Study Human existence has been considered as one of the important things in human life. The core of human existence is the appreciation of human rights and freedom. There are a lot of writings that have been produced to appreciate such a recognition. One of them is The Metamorphosis, a novel written by Franz Kafka, a German-language writer who lives from 1883 till 1924. The novel itself describes a man named Gregor Samsa who transforms to a bug. Before the transformation, his family respects him because of his loyalty and obedience. He takes care of his family by working in a travelling company in order to repay his father’s debt. Shortly, he fulfills his family especially his father’s expectation and becomes the important member to his family. But after the transformation everything changes. No people comes and talkes to him anymore. The actions of his father, mother, sister and the manager are so sad. The 2 biggest action which hurts him the most is the attack from his father who throws apples at his back and one of the apples caused the illness until his death. He is isolated from all people even his family and finally died after suffering from depression. In this novel we can find some interesting themes such as alienation, the misfortune workingman, suffering and some other themes that can be found easily by the readers. All of these made this novel recognized as one of the best that has ever been written by a great writer. The writer is not only interested in the themes conveyed in the novel but also interested in the title of the novel itself. The questions that arise in the writer’s mind are why Kafka used The Metamorphosis as the title of his novel? What is it all about? The metamorphosis itself means a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one but this novel must have a deeper meaning and not only about physical changes. The Metamorphosis of course has been significant not only as the title but also as the keyword to understand the purpose of the story. There are some possibilities to understand the using of The Metamorphosis as the title. The first one is that The Metamorphosis maybe used to describe a change in physical form or structure. The structure of human life has been changed to the materialistic and hedonistic society. The success of life is measured with the position in social structure and the economy position. People who have good works are placed in high position. Second, The Metamorphosis of Gregor to an insect can describe 3 Gregors innermost self. The last, the metamorphosis can describe the changes in the members of Gregor’s family before and after his transformation. This study is meant to explain the meaning of The Metamorphosis in Gregor Samsa the main character of the novel. This can be achieved by studying the novel itself in order to find out a complete understanding about the right meaning of The Metamorphosis. This proposed study will outline the underlying idea that Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis must be read in the context of Kafka’s life background and the society where he lived. In fact, Franz Kafka wrote this novel based on his own experiences and memories of his childhood and his bitter life. By studying this background, the writer of this thesis will understand more deeply about this novel and will know the true meaning of The Metamorphosis.

1. 2. Problem Formulation