29 and as soon as she comes out, she has to explain in great detail how things looked
in the room, what Gregor has eaten and how he has behaved this time. p. 43. This action tells us slightly how Gregor is imprisoned and separated from his
family.
4. 2. The Meaning of The Metamorphosis as Experienced by Gregor
The title of this story arouses a big question in the readers’ mind. What is it all about? The Metamorphosis of course has been significant not only as the title
but also as the key word to serve the purpose in clarifying the point of the story. Before we go further to the discussion, the important question is what is
the basic distinction between a literal approach and a deep approach in learning a novel? Case Marshall in Deep and Surface Approaches to Learning 2009 say
that a literal approach in learning is the tacit acceptance of information and memorization and does not promote understanding for long-term retention of
knowledge. In contrast, a deep learning involves the critical analysis of new idea and promotes the application for life pp. 9-18.
In this study the literal meaning means the meaning which can be seen or noticed by the reader in the surface of the novel. After reading the novel, the
writer directly concludes about the meaning of The Metamorphosis based on what is seen and noticed. While the true meaning means the meaning which can be seen
behind the symbols or utterances that are used in novel. The true meaning usually does not appear or cannot be seen directly because it is hidden. So, the writer has
to read more and more to find this hidden meaning.
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4. 2.1. The Literal Meaning 4. 2.1.1. A change of physical form; from ability to inability to live
In the surface, the metamorphosis is a change of physical form of a human being from the ability to the inability to work and live. In this story,
metamorphosis describes the physical change of a human being named Gregor Samsa to a verminous bug. This change forces him to adapt to his new body.
Gregor discovers that he has changed into a monstrous verminous bug. His arched abdomen divides into rigid bow like sections. His legs turns to numerous
and many small limbs are incessantly moving with very different motions. He lay on his armour-hard back and saw, as he lifted his heads up a little,
his brown, arched abdomen divided up into rigid bow-like sections…His numerous legs, pitifully thin in comparison to the rest of his
circumference, flickered helplessly before his eyes Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis, p. 9.
The changing of the lower part of his body causes him to suffer when moving. His voice turns to the animal voice and he has no real teeth anymore. “Then he made
an effort to turn the key in the lock with his mouth. Unfortunately it seemed that he had no real teeth p. 23.
The physical change brings him to the awareness that he now has some new habits as the consequences of these natural changes. The first change is that
he does not like the fresh food anymore and he feels that he is going to be less sensitive. When his sister brings him the milk which he loved but he does not
drink it. Testing his taste, she brought him an entire selection such as old half- rotten vegetables, bones from the evening meal, some raisins and almond, cheese,
a slice of dry bread and a slice with butter. These foods especially the cheese has
31 strongly attracted to him and with his eyes watering with satisfaction he eats one
after the other the cheese, the vegetables and the sauce. “Am I now going to be less sensitive?” he thought, already sucking
greedily on the cheese, which had strongly attracted him right away, more than all the other foods. Quickly and with eyes watering with satisfaction,
he ate one after the other the cheese, the vegetables, and the sauce. The fresh food, by contrast, did not taste good to him p. 35.
The other change is that he becomes usual with creeping on the wall and crawling about all over the place. This action is done to follow the changing of his body
and to make him more comfortable with his new appearance. Even though Gregor has tried his best to adapt his new body, he cannot
deny that his ability to live as a human being decreases slowly. He still lives because of the spirit from his soul but it will not stay longer because this physical
change causes too much pain for him.
4. 2.1.2. A tragic change in life of a misfortunate person; from a hero to a loser
