8
CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL REVIEW
This chapter is divided into four parts. The first part is review of related studies which includes criticism of the novel and the author itself. The second is
the review of related theory. It discusses about the theories in which the subject of discussion is based. The third part of the theoretical review presents the
theoretical framework of this study which becomes a guidance for the writer to focus on analyzing the subject of the study. The last is the context of the novel.
2. 1. Review of Related Studies
The Metamorphosis 1915, a novel about a young man named Gregor Samsa, is a literary work which is considered as the best writing of Franz Kafka.
Since Kafkas death, critical interest in the novel has been considerable. Some critics argue that this novel is difficult to be understood due to the language used.
Moreover, the novel is considered a dream only. If the readers read the novel only once or twice, they will find some difficulties in understanding the story, because
it uses lots of symbols that are not easy to grasp. Although it is difficult, some critics realize that the novel is very
interesting and challenging. James Byrne, a professor of Religious studies in Comment Kafka’s Die Verwandlung 2010 writes;
“I had read this story a few times before now, but I had never really needed to think too deeply about it. I read it first when I was maybe
thirteen or fourteen. At that age I did not particularly like it and I certainly did not understand it. Perhaps I had been watching too much science
9 fiction on TV and thought: “guy turns into insect or something, what’s
the big deal?” I read it again in my mid-20s and I both understood and liked it much more, as I now had some experience of life that gave me
more compassion for Gregor Samsa p. 1.
Byrne then adds that in his view there are two factors which make this story so compelling and of such enduring interest to later generations. First, a person has
freedom from family duty. Secondly is to free oneself from bourgeois obligation and convention p. 1.
From Byrne’s comment, it can be stated that although the story is difficult to read, it endures and compels interest of the young generation for their better
life. The great Russian novelist Vladimir Nebokov in his Lecture on The Metamorphosis 2012, also once remarked, If Kafkas The Metamorphosis
strikes anyone as something more than an entomological fantasy, then I congratulate him on having joined the ranks of good and great readers p. 1.
Nicole Smith in Character Analysis of Gregor in “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka 2011 argues that Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is an exaggerated
symbolic tale that tackles a number of themes. One of the most important is the collapse of justice and mercy, even among those people who are expected to be
most fair and compassionate. The story brings the readers to understand others and to honor the justice. This elusive story, which chronicles the transformation of
Gregor Samsa from a human being into an enormous insect, is renowned for its ability to inspire diverse p. 2. For this reason The Metamorphosis has come to be
considered one of the central enigmas of the modern literary imagination. Harold Bloom in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis 1988, contended in
his broad character analysis and study of “The Metamorphosis” by Kafka, that
10 symbolically speaking, Gregor’s metamorphosis from man to an insect represents
his “judgment on himself by his defeated humanity” because he cannot find a way to leave his job behind and assert his own needs and identity because of his
loyalty and sense of obligation to his family p. 21. In correlation with the theme of transformation, Nicholas van Vector in
The Transformation of Kafka 2011 says that in The Metamorphosis, the transformation depicts more powerful than any fiction he has read, a
consciousness tortured by the anxiety. The subject of this study is reflexivity or self-consciousness. It is about a character who incapable of action or someone in
the last stages of a terminal illness whose only activity is thinking about himself and remembering his former life p. 2.
Some comments from the experts have been taken previously to understand the topic of the metamorphosis. According to the writer of this thesis
the work of Kafka especially The Metamorphosis is a fabulous story which needs a deep understanding. The story is not only a dream but in fact it describes
someone’s true life and it is Kafka, the writer’s personal life.
2. 2. Review of Related Theories 2. 2. 1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Kategori